This is an effective way to gather class statistics on experimental data. We have started to use the Google chat feature to promote discussion in the laboratory of class data, such as looking for uniformity in data or analyzing errors across groups. This is done by posting a link to the form to enter data for student groups and then the link to the spreadsheet of data (which only instructors can edit) and having students open it in the lab. With multiple openings the chat feature is enabled. 

Any discussion is anonymous unless students or lab groups identify themselves (students are not signed into Google Drive). These mock online collaborations are a valuable start and demonstrate the ease and power of the technology. Collaborative group projects or reports are a logical next step, which would require students to have a Google account.

Developing students’ online collaboration skills is animportant 21st-century technology goal, according toISTE’s NETS Student standards for K−12,1and a recommendation for higher education from a recent Educause surveyof undergraduate students.2The recent release of the NRCFramework for K−12 Science Education suggests that engagingstudents in argument and debate from evidence early in theeducation process would be of great value.3

Google Drive4has been used in the higher educationclassroom. Pence and Pence5suggest the spreadsheet forcollecting data in undergraduate research projects, and Spaethand Black6recommend it for collecting and calculation oflaboratory data. Bonham7incorporates the use of the GoogleDrive form for class laboratories, and Wood8uses Google Drivefor collaborative laboratory reports. Silverstein9tasks engineering students with doing a collaborative spreadsheet project,including the chat feature.

A no-cost, easy method for instructors to engage students inan emulated online collaboration of experimental data usingGoogle Drive4in first- and second-semester general chemistryis presented. The collaboration process involves collectinggroup laboratory data via an online form as input to aspreadsheet using cloud computing; then an online forumallows instructors to structure discussion of the data using thechat feature. Data can be presented to students in view-onlymode; using a second form facilitates gathering feedback fromthe students. We recommend having no-cost Google accountsfor each laboratory group to ensure the chat function operatesas desired and the browser functions as expected.

In a recent review article in Science, Osborne12 noted the lackof argumentation and debate in science education. Ourapproach gets students into discourse about their experimentaldata in a semianonymous way by laboratory groups. Asinstructors, we had to prompt many times to get evidence, butwe elicited it from students. Students used 21st-centurytechnology, which enhanced engagement and thinking as theydebated in the chat. This activity was successful in meetingsome of the goals put forth in the new NRC Framework for K−12 Science Education.