Remote Learning of COVID-19 Kinetic Analysis in a Physical Chemistry Laboratory Class

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many in-person laboratory courses across the world. The viral spreading model is complicated but parameters, such as its reproduction number, Rt, can be estimated with the susceptible, infectious, or recovered (SIR) model. COVID-19 data for many states and countries are widely available online. This provides an opportunity for the students to analyze its spreading kinetics remotely. Here, we reported a lab carried out online during the third week of the spring semester of 2021 to minimize social contacts. Due to the wide interest in developing online physical chemistry and analytical labs during the pandemic, we’d like to share this lab design. The method, technique, procedure, and grading are described in this report. The student participants were able to apply the kinetic techniques learned in physical chemistry to successfully analyze an ongoing real-world problem through a remote learning environment and prepare this report.