Name: Kelsey Gilcrease

Role: Instructor in the Department of Chemistry, Biology, & Health Sciences

Institution: South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, SD

Challenge: Identifying and implementing remote learning physiology labs that continue to challenge advanced students to learn and excel.

Solution: Carolina’s Ready-to-Ship physiology lab kit

Results: The ready-to-ship physiology lab kit provides Mrs. Gilcrease and her students with investigations that promote advanced learning, encourage independent research, and build laboratory skills.

In late 2020, science instructor Kelsey Gilcrease began preparations for her Spring 2021 remote classes at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. She had used many Carolina materials over the years and was very familiar and pleased with them, so she checked into the physiology kit and its viability for her 300-level Biomedical Physiology class. Although the kit was customizable with digital components, Gilcrease found the included labs were already a great fit for her course.

Right from the start, Gilcrease appreciated that Carolina shipped the kits directly to her students and that she received a teacher kit as well. That alone made it easy for students to get what they needed and jump right into that first lab.

Gilcrease was also happy to find that the kit contained the same high-quality materials she was used to getting from Carolina. “It was nice that the kit included materials that both my students and I were already familiar with,” she explains. This was a definite advantage when it came to giving her students pre-lab instructions. “We could walk through the lab for the week and the materials were right there in their kit box so there was no confusion.” The comprehensiveness of the lab instructions was also a great help in Gilcrease’s teaching efforts.

“As far as making the change from in-person to completely remote labs, it was hardly any trouble at all,” Gilcrease explains. “Everything about the kit is so high-quality and comprehensive that it made it really easy.” Gilcrease says she “would definitely use Carolina kits again if I ever need to teach online labs for any class for any reason.”

Gilcrease found that her students really enjoyed the interesting investigations and easy-to-follow instructions. “They said it was just like being in the lab without having to go anywhere.”

She describes how one student said that doing the work at home encouraged her to continue to look up more information on her own because the instructor wasn’t right there to ask. “There was email, of course, but she started looking at other things on her own and she read even more in that process.”

Easy to implement, excellent materials, comprehensive instructions, engaging investigations—just what professors and students need to succeed, even during a pandemic!