Robert, a Gymnasium teacher in Switzerland, needed a diversified way to introduce Chemistry that would both motivate and excite his students. It wasn’t enough to teach them the theory and show them the practice; he needed something more hands-on for students. He found Labster.

Read more about:

• How students got motivated from gamified learning
• The intellectual and hands-on combination that illustrates teaching concepts
• Why Labster increases student curiosity

Robert Damrou is using Labster virtual labs to teach 80 students across four classes at Gymnasium Friedberg in Germany. He’s using them as an interactive homework tool and as a supplement to wet labs. 

Challenge: Robert needed a diversified way to introduce Chemistry that would both motivate and excite his high school students. It wasn’t enough to teach them the theory and show them the practice, he needed something that was more hands-on for students.
Solution: With Labster, Robert was able to combine theory and hands-on work by using both German and English Labster simulations. His colleagues in Biology are also using the simulations in their teachings. 

Results: Robert has enjoyed teaching with Labster because it has really helped him interject new themes and new topics into his teachings. Students love it because they enjoy the unique way of learning through gamification. 

An interview with Robert Damrou

Gamified learning

I was searching for something to introduce topics in Chemistry in a different way. I saw Labster and I thought it was a pretty nice way to get the students more motivated on a topic, to check it out themselves, and to make it like a gamification of my teaching. 

Feedback from students

They really love it. I also used the simulations to repeat the topic. I just taught normally and then I let them play the simulations and they loved it. In the simulations, there are points where the chemical things are more known and used and some points are new. They love to see what you can do with it.

Intellectual and hands-on combination

Chemistry has both sides: the intellectual part and working in the lab. With this combination, you can really show the students while you’re teaching. We use Labster because of the combination of both. You have your virtual lab that they can’t do themselves during the lesson. They can virtually do the experiments that I can’t implement in my lessons.

Hybrid teaching

With 25 students, it’s more or less impossible when they all work in the lab, in our small school. That was the point I was thinking about is to use Labster because I have the combination of both virtual and in-person. 

Prompting student questions

The topics are nicely introduced. They influenced the conversations we had in class because if they do the experiments virtually, with Labster, they are curious to know how you would do that in a different way or what other practical techniques there are.