Labs are one of the most effective ways to boost student engagement in science – and engagement is an endemic concern: according to Discovery Education’s 2024–2025 Insights Report, nearly half of K–12 teachers have seen a drop in student engagement since 2019. Despite educators seeing labs as a solution, not all schools are able to offer their students these experiences: hands-on, real-world labs aren’t always practical for schools with small enrollment numbers or low-income communities, which don’t have access to the funds required to afford lab equipment.
But all children deserve the opportunity to interact with science the way labs allow them to. So what would happen if technology could eliminate logistical hurdles?
Pitsco Smart Science® Virtual Labs answers this question every day. With thousands of student users, this virtual resource is making higher-impact science more equitable, and boosting passion in the process.
Virtual Science Becomes Smart Science
Even for schools lucky enough to afford in-person labs, conducting experiments has its own set of obstacles.
“One of the biggest challenges I faced as a science teacher was class size,” Ed Keller, co-founder and CEO of Smart Science, recalls. “My first priority had to be safety, which meant I couldn’t run labs the way I wanted. I was constantly monitoring everyone.”
Managing a full lab is stressful and poses increased safety concerns; and safety is no small issue.
“There are real risks,” Ed explains. “If students mishandle chemicals, they can seriously hurt themselves. Sometimes teachers have to use alternatives – not because they want to, but because it’s the only safe option.”
Pitsco Smart Science® Virtual Labs removes that dilemma. Teachers no longer have to choose between low-impact labs or high-risk environments. Students can observe the messy, sometimes gaseous outcomes of real experiments – without being in harm’s way.
This frees up teachers to focus on teaching, not logistics. They can get creative with how labs are structured and adapt lessons to suit both individuals and group collaboration.
“They can ask one student to share their hypothesis, then ask another to explain the science behind why the selected outcome might be, for example. They can spark a class-wide discussion,” Ed says.
By reducing stress and increasing flexibility, Pitsco Smart Science® Virtual Labs empowers teachers and opens more possibilities for learning.
Showing Real Science – Not Simulating It
Ask Ed Keller what makes Smart Science unique to other virtual labs, and he’ll respond without hesitation: it’s not a simulation. This distinction matters; Smart Science is both interactive and uses actual footage of experiments being conducted in each of its labs, grounding the tool in the real world and in real science.
“With a simulation,” Ed explains, “things are perfect, so they happen exactly the way you’d expect, every time. But in the real world, that doesn’t happen. If you were to drop a ball, for example, the wind might blow it a bit to the left, or there might be air resistance. Kids need to see that.”
For educators, these small variations are valuable. They open the door to broader conversations about how different areas of science connect. A single lab question can spark five more, as students begin to wonder what forces and factors are behind the differences in their results.
“When students see a simulation of a ball being dropped, they see a simulation,” Ed says. “There’s a disconnect between the example and how it applies to real life. But with Smart Science, students recognize that the ball is more than just an example; how it behaves shows how physics interacts with real objects.”
Because Smart Science uses real video, students can see what actually happens. They notice that outcomes aren’t always the same, and that gets them asking why. In the process, they think critically about patterns and figure out which variables matter.
Labs That Lead to Results
Before Ed Keller became a science teacher – or the CEO and co-founder of Smart Science – he was a curious student spending weekends at science museums, eager to understand how the world worked. He loved science, but in school, one part failed to satisfy his curiosity: the labs.
Though he preferred hands-on learning, Ed found traditional school labs disconnected from real science. They focused more on memorizing facts than on observation, experimentation, and discovery.
Over time, he realized the root of the problem was systemic: labs had been designed to support test prep, and often failed to help students think like scientists.
Pitsco Smart Science® Virtual Labs takes a different approach to other labs – in-person or virtual. Built around inquiry, it guides students through the full experimental process: forming hypotheses, collecting real data, analyzing results, and drawing conclusions. Scientific thinking is reinforced every step of the way.
Unlike in subjects where success means knowing the answer, science can be more exciting when we don’t. Smart Science helps students unlearn the idea that there’s such a thing as a “right” hypothesis. Instead of focusing on being correct, they begin to recognize patterns, draw connections, and explore what their results really mean.
And by putting exploration first, achievement follows. “We tested Smart Science’s impact on test performance,” Ed says. “One high school class used the tool with their regular curriculum, while another only used traditional methods. The Smart Science group had more than double the pass rate on the AP science test.”
These results are no surprise. When students get to experience the science for themselves, they see both what happens and why it happens, leading to knowledge absorption that’s hard to forget.
A Solution for Everyone
Solving the engagement crisis in education means going beyond capturing attention: it requires shifting curriculum goals to prioritize exploration, and finding scalable ways to give every student access to real scientific experiences.
Through Pitsco Smart Science® Virtual Labs, schools bring inquiry-driven labs to more classrooms, educators have safer, more flexible ways to teach, and students discover real-world connections that launch a love for learning.
Explore the full catalog of lab offerings today.