Web-based Virtual Labs - A Cosmos – Evidence – Ideas as a Design Framework Leading to Good Practice

Abstract

This paper presents three novel open, web-based, virtual laboratories for Physics. The labs are open, meaning they embody a complete Physics micro-world that implements all necessary Physics laws in algorithmic format. They run in real time and are deployed as Java applets, in order to be accessible via the World Wide Web, with minimum requirements on the client side. Additionally, the labs present a number of features, highly desirable for virtual labs, such as photorealistic graphics, direct manipulation, user friendliness, multiple visualizations of the experiments and the corresponding phenomena and multiple measuring instruments. Finally we present the main design principles on which the development of the labs were based and we propose good practices that can help the acceptance from the science teachers' community and the more effective way of implementation into the class situation.

Developing procedural knowledge in secondary education students

“…All students had some prior knowledge of DC electric circuits, but none of them had received any prior instruction on AC circuits. The virtual laboratory environment used was the open virtual electric circuit laboratory WebLab of the Science Center and Technology Museum (NOESIS), equipped with a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface and an affordance of dynamically linked concrete and abstract representations of electric circuits [10] (shown in Appendix A).…”

Effectiveness of web-based virtual laboratory on grade eight students’ self-regulated learning

“…They combine all the relevant pedagogical, technological, and human resources to carry out practical activities that are adapted to the requirements of the teachers and students in a virtual environment. Virtual laboratories are an open environment through which a real science laboratory is simulated, and the practical part is linked to the theoretical part, allowing students to practice science inquiry skills and make decisions about their learning without worrying about making mistakes (Molohidis et al, 2015). They make it possible for students to explore new domains, make predictions, design experiments, interpret results (Alneyadi, 2019) and permit visualizing objects and processes that are otherwise impossible to show in a real environment (Martín-Gutiérrez et al, 2017).…”