STEM Education: Current and future trends in laboratory-based education

Laboratory experiments constitute a significant educational tool in the area of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education. During the past two decades, a considerable number of published research papers have been devoted to Virtual and Remote Labs (VRLs), the use of which is currently spreading across STEM domains and educational levels. Lately, Augmented Reality Remote Labs (ARRLs) have entered the research field. In this paper, some current trends and challenges are identified and discussed, after a brief overview of the state-of-the-art concerning the different types of labs related to STEM in secondary education and lifelong learning.