Using a Cooperative Hands-On General Chemistry Laboratory Framework for a Virtual General Chemistry Laboratory

Rising cases of COVID-19 caused St. Johns University to transition to an online educational model in the spring 2020 semester. As a result, an in-person Cooperative Learning advanced general chemistry laboratory course was transitioned into an online/remote Cooperative Learning experience. Cooperative Learning in the general chemistry laboratory has been shown to reinforce authentic foundational scientific practices. The Cooperative Learning methodological approach was extended to incorporate alternative data collection sources such as virtual experiments, but otherwise unchanged. This communication discusses the benefits of adopting such an approach and critically evaluates our results. Analysis of our findings shows that while simulated experiments supplemented with a sufficient framework can be used to meet laboratory learning outcomes, they do not fully replace the hands-on laboratory experience.