> part of the purpose of the labs is to teach lab techniques. But the cost seems really high to me. That cost is potentially about to change, with AR/VR-base

> part of the purpose of the labs is to teach lab techniques. But the cost seems really high to me. That cost is potentially about to change, with AR/VR-based virtual labs. Sword combat is something that requires a lifetime of dedicated hard training, with associated injuries... or is something grandma can pick up in a few minutes and do to music. With simulation, realism can be throttled to meet user and class objectives and constraints. Exposure to real-world Murphy messiness is of course still a learning objective. But fighting it need not be quite so pervasive and costly a tax on knowledge acquisition. Especially where "the biggest payoff is having seen it/done it once" is sufficient to need. Also, challenges like getting "incorrect" results, experiment debugging, record keeping, and ethics, can be more systematically taught. And with lab tech becoming increasingly automated...