Virtual experimentation with Dose-Response simulator as a teaching tool in biology

We present an educational innovation strategy that consists on the implementation of a virtual investigation project in biology. In university education, some lab practices are prohibitive due to high costs. For distance university education, there are few virtual educational resources that can be used instead. In this paper we share the experience of using the dose-response simulator 1.0. The simulator has been developed in our lab to explore the usability and the learning levels achieved by the students. An exploratory study was conducted with a group of students from the Research Methods I course of the Bachelor's degree biology program. The work corresponds to a virtual, structured, semi-closed type, guided by specialized teaching supervision. Two levels of knowledge were evaluated: the management of the program and the understanding of theoretical knowledge. 69.2% of the students stated that using the simulator was easy. According with Bloom's taxonomy, from 100 to 92.3% performed well in activities at the apply and analyze levels, and 76.9 to 61.5% at the synthesize level. 7.7% did not adapt at all. The results indicate a high level of student learning. Simulators are an alternative for teaching when lab practices are expensive.