New Perspectives in Science Education

The Go-Lab (Global Online Science Labs) project is a European collaborative project co-funded by the European Commission and involving 18 organizations from 11 countries. Go-Lab focuses on access to the use of online laboratories to enrich the classroom experience as well as out-of-class learning activities. The overall objective of the Go-Lab project is to provide students with the opportunity to gain practical experience in science by conducting online experiments using modern laboratory equipment, deepening their knowledge of the basic sciences and encouraging them to focus on scientific disciplines. Go-Lab has created an infrastructure (the Go-Lab Portal) to provide access to a set of online laboratories from world-renowned research organizations, such as the European Space Agency (ESA, Netherlands), the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and multiple universities and institutions. These online laboratories can be used by universities, schools, students and lifelong learners to extend regular learning activities with scientific experiments. Go-Lab supports the community of teachers interested in using online laboratories in their classrooms by offering workshops on the use of virtual experiments and science teaching techniques based on the investigation method. This allows teachers to improve their current pedagogical practices and to encourage their students to engage in scientific studies. Technology is evolving faster and faster, teachers must be able to adapt and stay up to date with their students. I find that IBLs are the most powerful weapon that can change European education in the coming decades by developing key competences, both for students and teachers. I have been using Go-Lab resources since my participation in a workshop at the EUN (European School Net) in Brussels in 2014 and my follow-up and success of the MOOC "Using Online Labs in the Classroom: an introductory course for teachers". I have used a variety of IBLs to teach physical and technological concepts (Parallel and serial circuit, renewable energies, binary code etc.) My students were very interested in the pedagogical approach to learning offered by the ILS of Go-Lab. At first, some students were reluctant to contribute, out of shyness or fear of being criticized. I then fostered an environment of positive and cooperative learning.

Keywords: Go-Lab, Reverse class, Investigation process.