Abstract:
Laboratory animals are an indispensable cornerstone of life sciences research, and training in relevant skills constitutes a core practical component of laboratory animal education. In response to the persistent challenges in traditional training—namely time and space constraints, resource scarcity, and ethical dilemmas—this study actively responds to the national digital education strategy, transcends the limitations of single teaching methods, and develops an integrated training model that incorporates blended learning and constructivist learning theory. Centered on the deep integration of “online independent inquiry and offline collaborative practice,” and based on the educational goals for normal students, this model leverages the National Virtual Simulation Experimental Teaching Center for Biology at Central China Normal University to systematically incorporate high-quality digital resources. By redesigning the teaching process into the stages of “pre-class online self-learning, in-class offline internalization and practice, and post-class online expansion and deepening,” it consistently embeds the four core elements of constructivism—context, collaboration, conversation, and meaning construction—throughout the entire process. This approach effectively fosters students’ active knowledge construction and skill reinforcement through authentic contexts, collaborative interaction, and reflective dialogue. Practice has demonstrated that this model not only expands teaching time and space and significantly reduces the use of live animals, but also comprehensively enhances normal students’ autonomous learning capabilities, scientific thinking, and practical operational competence. It provides a replicable and scalable paradigm for digital teaching reform in experimental skills training—a field characterized by high costs and stringent ethical requirements.