When it comes to teaching science courses online, colleges are getting creative. Institutions are using virtual reality programs to immerse students in laboratory simulations. They’re also mailing lab kits to students’ homes, enabling them to dissect cadavers on their kitchen tables, complete with whole specimens of sharks, birds and snakes, plus that old classic, frogs.
But for very good reasons, there’s still a limit to the kind of hands-on science coursework that colleges can, ahem, deliver remotely.
“USPS will probably kill us if we try to mail sulfuric acid,” says Ara Austin, a clinical assistant professor and senior director of online engagement and strategic initiatives at Arizona State University (ASU).
That logistical hurdle has prevented colleges from offering full online degree programs in core science subjects like chemistry and biochemistry. After all, if a…
