Students in the Wild

Exposure to nature can improve mental health and cognitive abilities, while creating enhanced engagement with biological course material through interactions with organisms and ecosystems. Remote biology education was suddenly implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic at many universities, and such distance education continues to provide broadened opportunities for active learning through hands-on lab and field activities. Remote science activities require explicit conversations and student training to address novel, off-campus safety issues. Here, we present inclusive approaches to safety instruction for incorporation into any biological undergraduate course. Remote lab learning not only develops students’ skills and self-efficacy in performing biology, but it also engages students in course content and stimulates their interest in observation-based research. This emphasis on safety will extend scientific practice into students’ lives while reducing risk during laboratory and field activities and afterward The safety considerations outlined here are designed to consider a global and diverse student population and will apply to a multitude of active-learning lab or field activities performed remotely by students.