Measuring velocity and building electric circuits might sound like lessons best taught in person, but Kauaʻi Community College Physics Instructor Brad Dempsie has developed a fully remote, yet still hands-on approach to physics that’s making science education more accessible than ever.
Dempsie’s lab courses come to students through the mail—literally. He assembles and ships customized lab kits containing equipment for about 12 experiments, all packaged and checked out as library items.
“We should really call it ‘remote’ learning, as opposed to online learning, because the students are actually doing the labs, using equipment to take measurements,” Dempsie said.
Serving students across the state
Since 2020, Dempsie has served hundreds of students across the islands, with both calculus- and algebra-based physics sequences filling quickly. For fall 2025, he’s mailing out almost 50 lab kits, with about two-thirds headed to neighbor islands and beyond.
“The simpler the equipment is, the easier the students can grasp the concept,” he said, as he demonstrated how the ultrasonic velocity measuring device included in the kit works. A line appeared on Dempsie’s laptop screen as he drove a remote-controlled car further away from the device, while an arc appeared as a ball rolled down a slanted table.
Although remote labs may lack the camaraderie of in-person labs, Dempsie said, “Everyone has to pull their weight and can’t rely on their lab partner to help them pass the class.”
Redesigned during COVID-19
The innovative format began in fall 2020, when Dempsie foresaw the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and redesigned both his lecture and lab classes. That first semester, even students stranded in other countries completed their courses online, labs and all.
Now, he said, remote physics labs help science students better manage packed academic schedules.
“There are a lot of requirements on our science students, and it can be difficult for them to fit all the required classes, especially with the labs, into their schedule,” Dempsie said.
A major benefit is flexibility, compared to having to do the work within a set three-hour timeslot.
“Now students can try the lab, and if they do something wrong or have a question, they can come back to it tomorrow and try again,” he said. “They can do the work at their own pace instead of being rushed.”
—By Catilin Fowlkes
