Looking for dangers in the lab in virtual reality
In a virtual reality environment, Science students learned about the dangers of working in a lab, and how to deal with them safely. It was the first time this instruction was given in this novel way.
‘Nice!’, ‘It looks like a real situation,’ ‘Wow! Morgan Freeman? ‘Nice!’, ‘Good way to visualise.’ These are some of the reactions of students who participated in a trial at the Faculty of Science. Some of them received lectures on working safely in the lab, which is the traditional teaching method. Other students, instead, put on VR glasses with which they entered a virtual lab. There, they practiced situations they will likely encounter in the lab, but which are difficult to explain. For example, when should they put on a a glove to handle a bottle of chemicals? And when does a hazard become a risk?
Laboratory work implies a safety risk
Doing laboratory practicals implies a certain safety risk for students. They work with substances that, for example, can be carcinogenic, may damage DNA or are harmful to reproduction. Or they work with genetically modified organisms, lasers or electrical voltage. ‘Knowing how to handle these dangers safely requires a certain level of knowledge and experience. Experience is something that students do not yet have; they will develop this during their study programmes. Now, we can already give them that experience before they start in the lab,’ says André Kamp, safety instructor at the Faculty of Science and one of the initiators of the trial. The trial and the virtual reality app were developed within an innovation pilot from the ICT & Education Programme (ICTO), in collaboration with the Center for Innovation, both from Leiden University.
Show, don't explain
‘Much of what we are trying to convey in a safety instruction goes further than naming facts,’ Kamp says. ‘It concerns abstract concepts such as safety awareness, scenario thinking, the relationship between measures and risk, and risk perception.’ Through the usual classroom method with, for example, a PowerPoint presentation, this abstract and conceptual information is not easy to convey to students with little prior knowledge. ‘So instead of explaining concepts, we show them what happens in virtual reality. As a student, you experience for yourself the impact of choices you make, how a hazard becomes a risk and how you can ensure that the work runs safely.'
When things go wrong
The VR environment can even show what happens if things go wrong - but completely safe, Kamp adds. ‘We move away from intellectual learning, as happens with regular instruction, but allow students to live through situations in order to gain specific knowledge and experience. In this way acquired knowledge becomes part of the collection of experiences.’ That is the objective; whether the learning experience is really better is investigated during the test.
‘We expect students to remember the information better in the long term through the VR instruction. With the regular instruction, less than half of the first-year students at the end of the year know what a Material Safety Data Sheet is. Of the practical assistants - third and fourth year students - 29 percent still has this knowledge. We would like to get those numbers up.’
Intervene on behaviour
The VR training also means an improvement in efficiency, says Kamp. ‘With an interactive VR film you can show subjects faster than with a PowerPoint.’ The training method also makes it possible to intervene on behaviour, and insights are provided instead of passive knowledge that you have to learn to apply later. The final advantage, according to Kamp: ‘It's fun. Because the medium appeals, students are more motivated to actively participate. Safety is no longer something annoying.’
The recorded initial reactions of the students are encouraging. And also the first data from the test are positive. Kamp: ‘We have asked different groups of students to rate the programmes from 1 to 10. On average, first-year students rate the regular safety instruction they received at the beginning of the academic year with a 7.0 and the VR with a 8.4.’