Labs are the essential component of any STEM course. Covid-19 pandemic shut down schools and colleges all over the world. How can school and college students conduct experiments when labs are inaccessible?

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In work published as a chapter in the book “Higher Education Going Online: The Challenges in India” by the Indian Academy of Science, we argue that virtual labs can be a temporary and cost-effective substitute for in-person labs. We outline several resources and provide examples of designing a lab exercise using open-source materials and tools. Though the book has an India-centric approach, the idea of virtual labs is easily translatable to any region.

“Can simulated lab experiences replace real physics labs in a post-Covid India?,” V. Yadav, and A. Darbinyan, Higher Education Going Online: The Challenges in India, Ed. S. Babu and R. Ramaswamy,  Indian Academy of Science, (2020)