The OpenScience Laboratory

An initiative of The Open University and The Wolfson Foundation

This online laboratory brings interactive practical science to students anywhere and anytime the internet is available. The laboratory features investigations based on on-screen instruments, remote access experiments and virtual scenarios using real data. Several activities are available to all, while others are available only to registered users.

Come in and look around.

Lab tour

If you close this box, you can still see it at any time by clicking About from the main header above.

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Popular experiments

  • Sorting out soils

    Subject Env Bio Chem

    Examine the physical and chemical characteristics of soil.

    Time required 2.5 hours
    Open to the public

  • A-level: virtual microscope

    Subject Bio

    A collection of slides covering animal and plant tissues in the school curriculum.

    Time required 1-2 hours or more
    Open to the public

  • Pesticide analysis with GC-MS

    Subject Chem Env Health

    Finding environmental pesticides by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry.

    Time required 2.5 hours
    Open to the public

All experiments (filtered; page 1 of 5)

  • Campus Weather Station

    Subject Env Gen

    Live data from The OpenStem Labs weather station on the Open University campus

    Time required
    Open to the public

  • Variation in vegetation: the heather hypothesis

    Subject Env Bio Earth

    Sample virtual transects to gather data on species of heather.

    Time required 2.5 hours
    Open to the public

  • Sorting out soils

    Subject Env Bio Chem

    Examine the physical and chemical characteristics of soil.

    Time required 2.5 hours
    Open to the public

  • Ecological interactions on iSpot

    Subject Env Bio

    Discover & record the ecological interactions among species.

    Time required 1-3 hours
    Open to the public

  • Leaf Structure as Environment Indicator

    Subject Env Bio

    Microscopic study of leaf structure relating to environment

    Time required
    Open to the public

  • Maps and landforms

    Subject Env Earth

    Learn how to interpret maps and how to use a compass.

    Time required 1 hour
    Open to the public

  • Virtual Skiddaw Public Access

    Subject Earth Env

    A virtual field trip in the Lake District of the UK.

    Time required
    Open to the public

  • A-Level Virtual microscopy

    Subject Bio Env Gen Health

    A collection of slides covering animal and plant tissues in the school curriculum.

    Time required
    Open to the public

  • Hominid skull evolution

    Subject Bio Earth Env

    Explore the features of a collection of hominid skulls and take measurements that will enable you to determine the evolutionary relationships between them, investigating the march of bipedalism through the fossil record.

    Time required
    Open to the public
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