The need for physical distancing in the Covid-19 pandemic has led many countries to implement policies to study from home. In mid-2020 and until mid-2021, students in Indonesia still have to do online learning. Therefore, the lecturers teach online (known as Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT)), including for science courses. A hands-on activity in science courses is often considered unable to be carried out optimally in ERT. In this study, the role of hands-on activity in teaching basic science concepts online (ERT) is discussed. The methodology used in this research is Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP). The main data source is taken from the author's reflection (journaling) process in implementing ERT in the basic science concept course in primary school teacher education. Some results from the students' feedback questionnaire are also part of the data. From this research, it is found that in ERT for science, a hands-on activity not only plays a role in improving student competence, such as in in-person teaching, but also has a role in engaging students' attention, providing a sense of learning to the students, and also providing a possibility for interaction among students and between lecturer and students. This result may provide insights to science subject lecturers during the ERT period. Due to the importance of hands-on activities, In ERT, the hands-on activities may be replanned and redesigned according to ERT conditions, but science lecturers are suggested not to completely eliminate the hands-on activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]