A New Generation of Hybrid Tangible Interfaces for Learning
What if the best features of online open education were merged with the established benefits of wetlab experiences, allowing bifocal learning in which students anywhere could experience Biotic Games (computer simulations) and, at the same time, actively engage in real-time laboratory experiments by remotely printing reagents directly onto substrates and receiving images of real-time results.
mediaX Talks:
Biotic Games-Playing with Living Cells
Hybrid Tangible Interfaces
Reinventing Science and Engineering Teaching in K-12 Schools
The team of Paulo Blikstein, Ingmar Riedel-Kruse, Zahid Hossaid, Sean Choi and Brogan Miller created experimental platforms with technological infrastructure for remote, scalable wet labs. One platform permits chemical stimulation of cell culture systems; the other platform permits real life interaction with microorganisms and provides real time feedback to users. Both are capable of engaging up to 100 students in parallel. The user interfaces are adaptable to laptop or smart phone, permit robotic control of reagents, afford time-lapse movies of the experiments with VCR controls, and include a discussion board. Use of the platforms has been piloted with college students.