No room for students to practice their calculations? Build your own practice hub!

Active learning design: The maths behind the lab

Maurizio Costabile

For years, Maurizio saw students struggle with the core mathematics needed to understand and complete Biochemistry wet lab practicals. Calculations about conversions, serial dilutions, molarity, pH, buffering….they drew the attention away from the actual biochemistry behind the experiments.

To help them learn the mathematics required for his practicals, he created an interactive online application for his students: The ‘Laboratory Calculations Hub’. For each topic covered in the lab, it gives students multiple examples of calculations and importantly, different explanations of each mathematical principle. Also, it gives the option of formatively testing their understanding.

Maurizio is, as he says, “no expert in coding at all”, so he turned to AI studio by Google to vibe-code an app with exactly the content that his students could practice. “I gave AI a few examples of common calculations, and AI provided more examples. It was surprisingly easy.”

An interactive app around the lab

Students access the Laboratory Practice Hub in their own browser, via Canvas. They are asked to use it before, during and after the on-campus lab sessions, so it connects to the practical work rather than being a separate exercise.

The app is fully formative and anonymous; there are no grades. That is crucial, as it lowers the stakes and encourages experimentation. Students can try, repeat, and freely make mistakes with no other consequence than learning from them.

What worked: Multiple calculation options help to tackle maths anxiety

For Maurizio, the strongest feature is that every core concept is explained from three different angles using a worked example each, so students can choose a maths explanation that fits their way of thinking. And that is also what Suzanne really likes about it.

“Many students are not ‘bad at maths’ in general; they get stuck because a single explanation doesn’t click for them. If they get lost in one explanation they heard in class, they can find another one that makes more sense to them”, says Maurizio. “This can help reduce anxiety and build confidence.”

Suzanne adds that the three-methods-format can also help teaching assistants (TAs). “TAs often have one good-practice calculation that works for them, and always use that. If students need different explanations, that can be difficult for the TA. The practice hub gave them guidance.”

Student experience and early impact: What GenAI made possible

Although he has not yet run a formal evaluation (in progress), Maurizio sees clear signals that the tool is working. Students tell him personally that they find it useful and appreciate the practice without grades.

They use the app in class as support while completing their lab‑related activities, and that really helps. Students arrive in the lab better prepared, and “the number of questions about mathematical calculations has dropped by at least 90% during class” says Maurizio.

A key insight for Suzanne and Maurizio is what free GenAI tools can make possible for individual lecturers. Without budget or programming experience, Maurizio created a tool precisely tuned to the bottleneck of his course. “With no cost, apart from my own time, I was able to create a tool that addresses my students’ needs, and it works effectively.”

This use of GenAI in education does not replace student work, but enables the lecturer to build tools that would otherwise be too time‑consuming or expensive. Suzanne and her colleagues plan to use the practice hub in two practical courses next year, next to the Labbuddy tool. A similar practice hub might even be incorporated into that tool. “I’m really happy to have the possibility to share this with my students”, says Suzanne, “and it would be nice to adapt it so that it is in Dutch”.

Advice for colleagues: Don’t be afraid to try

Maurizio’s advice to other lecturers – whether in Australia or Amsterdam – is a pep-talk: “Don’t be afraid to implement such tools! They are greatly appreciated by students, the educational benefits go beyond the content, and they empower students in confidence and enable them to enjoy their learning.”

The design is intentionally simple: It’s HTML code for an app around one bottleneck skill, it’s placed on an LMS that’s already present (Canvas), and it’s fully formative. That pattern can be transferred to any discipline where students struggle with a specific hurdle and simply need to practice, practice, practice (such as statistics, physics, programming, methods courses, etc.).

Maurizio heartily shares his code with other lecturers, and adds that “With the help of AI it’s really easy to adapt the code for your student’s needs, or ask a bit of help from a colleague who’s good with HTML.”

Get in touch and try it yourself

Maurizio is open to being contacted by colleagues who are interested in trying this, or building similar tools. If you use it, he’d love to hear your experiences! You can reach him at: Maurizio.Costabile@adelaide.edu.au. He has also shared his code for the current application with TLC Science, so do not hesitate to contact us if you’re curious.