Live Chem

http://neon.chem.ox.ac.uk/vrchemistry/labintro/newdefault.html

This is a really cool site that I could spend hours browsing through, just playing with different reactions. It's not a full-on actual lab system, but it allows you to choose different mixtures, and there are videos to show what happens in the different reactions.

I think I'm just hitting burnout a bit, even though I just had spring break. I've got an extracurricular going 8 hours a week and 2 classes, so I've not been putting 100% into anything recently. I think as I work on ensuring that I grow in my teaching, my day to day activities will have to include a lot of different approaches, and I really like the speed and convenience of this material for demos and instructional work. It will definitely take a lot more development than I'd ever imagined to create student assignments to take advantage of this technology.

An Automated Lab Instructor

Link

As this research has progressed (and I've worked on developing an assignment using the virtual lab software that came with my AP Chem text), I've really cooled to the idea of virtual labs. The article I found here discusses the creation of a guidance tool used along with a virtual lab to help guide students to the knowledge within, much like a lab teaching assistant or lab instructor would.' I think this is a great development, but I'm trying to figure out the appropriate place for this software. I just don't see one within a traditional classroom.

Throughout my research, I am clearly seeing that there is a good use for virtual labs. That use could be as an external enrichment and as a lab substitute in situations where physical experimentation is not workable. I'm starting to feel like their use in a traditional classroom just doesn't make sense. I've spent more time developing one lab, than it would take me to develop, prep, and clean a wet lab. By being afraid of a big, complicated lab, I may have bitten off more than I can chew, and created a big mess that I've got to wade through, since I need for my kids to do this lab.

Virtual Laboratories as a teaching environment: A tangible solution or a passing novelty?

http://mms.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mms2003/papers/5.pdf

I was actually disappointed with this paper. The title is a question I face any time I discuss the use of virtual labs, or any technology in my classroom. I'm the youngest teacher in my department, and I use more technology than the rest of my colleagues combined. They often ask me what benefit it can be to my students to use these materials, and I'd hoped to get a good evaluative article to that end.

Here's my own reflection to discuss that end, since the paper really didn't do much of that. It pointed out that virtual labs should not replace real labs, but that's been the consensus that I've heard every time I've seen virtual labs discussed. I think that virtual labs are a great precursor to many labs, but there are some labs where the physical technique is far less important, and a wet lab can be fully replaced by a virtual lab. You can't eliminate titrations or thermodynamics experiments, but a qualitative analysis lab, where you simply mix solutions to see what happens can be done completely on the computer. This is especially the case, since mercury is a common part of that analysis scheme.

Is there some magical list, do this lab with chemicals, but you can do this one on the computer? There isn't, and there shouldn't be, but an important part of the decision to use virtual labs is to decide what is appropriate for the medium, and what simply must be done in the lab.

Finally, some QUANTITATIVE data!

http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/Journal/Issues/2003/mar/PlusSub/V80N03/p346.pdf

Learning in Chemistry with Virtual Laboratories
P. Martínez-Jiménez,* A. Pontes-Pedrajas, and J. Polo
Department of Physics, Ed. C-2, Campus of Rabanales, Córdoba 14071, Spain; *fa1majip@uco.es
M. S. Climent–Bellido
Department of Organic Chemistry, E. Politécnica Superior, Córdoba 14004, Spain

This article had some VERY interesting implications. I'm a chemist. We can quantify almost anything, so I really wanted some numbers. This article gave me numbers,and showed me what I wanted to see. When using a virtual lab software, a significantly larger number of students achieved a higher level of understanding of the materials than when doing traditional labs. My students have been having such a hard time grasping the lab material (not different from my freshmen in college when I taught at the university), so I've been hoping to find a way to do that.

This seems (from their own admission and my search results) to be one of the only research studies performed quantitatively on this topic (not what I want to hear with having to keep up 3 blogs a week). I can see the logic in their conclusions, but also feel the need to add some from my experience. They don't really attempt to address the why of this study.

I know that physical experimentation is an important technique that students must learn, but 80% or more of our chemistry students (especially in the K-12 field) will not become chemists. Most won't even end up as scientists. Rather than training them on the use of common tools, we should focus on TEACHING them to understand the concepts behind what is happening. When I look at the lab program I've carried out this year, I feel like I've succeeded in the training aspect-- they can use all the equipment, but they get mediocre (at best) numbers, and can't deal with the calculations and error. They don't know why they do what they do, and they don't know what the numbers MEAN. This is the important part, and it's often where lab programs fall short.

More simulations online

http://www.chem.iastate.edu/group/Greenbowe/sections/projectfolder/animationsindex.htm

Greenbowe, T. J. (2003). "Chemistry Experiment Simulations, Tutorials and Conceptual Computer Animations for Introduction to College Chemistry". Retrieved March 22, 2007 from (address above).

I actually used a lab from this page this year which the kids really seemed to like. After fumbling their way through a real titration, I had them do one on the computer. It was much easier, and they actually got acceptable numbers (which they NEVER get in the real lab). I wish I'd written down some of the comments they made, but many were quite positive. My goal this week (spring break) is to create an assignment for the students to complete in the computer lab, which I've got reserved for the Tuesday after Easter (they're re-teaching the topics to each other the next two weeks).

Research on the software I'm looking to start with

Woodfield, B., et. al. (2004). "The Virtual ChemLab project:A realistic and sophisticated simulation of inorganic qualitative analysis." Journal of Chemical Education. Vol 81, Issue 11, pp1672-1678.

http://vchemlab.chem.byu.edu/virtualchemlab/downloads/research-items/jce-inorganic.pdf/view

This article is a publication by the authors of the software that I use of their research into the efficacy of their software and the impressions of some trial users. The software has been updated a bit as they have used this study to guide some improvements in the program.

The more I read about this software, the more excited I get about using it. Their data shows that students really enjoy the open ended nature of it, and it allows me to greatly increase the amount of lab work that I do without increasing the preparation time that is already so cumbersome.

Varying Levels of Intensity

"Virtual Labs & Simulations"
http://www.hazelwood.k12.mo.us/~grichert/sciweb/chemvl.htm

My primary goal in this process is to gain knowledge for the use of virtual chemistry simulations and software to enhance the laboratory process within my chemistry course. This overlooks an obvious wealth of material available to bring the laboratory process into the day-to-day teaching process. I teach with PowerPoint, but I love to have a link in a slide that I can click to show a video or an applet with some sort of demonstration. This site has a great deal of links to different sites that host this kind of material.

My First Article on Virtual Labs

http://chronicle.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/weekly/v49/i21/21a03001.htm

The above link will prompt you to log in to the proxy server if you haven't done so. If you're at any campus or institution that subscribes to The Chronicle, use the following link: http://www.chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i21/21a03001.htm

Carnevale, Dan. "The Virtual Lab Experiment: Some Colleges Use Computer Simulations to Expand Science Offerings Online." The Chronicle of Higher Education. 49.21 (Jan 31, 2003):NA. Academic OneFile. Thompson Gale. University of Florida. 12 Mar, 2007.


Only when I started reading this article did I notice that they are actually discussing the software that I plan on trying with my students, Virtual ChemLab, developed by professors at Brigham Young University. I think this article serves as an excellent starting place for this investigation, as the topic is aimed at such a general audience.

Virtual labs can be used either on their own, or as a stand alone laboratory program. By using them alongside traditional labs, experiments can be done with much less preparation and no safety risks. This allows students to have free reign, something we've long warned them against. It also allows us to work with expensive lab equipment and materials that are hazardous and difficult to dispose. I spent over $5000 this year setting up my laboratory to teach AP Chemistry for the first time. That doesn't include the $2500 in chemicals we bought to stock up our storeroom. Future years will be less expensive, but there are plenty of schools that may look into using virtual labs as a replacement for their traditional laboratory system.

I am not in support of using ONLY virtual labs, except in a distance learning or disability situation. You can't say you have completed a real general chemistry course if you can't light a bunsen burner, use a buret, or haven't hung your head after ruining hours of work with a simple mistake. It's just part of the experience. I am thinking that this can be GREAT help, however, doing labs that take just too much time (or having them do the virtual labs at home.

A Focus of Study

I have a lot of ideas for integrating technology into my classroom, but they have a varying level of current implementation and future possibility for use. I've recently done research on online homework systems and the use of probeware in the laboratory, but the topic I hope to work through this semester is the use of virtual laboratory experiments. My wife took an anatomy class where a number of her assignments were done virtually, and my interest has since been piqued. I'd like to see how I can implement some virtual laboratory work into the already rigorous laboratory program that I have set up in my course.

Welcome! Bienvenue! Wilkommen! ¡Bienvenidos!

Hello, and welcome to my blog. I really am terrible at blogging. My livejournal gets about a post a year, maybe one a month if you include surveys, quizzes, and memes. I try to keep off of public fora, since my students have a knack for finding me here. You'll never see me include my name for that reason.

I'm at school (kids are taking a test as I speak), so I haven't listened to the intro, so I'm not 100% sure what my area of interest is supposed to be yet, but I guess I'll elucidate that later. For now, auf wiedersehen!