Features and Didactic Concepts

EXPERIMENTS LIKE IN REAL LABS

The distinctive features of the Virtual Physiology programs can immediately be recognized. Opening the programs is as going into a real laboratory in which all the necessary devices for experimentation can be found in simplified but realistic form. All settings of the stimulation and recording devices are freely adjustable and mathematical algorithms guarantee for the appropriate reactions of the preparations, also considering the unavoidable randomness and noise of physiological recordings and the diversity of biological preparations. Hence, no student will get exactly the same results as any other one although all can see the physiologically relevant characteristics.

LEARNING BY DOING

With this strategy, the Virtual Physiology programs are going far beyond conventional e-learning modules. Instead of offering guided tours through animated textbook illustrations, the focus of the Virtual Physiology programs is led on “learning by doing”. Although detailed tutorials are provided and examples of protocol forms are given, there is a lot of space for free experimentation. The possibilities to examine the reaction of the preparations are almost innumerable. The teachers can decide themselves what tasks their students shall perform – from quite simple up to highly sophisticated experiments.

ACHIEVING A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING

The didactic concept is to bring the students out of a passive attitude of knowledge consumption and to stimulate the students to make use of their own brains. The Virtual Physiology programs are not primarily made for teaching factual knowledge but for thinking about the functional interdependencies of biological mechanisms and their stimulus dependencies on the basis of own experimentation. This is the way in which a real understanding of biological complexity can achieved, thereby also attaining a certain “know how” to deal with such complex functions. Consolidation and extension of factual knowledge will be a natural side-effect.

WORK BY YOURSELF

We suggest, from own experience, not to specify in all details how a task shall be performed, e.g. giving all required devise settings to perform a specific experiment. The didactically advantageous strategy is asking the students to find themselves the appropriate adjustments for a given experiment – and let them make mistakes. When a preparation is not showing the expected reaction the students will need to think about the reasons – an important and promising step towards a deeper understanding.

ANYTIME AND ANYWHERE

As we know that such a strategy, although didactically desirable, cannot always be satisfactorily realized in the limited time for practical courses, the authorized institute can upload licensed programs on a server to let the students do supplementary experiments without any time-pressure on their computers at home. If such a server does not exist we will send, on request, time-limited students licenses to let the students download the programs on their own computers. The time-limited licenses (renewable) shall prevent uncontrolled distribution of timely un-limited program versions with the name of the authorized institute.

PERFECT FOR HOME STUDIES

In principle, the students can perform all requested tasks at home. Due to the implementation of certain randomness, as mentioned above, no student will get exact the same preparation as another one so that copy and paste will be recognizable. In future versions, additional tools for distributed learning will be implemented, e.g. to document and reload the parameter settings to countercheck students’ data, preferably by a quick, automatic re-calculation of the results. A first step in this direction was made with SimNeuron where, with appropriate pre-settings, all neurons under examination will be stored with the full set of parameters.

References

(more references, also to scientific papers of Hans Braun, can be found at Research Gate: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hans_Braun/publications)

Reports on the first Virtual Physiology release – Background & Concepts

Virtual versus real laboratories in life-science education: Concepts and experiences
Braun H.A. (2003)
In: Jukes N and Chiuia M (Eds) From guinea pig to computer mouse.
Interniche, pp 81-87.


The Real and Virtual Laboratory: A Conversation with Dr. Hans Braun
Bahar S (2001)
In: The Biological Physicist, The Newsletter of the Division of Biological Physics of the American Physical Society.
Vol.1 No.1, June 2001 p 5-7.


Recent publications – specifically related to SimNeuron

Diversity and Noise in Neurodynamics across Different Functional Levels
Tchaptchet A, Braun H (2015), In: Advances in Cognitive Neurodynamics. Eds.: R. Wang, P. Xiaochuan.
Springer, ISBN 978-981-10-0207-6


Modeling Neuronal Activity in Relation to Experimental Voltage-/Patch-Clamp Recordings
Tchaptchet A, Postnova S, Finke C, Schneider H, Huber MT, Braun HA (2013)
In: Brain Res 1536: 159-167, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2013.06.029
PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23911648
Science direct: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006899313009153/


Conductance-Based Models of Neurons and Synapses for the Evaluation of Brain Functions, Disorders and Drug Effects
Tchaptchet A, Postnova S, Finke C, Schneider H, Huber MT, Braun HA (2013)
In: Brain Res 1536: 159-167, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2013.06.029
PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23911648
Science direct: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006899313009153/


Selected Conference Presentations of the Virtual Physiology labs

August 23 – September 02, 2021

Maastricht – NL (online)

11th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal use in Life Sciences

VIRTUAL PHYSIOLOGY – IN THE CLASSROOM AND FOR DISTANCE LEARNING

Hans A. Braun, Aubin Tchaptchet, Jirka R. Dell‘Oro-Friedl, Daniel Mohnke, Tina Braun


October 05 – 06, 2018

Universidad de los Andes, Bogota – Columbia

SIMPOSIO  INTERNATIONAL  EN EDUCATION  E  INVESTIGATION  EN FISIOLOGIA E BIOMEDICINA

The Real and Virtual Laboratory: Experiments and Simulations in Life Science Education and Research

Hans A. Braun


March 03 – 05, 2016

Lübeck – Germany 

95th Annual Meeting of the German Physiological Society

Heart and Smooth Muscle Experiments in Virtual Laboratories: SimHeart and SimVessel

Hans A. Braun, Aubin Tchaptchet, Jirka Dell Oro-Friedl, Daniel Mohnke, Tina Braun, Friederike Stumpff, Gerald McGregor, Karlheinz Voigt, Kurt Mandrek, Svetlana Postnova, Martin C. Hirsch      


September 20 – 23,  2015

Linz – Austria 

19th European Congress on Alternatives to Animal testing and 16th Annual Congress of the European Society to Animal Testing

Virtual Physiology: Computer Laboratories as Alternatives in Life-Science Education

H. A. Braun, A. Tchaptchet, K. Voigt, J. Dell Oro-Friedl, D. Mohnke, T. Braun, F. Stumpff, G. McGregor, S. Postnova, M. C. Hirsch    


March 13.– 15, 2015

Mainz – Germany 

93rd Annual Meeting of the German Physiological Society

Learning by doing with the virtual physiology series: Physiological and pharmacological in silico experiments

Hans A. Braun, Aubin Tchaptchet, Jirka Dell Oro-Friedl, Daniel Immer, Horst Schneider, Tina Braun, Svetlana Postnova, Oxana Semyachkina-Glushkovskaya, Justus Schwabedal, Sibylle Wenzel, Martin C. Hirsch, Karlheinz Voigt      


November 15 – 19, 2014

Washington DC – USA 

Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience

From Ion Currents to Compound Action Potentials with the Virtual Physiology teaching tools SimNeuron and SimNerv.  

Hans A. Braun, Aubin Tchaptchet, Dirk Höhl, Uwe Thomas    


October 10, 2014

University of Fluminense, Niteroi – Brazil

Computer Simulations in Life Science Education and Research – The Virtual Physiology Series

Hans A. Braun (Invited Presentation)  


August 24 – 28, 2014

Prague, Czech Republic 

9th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences

a) The Real and Virtual Laboratory: Experiments and Simulations in Life Science Education and Research

Hans A. Braun

b) Virtual Physiology: Computer Laboratories for Life Science Education

Aubin Tchaptchet, Jirka R. dell‘Oro-Friedl, Daniel Immer, Horst Schneider, Tina Braun, Hans A. Braun


November 9-13, 2013

San Diego – USA 

Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience

Computer Simulations in Life Science Education – The Virtual Physiology Series

H. A. Braun, A. Tchaptchet, H. Schneider, S. Wenzel, J Schwabedal, M. C. Hirsch, K. Voigt, T. Braun, D. Mohnke, J. Dell Oro-Friedl    


Oct 21, 2013

Havana – Cuba

LATINFARMA – Latin American Seminar on Alternatives to Animal Experiments in Education and Training

From Guinea Pig to Computer Mouse: The Virtual Physiology Programs in Physiological and Pharmacological Education. 

Hans A. Braun  


13. – 18. July 2013

Paris – France 

22nd Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting

Virtual Neurophysiology Laboratories for Life Science Education: Action Potentials and Voltage-/Patch-Clamp Recordings.

Aubin Tchaptchet, Horst Schneider, Hans A. Braun