The lab In A box: A take-out practical experience for an online invertebrate biology course

Abstract

Hands-on experience is critical to teaching invertebrate zoology, as students are unfamiliar with many animals and theoretical concepts are sometimes difficult to assimilate. As part of a fully online course, we decided to give students a box of take-home materials so that they could do hands-on work in their homes under the guidance of the teacher or at their own pace following the lecture scripts and presentations. The box contained whole specimens fixed in ethanol for observation and dissection, dried material such as skeletons and shells, and microscope slides. We also included a USB digital microscope to facilitate visualization of details and slides. The experience was very satisfying and proved to be not only a good alternative for mandatory online classes in times of pandemic, but also an interesting resource to supplement face-to-face classes.