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Virtual laboratories for teaching chemistry. Modern problems of science and education Chemical experiments online laboratory

In accordance with the Federal State Educational Standards of Higher Professional Education in the areas of study implemented at the Faculty of Chemistry of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after A.I. Herzen, the organization of the educational process should provide for the use of active and interactive forms of conducting classes, including computer simulations. Classes conducted in these forms must be at least 30 percent of the classroom time.

Treating active and interactive forms of conducting classes in terms of involving students in intensive direct or indirect educational interaction, it should be recognized that based on the principles of technologization, innovation, individualization, differentiation, integration, computer training programs open up new possibilities in organizing the interaction of subjects of learning, content and the nature of their activities. In particular, in teaching chemistry, such an approach contributes to an increase in the level of assimilation of chemical information knowledge and the ability to apply it, the development of students' abilities for integrative and creative thinking, the formation of generalized skills to resolve problem situations.

Improvement of electronic teaching aids has led to the modernization of the educational process as a whole: lectures are held in the mode of presentations, interactive methods of presenting educational material are used for conducting practical and seminars, tests and exams are taken using machine control.

When teaching chemistry, the most conservative part of the educational process remains the laboratory practice, the expediency of completely transferring it to the e-learning mode is not yet entirely clear. However, special opportunities for the implementation of interactive learning here are created by a new type of educational chemical experiment - a virtual laboratory.

A virtual laboratory is a computer program that allows you to simulate a chemical process on a computer, change the conditions and parameters of its implementation. When performing virtual laboratory work, the student operates with samples of substances and equipment components that reproduce the appearance and functions of real objects.

On the one hand, the positive aspects of the virtual laboratory are obvious - modern computer technologies in a number of cases make it possible to move away from the actual conduct of chemical processes without losing the quality of the information received. A special need for virtual laboratory work arises, first of all, in correspondence and distance learning, as well as when students work out missed classes, the absence of complex equipment and expensive or inaccessible reagents. In addition, for some jobs, the capabilities of a computerized laboratory workshop are broader than the traditional one. So, students have the opportunity to study reactions with substances prohibited for use in the educational process, there are no time restrictions, the student can perform work (or prepare for it) outside the classroom, repeat it many times.

Despite the advantages and obvious need of educational practice in virtual laboratories, their number and experience of using in interactive and distance learning chemical disciplines, for example, physical chemistry, in foreign and domestic practice is not so great. Virtual laboratories for chemistry are mainly created for secondary general education ("Virtual chemical laboratory for grades 8-11 ISO"). As for higher education, there is a limited number of virtual chemical laboratories mainly in inorganic, general and organic chemistry for non-chemical areas / training profiles, almost all in English, in some cases registration and payment for using the full version is required: Chemlab, Crocodile Chemistry 605, and the educational product Yenka, Virtual Chemistry Laboratory, created on its basis, adapted for Russian schools, Dartmouth ChemLab - an interactive guide to laboratory work in general chemistry, it is not actually a virtual laboratory), a collection of visualizations and computer simulations Chemistry Experiment Simulations and Virtlab: A Virtual Laboratory and several others.

Special virtual laboratories for physical chemistry are not represented at all on the educational market. Of course, universities, as far as possible, create virtual laboratory works in physical chemistry, taking into account their specificity, most often for working with their own students. For example, the software product "Applied Chemistry Module" (MPH), developed at the IU-6 Department of the Moscow State Technical University named after N.E. Bauman. In accordance with the curriculum of the discipline "Physical Chemistry" it is planned to perform a number of laboratory works, including on the topics "Thermochemistry", "Phase equilibria", "Surface phenomena".

Thanks to the MPH, it became possible to conduct laboratory work on these topics in real time (Real Time), implementing a blended distance learning model. Another example is the virtual laboratory work of the Kemerovo Institute of Food Technologies.

The level of such developments is very diverse, both from a technical and methodological point of view, and the use is limited. Independent design and implementation of a narrowly subject information educational environment is a very difficult task that requires a special operating base, a team of programmers, teachers and chemists, and a lot of time and money. We believe that it seems more expedient to adapt or create, within the framework of the existing virtual laboratory, our own virtual laboratory works that meet the features of this OOP and the discipline program. In particular, we used the virtual laboratory of the The ChemCollective project to create our own virtual laboratory works in physical chemistry.

IrYdium Chemistry Lab, the advantages of which are a satisfactory set of virtual reagents and physicochemical devices, a partially Russified friendly interface, a built-in task development program, allowed by developers for free and free use.

Created by us on the basis of the IrYdium Chemistry Lab and tested in a laboratory workshop on physical chemistry at the Russian State Pedagogical University named after A.I. Herzen virtual laboratory works are simulations of experimental work of a real laboratory workshop on the topic "Thermochemistry": "Determination of the heat of dissolution of salt", "Determination of the heat effect of formation of crystalline hydrate from anhydrous salt and water", "Determination of the heat of neutralization of a strong acid with a strong base", the implementation of which is provided work programs of the discipline "Physical chemistry". Each work includes a wide variety of tasks (studied substances, their mass / volume), provided with methodological instructions for students and teachers. The course of virtual laboratory work is as close as possible to carrying out a real chemical experiment; using a computer program, the student performs certain actions thought out by him in accordance with a specific task: selects reagents, weighs, measures volumes, records temperature changes, makes observations (in the form of virtual images), processes, summarizes and analyzes the results of experiments in a report.

Despite the described advantages, with the development of computer teaching technologies, the question of the need to create virtual laboratory works and the partial or complete transfer of workshops from laboratories to computer classes is being discussed more and more.

At the same time, some authors explain the need for such a transition by the high cost of laboratory equipment, others - by insufficient time resources or the unification of educational programs in accordance with the Bologna Declaration, etc. However, the main disadvantage of a virtual laboratory is the absence of direct contact between the student and the object of research, instruments and equipment.

Like most of our colleagues, we believe that the object of the study of chemistry is a substance that has a complex of characteristics and properties that cannot be reproduced by any of the most perfect computer models. The approach to the problem of creating virtual laboratory works and their introduction into the educational process should take into account the specifics of the chemical discipline in order to prevent the release of an army of "virtual" specialists who have experience working only with idealized models, and not with real objects and phenomena, while the level their responsibility when working in production is so great that it determines not only environmental safety, but also the very existence of the surrounding world.

The experience of using virtual laboratory works in a chemistry workshop has shown that a combination of a virtual and a real experiment is preferable, in which a computer model of the studied process has an auxiliary function of preparing a student for actions with real objects. The virtual laboratory allows you to work out the methodology for studying a real process, anticipate possible errors in setting up and conducting an experiment, speed up the mathematical processing and interpretation of the data obtained, and draw up a report. The teacher has a real opportunity to formulate a problem for students to determine the optimal conditions for the experience. The solution to this problem can be realized in the conditions of a virtual chemical experiment after studying the properties of the model, which allows students to reasonably justify the conditions for carrying out a real experiment themselves. This is especially true in the case of working with hazardous chemical objects (for example, concentrated acids and alkalis, flammable or toxic substances), then virtual laboratories should be used in the first stages, and only after obtaining the required skills, if necessary, go to work with real objects.

There is no doubt that our proposed virtual laboratory work and other computer simulations cannot and should not replace a real chemical experiment, but there are a number of situations when the use of a virtual laboratory is the preferred or only possible way of teaching. First of all, this is distance learning, when the student is not physically present in the laboratory, for example, during distance learning or full-time due to illness or due to a foreign internship. In addition, there is a need to work off missed classes, the need for preparation / training before doing real laboratory work, etc. With interactive forms of conducting classes, virtual laboratory work allows you to conduct a visual and reliable computer simulation of the physicochemical process, to cause and observe the system's response to external influences, including the maximum number of students in the classroom in productive educational interaction.

Thus, from our point of view, active and interactive forms of chemistry classes should contain both real experiments on modern equipment and virtual laboratory work on the study of chemical processes in an optimal, scientifically grounded proportion, which will dynamically develop the structure and methodology of teaching chemistry. based on the most modern achievements of science, technology and methods of cognition. collaboration learning assault virtual

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The technique of creating laboratory works in chemistry using virtual laboratories is described. The creation of a virtual laboratory work consists of the stages of setting goals for laboratory work, choosing a virtual laboratory, identifying the capabilities of a virtual simulator, correcting goals, defining meaningful and didactic tasks, drafting a scenario, testing, correcting a scenario, evaluating and analyzing the reliability of the process and the result of a virtual experiment in comparison with full-scale, drawing up guidelines. A model of the methodology for creating a virtual laboratory work in chemistry is presented. The conceptual and terminological apparatus in the field of research has been clarified: the definitions of a virtual laboratory work in chemistry, a virtual chemical laboratory, and a virtual chemical experiment are given. The methods of using virtual laboratory work in chemistry when studying at a university are shown: when studying new material, when consolidating knowledge, when preparing for full-scale laboratory work both in classroom and in extracurricular independent activities.

chemistry training

virtual laboratories

virtual experiment

1. Belokhvostov AA, Arshanskiy E. Ya. Electronic means of teaching chemistry; development and method of use. - Minsk: Aversev, 2012 .-- 206 p.

2. Gavronskaya Yu. Yu., Alekseev VV Virtual laboratory works in interactive teaching of physical chemistry // Bulletin of the Russian State Pedagogical University. A.I. Herzen. - 2014. - No. 168. - P.79–84.

3. GOST 15971–90. Information processing systems. Terms and Definitions. - Instead of GOST 15971-84; entered 01.01.1992. - M .: Publishing house of standards, 1991 .-- 12 p.

4. Morozov, MN Development of a virtual chemical laboratory for school education // Educational technologies and society. - 2004. –T 7, No. 3. - S 155-164.

5. Pak, MS Theory and methods of teaching chemistry: a textbook for universities. - SPb .: Publishing house of the Russian State Pedagogical University im. A.I. Herzen, 2015 .-- 306 p.

6. Federal state educational standard of higher professional education in the direction of preparation 050100 Pedagogical education (qualification (degree) "bachelor") (approved by the Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation of December 22, 2009 No. 788) (as amended on May 31, 2011 .) [Electronic resource]. - URL: http://fgosvo.ru/uploadfiles/fgos/5/20111207163943.pdf (date accessed: 03.10.15).

7. Virtual Lab / ChemCollective. Online Resources for Teaching and Learning Chemistry [Electronic resource]. - URL: http://chemcollective.org/activities/vlab?lang=ru (date of access: 03.10.15).

Virtual chemical laboratories, virtual experiment, virtual laboratory work in chemistry are a promising field in chemistry education, which naturally attracts the attention of students and teachers. The relevance of the introduction of virtual laboratories into educational practice is due, firstly, to the information challenges of the time, and secondly, to the regulatory requirements for the organization of training, that is, educational standards. The existing FSES of higher education in order to implement the competence-based approach provides for the widespread use in the educational process of active and interactive forms of conducting classes, including computer simulations, in combination with extracurricular work in order to form and develop the professional skills of students.

In this area, in terms of prevalence and demand, the leader is "Chemistry Grade 8-11 - Virtual Laboratory" of MarSTU, intended for schoolchildren and applicants; VirtuLab (http://www.virtulab.net/) interactive hands-on labs and chemistry experiments are also well known. At the level of higher education, among the Russian-language resources on the market of educational tools, there are virtual chemical laboratories of YNK, own (and, as a rule, closed) developments of universities and a number of resources in foreign languages. The description of the available virtual laboratories for chemistry has been given more than once, and the list will undoubtedly be replenished. Virtual laboratories confidently take their place in the practice of teaching chemistry and chemical disciplines, at the same time, the theoretical and methodological foundations of their application and the creation of virtual laboratory works on their basis are just beginning to take shape. Even the term “virtual laboratory work in chemistry” itself has not yet received a reasonable definition that accurately denotes the relationship with other concepts, including the concept of a virtual laboratory in teaching chemistry and a virtual chemical experiment.

To clarify the conceptual and terminological apparatus, we use the term "chemical experiment" as the initial one, which is used in the scientific field of theory and teaching methods. A chemical experiment is a specific means of teaching chemistry, performing the functions of a source and the most important method of cognition, it acquaints students not only with objects and phenomena, but also with the methods of chemical science. In the process of a chemical experiment, students acquire the ability to observe, analyze, draw conclusions, handle equipment and reagents. Distinguish between: demonstration and student / student experiment; experiments (help to study individual aspects of a chemical object), laboratory work (a set of laboratory experiments allows you to study many aspects of chemical objects and processes), practical exercises, laboratory practice; home experiment, research experiment, etc. A chemical experiment can be natural, mental and virtual. “Virtual” means “possible without physical embodiment”; virtual reality - imitation of a real environment using computer devices; used mainly for educational purposes; in this regard, a virtual experiment is sometimes called a simulation or computer experiment. According to the current GOST, “virtual” is a definition that characterizes a process or device in an information processing system that seems to exist in reality, since all their functions are implemented by some other means; widely used in connection with the use of telecommunications. Thus, a virtual chemical experiment is a type of educational experiment in chemistry; its main difference from the natural one is the fact that computer technology serves as a means of demonstrating or modeling chemical processes and phenomena; during its implementation, the student operates with images of substances and equipment components that reproduce the appearance and functions of real objects, that is, he uses a virtual laboratory. We understand a virtual laboratory in teaching chemistry as a computer simulation of an educational chemical laboratory, which implements its main function - conducting a chemical experiment for educational purposes. Technically, the functioning of the virtual laboratory is provided by software and hardware of computer technology, didactically - meaningfully and methodically substantiated system of assumptions about the course of the studied chemical process or manifestations of the properties of a chemical object, on the basis of which one of the possible options for the reaction of the virtual laboratory to the user's actions is developed. The virtual laboratory acts as an element of a high-tech information educational environment, being a means of creating and performing a virtual experiment. Virtual laboratory work in chemistry is a virtual chemical experiment in the form of a set of experiments, united by the common goal of studying a chemical object or process.

Consider the methodology for creating a virtual laboratory work in chemistry (its model is shown in Figure 1) on a specific example of laboratory work on the topic "Solutions".

Rice. 1. Model of the methodology for creating a virtual laboratory work in chemistry

The creation of a virtual laboratory work consists of the stages of setting goals for laboratory work, choosing a virtual laboratory, identifying the capabilities of a virtual simulator, correcting goals, defining meaningful and didactic tasks, drafting a scenario, testing, evaluating and analyzing the reliability of the process and the result of a virtual experiment in comparison with a natural one, correction script and drawing up guidelines.

The goal-setting stage implies the process of choosing the goals of the planned laboratory work with the establishment of the limits of permissible deviations to achieve the educational result by the most effective and acceptable means, taking into account the material, technical, time, human resources, as well as the personal and age characteristics of students. In our example, the goal was to prepare solutions and study their properties; the work is designed for independent extracurricular educational activities of students. The topic of solutions is touched upon in most university courses in chemistry, in addition, the skills of preparing and working with solutions are in demand in everyday life and in almost any professional activity. Therefore, the goals of the work were laid down: consolidation of the ability to calculate the molar and percentage concentration of a solution, the required amount of a substance and solvent to prepare a solution of a given concentration; development of the algorithm and technique of operations for the preparation of solutions (weighing substances, measuring the volume, etc.); study of the phenomena occurring during dissolution - the release or absorption of heat, dissociation, changes in electrical conductivity, changes in the pH of the medium, etc.

The stage of choosing a virtual laboratory. The choice of a virtual laboratory is due to a number of circumstances: the mode of access to the resource, the financial conditions of its use, the language and complexity of the interface, and, of course, the content, that is, the capabilities that this laboratory provides or does not provide to the user to achieve the goals of the planned laboratory work. We focused on laboratories with free open access, for work with which it would be enough to have a computer at the user level, initially abandoning laboratories with a low degree of interactivity, that is, allowing only options for passive observation of a chemical experiment. Having studied several projects, both diversified and thematic, we came to the conclusion that none of the laboratories known to us fully meets the requirements, namely: to allow the student to prepare a solution of a given concentration for the pre-calculated amounts of the dissolved substance and solvent, after weighing , measuring the volume, dissolving, making sure that the preparation is correct, and also observing the processes accompanying dissolution. Nevertheless, we settled on the IrYdiumChemistryLab virtual laboratory, the advantage of which is the ability to intervene in the program and design our own virtual experiment.

Identification of the capabilities of the virtual simulator of the selected laboratory showed the following. Regarding the set of reagents - there are solutions of various concentrations (19 MNaOH, 15 MHClO4 and others), water as the most important solvent, but there are practically no solids; however, the Authoring Tool allows you to inject additional reagents into the laboratory using the thermodynamic properties of substances. The equipment includes a set of volumetric glassware of varying degrees of accuracy (cylinders, pipette, burettes), an analytical balance, a pH meter, a temperature sensor, a heating element, and an applet that demonstrates the concentration of particles in a solution. The ability to study such characteristics of a solution as electrical conductivity, viscosity, surface tension is not provided. Processes in a virtual laboratory take place in a very short time, which limits the study of the speed of chemical processes. Based on the capabilities of the virtual simulator, the goals were corrected, in particular, the study of the electrical conductivity of solutions was excluded, but the study of the effect of temperature on the solubility of substances was added. When defining the goals of laboratory work, we proceeded from the expected results: students should develop a practical skill in the preparation of solutions, including mastering the algorithms of individual operations, they should come to conclusions about the change in the number of particles in the solution during the dissociation of strong and weak electrolytes, about the ratio of the number of anions and cations in the case of dissolution of asymmetric electrolytes, about the causes of thermal effects during dissolution.

We single out the stage of determining the tasks of the laboratory work being created as an important element of the process of designing the activities of students, here it is necessary to plan what manipulations students will have to perform in the framework of this laboratory work and what to observe (meaningful tasks), and to what conclusions and on the basis of what they should come after completing it (didactic tasks), what skills to acquire. For example, to master the algorithm of actions when preparing a given volume of a solution according to a sample: calculate the mass of a substance, weigh, measure the volume of liquid / bring to the required volume; master the techniques of working with analytical scales and measuring glassware; observe how the concentrations of particles (molecules, ions) in a solution relate when dissolving electrolytes and non-electrolytes, symmetric and asymmetric electrolytes, strong and weak electrolytes, draw a conclusion about solubility, thermal effects during dissolution, and so on.

The next step in creating a laboratory work is to create a scenario, that is, a detailed description of each experiment separately and defining the place and role of this experience in laboratory work, taking into account which tasks it will contribute to, and how to work towards achieving the goals of the laboratory work as a whole. In practice, the drafting of the scenario takes place simultaneously with the approbation, that is, the trial execution of experiments that contribute to the clarification and detail of the scenario. The script reflects every action and reaction of the virtual laboratory to it. The scenario is based on tasks such as “Prepare 49 g of a 0.4% CuSO4 solution” or “Prepare 35 ml of a 0.1 mol / L CuSO4 solution from its crystalline hydrate (CuSO4 ∙ 5H2O)”. When drawing up the task, the availability of suitable reagents and equipment in the virtual laboratory and the technical feasibility of completing such a task are taken into account. In our example, the scenario, in addition to the design side, included a number of actions and techniques that simulate the preparation of a solution in a real laboratory. For example, when weighing, dry matter must be placed not directly on the weighing pan, but use a special container; use the tare function; as in reality, the substance should be added to the balance in small portions, a possible accidental excess of the calculated mass will lead to the fact that the operation will need to be started anew. Provides a choice of chemical glassware of suitable volume, accurate measurement of the volume of liquid "along the lower meniscus" and the use of other specific techniques. After preparation, the virtual laboratory applets reflect the properties of the resulting solution (molar concentration of ions, pH), which allows you to check the correctness of the task. When performing a series of experiments, students will receive data on the basis of which they can draw conclusions about the concentration of ions in solutions of strong and weak electrolytes, the pH of solutions of hydrolysable substances, or the dependence of the thermal effect of dissolution on the amount of solvent and the nature of the substance, etc.

As an example, consider the study of thermal effects during dissolution of substances. The scenario provides for experiments on the dissolution of dry salts (NaCl, KCl, NaNO 3, CuSO 4, K 2 Cr 2 O 7, KClO 3, Ce 2 (SO 4) 3). By changing the temperature of the solution, students should draw a conclusion about the possibility of both endo- and exothermic dissolution effects. The wording of the tasks in each case can vary and depends on the type of experiment - research or illustrative. For example, you can limit yourself to the conclusion about the presence of such effects, or include in the scenario the preparation of solutions of salts with different weights of the solute with the same mass of solvent (prepare solutions containing 50 g of a substance in 100 g of water; 10 g of a substance in 100 g of water), and vice versa , experiments with a constant amount of solute with a changing mass of solvent; preparation of solutions from anhydrous salts and their crystalline hydrates and observation of temperature changes during their dissolution. When performing such experiments, students must answer the questions “How do the temperature changes differ when dissolving equal amounts of anhydrous salts and their crystalline hydrates? Why does the dissolution of anhydrous salts occur with the release of more heat than in the case of crystalline hydrates? " and conclude what influences the sign of the thermal effect of dissolution. Depending on the goals and objectives of the work, the scenario will include several experiments or several series of experiments, while it should be borne in mind that everything in a virtual space is performed much faster than in a real laboratory, and does not take as much time as it might seem at first sight.

In the process of approbation, an assessment and analysis of the reliability of the process and the result of a virtual experiment should be carried out in comparison with a full-scale experiment, that is, to make sure that the modeling and generated results of a virtual experiment do not contradict reality, that is, they will not mislead the user.

Methodological recommendations are based on a compiled and tested scenario, however, one should not forget that they are addressed to students, and in addition to clear instructions and assignments, they should contain a description of the expected results associated with the goals set, have references to theoretical material and examples.

The result of the creation of a virtual laboratory work is its introduction into the learning process, leading to an increase in the quality of knowledge assimilation and the acquisition of relevant competencies. There are several methods of "embedding" virtual laboratory works in chemistry into the educational process of a university. When studying new material for its better understanding and mastering, in our opinion, it is advisable to conduct short virtual laboratory works to update knowledge or to demonstrate the studied phenomena, which creates objective conditions for the implementation of active and interactive forms of learning, which is required by the current educational standard. In this case, virtual laboratory work can replace the traditional demonstration experiment. In addition, we are considering the possibility of using virtual laboratory work to consolidate knowledge and skills both in classroom and in extracurricular independent activities. Another option for using virtual laboratory work in the process of teaching chemistry is to prepare students for performing full-scale laboratory work. Performing a correctly compiled virtual laboratory work in chemistry, students, firstly, practice the skills of solving computational problems on this topic, secondly, they consolidate the algorithm and technique for performing a chemical experiment, and thirdly, they learn the patterns of the course of chemical processes with active participation in the process learning.

The proposed methodology for creating virtual laboratory works in chemistry equips teachers with scientifically grounded means for conducting classes in chemistry and chemical disciplines in an interactive form, combined with extracurricular work in order to form and develop professional skills of students.

Reviewers:

Rogovaya O. G., Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of Chemical and Environmental Education of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after A.I. Herzen, St. Petersburg;

Piotrovskaya K.R., Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor, Professor of the Department of Methods of Teaching Mathematics and Informatics, Russian State Pedagogical University named after A.I. Herzen, Saint Petersburg.

Bibliographic reference

Gavronskaya Yu.Yu., Oksenchuk V.V. METHODOLOGY OF CREATING VIRTUAL LABORATORY WORKS ON CHEMISTRY // Modern problems of science and education. - 2015. - No. 2-2 .;
URL: http://science-education.ru/ru/article/view?id=22290 (date of access: 02/01/2020). We bring to your attention the journals published by the "Academy of Natural Sciences"

World education and the scientific process have changed so clearly in recent years, but for some reason they talk more not about breakthrough innovations and the opportunities they open, but about local exam scandals. Meanwhile, the essence of the educational process is beautifully reflected in the English proverb "You can lead a horse to a watering hole, but you cannot make it get drunk."

Modern education is essentially living a double life. In his official life there is a program, prescriptions, exams, a "senseless and merciless" battle for the composition of the subjects in the school course, the vector of the official position and the quality of teaching. And in his real life, as a rule, everything that constitutes modern education is concentrated: digitalization, eLearning, Mobile Learning, training through Coursera, UoPeople and other online institutions, webinars, virtual laboratories, etc. has not become part of the generally accepted global educational paradigm, but the local digitalization of education and research is already taking place.

MOOC-education (Massive Open Online Courses, mass lectures from open sources) is great for transferring ideas, formulas and other theoretical knowledge in lessons and lectures. But for the completeness of mastering many disciplines, practical exercises are also needed - digital learning "felt" this evolutionary necessity and created a new "form of life" - virtual laboratories, their own for school and university studies.

Known eLearning issue: Theoretical disciplines are mainly taught. Perhaps the next stage in the development of online education will be the coverage of practical areas. And this will happen in two directions: the first is the contractual delegation of practice to physically existing universities (in the case of medicine, for example), and the second is the development of virtual laboratories in different languages.

Why do we need virtual labs, or virtuallabs?

  • To prepare for real laboratory work.
  • For school activities, if there are no appropriate conditions, materials, reagents and equipment.
  • For distance learning.
  • For independent study of disciplines in adulthood or together with children, since many adults, for one reason or another, feel the need to “remember” what was never learned or understood at school.
  • For scientific work.
  • For higher education with an important practical component.

Varieties of virtual labs... Virtual labs can be 2D and 3D; the simplest for younger students and difficult, practical for middle and high school students, students and teachers. Their virtuallabs are designed for different disciplines. Most often it is physics and chemistry, but there are also quite original ones, for example, a virtual lab for ecologists.

Especially serious universities have their own virtual laboratories, for example, the Samara State Aerospace University named after Academician S. P. Korolev and the Berlin Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG). Recall that Max Planck is a German theoretical physicist, the founder of quantum physics. The institute's virtual laboratory even has an official website. Follow this link to watch the presentation The Virtual Laboratory: Tools for Research on the History of Experimentalization. The Online Lab is a platform where historians publish and discuss their research on the topic of experimentation in various fields of science (from physics to medicine), art, architecture, media and technology. It also contains illustrations and texts on various aspects of experimental activity: tools, the course of experiments, films, photos of scientists, etc. Students can create their own account in this virtual lab and add scientific papers for discussion.

Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Virtual Laboratory

VirtualLab Portal

The choice of Russian-speaking virtual labs, unfortunately, is still small, but it's a matter of time. The spread of eLearning among pupils and students, the massive penetration of digitalization into educational institutions will somehow create demand, then they will begin to massively develop beautiful modern virtual labs in various disciplines. Fortunately, there is already a fairly developed specialized portal dedicated to virtual laboratories - Virtulab.Net... It offers quite nice solutions and covers four disciplines: physics, chemistry, biology and ecology.

Virtual 3D Physics Lab Virtulab .Net

Virtual Engineering Practice

Virtulab.Net does not yet list engineering as one of its specializations, but reports that physics virtual labs located there may be useful in distance engineering education as well. After all, for example, to construct mathematical models requires a deep understanding of the physical nature of the objects of modeling. In general, engineering virtual labs have great potential. Engineering training is largely practice-oriented, but such virtual laboratories are rarely used in universities so far due to the fact that the digital education market in engineering itself is underdeveloped.

Problem-oriented educational complexes of the CADIS system (SSAU)... To enhance the training of technical specialists, the Samara Aerospace University named after Korolev has developed its own engineering virtual lab. The Center for New Information Technologies (CNIT) SSAU has created "Problem-oriented educational complexes of the CADIS system." The abbreviation KADIS stands for “the system of Complexes of Automated Didactic Means”. These are special classrooms where virtual laboratory workshops are held on strength of materials, structural mechanics, optimization and geometric modeling methods, aircraft design, materials science and heat treatment, and other technical disciplines. Some of these workshops are freely available on the server of TsNIT SSAU. The virtual classrooms contain descriptions of technical objects with photographs, diagrams, links, drawings, video, audio and flash animations with a magnifying glass for examining small details of the virtual unit. The possibility of self-control and training is also provided. This is what the complexes of the virtual CADIS system are:

  • Beam - a complex for the analysis and construction of diagrams of beams in the course of resistance of materials (mechanical engineering, construction).
  • Structure - a complex of methods for designing power circuits of mechanical structures (mechanical engineering, construction).
  • Optimization - a complex on mathematical optimization methods (courses on CAD in mechanical engineering, construction).
  • Spline - a complex on interpolation and approximation methods in geometric modeling (CAD courses).
  • I-beam - a complex for studying the patterns of power work of thin-walled structures (mechanical engineering, construction).
  • Chemist - a set of complexes in chemistry (for secondary schools, specialized lyceums, preparatory courses for universities).
  • Organic - complexes in organic chemistry (for universities).
  • Polymer - complexes for the chemistry of high-molecular compounds (for universities).
  • Molecule Constructor - Molecule Constructor simulator.
  • Mathematics - a complex in elementary mathematics (for university entrants).
  • Physical education - a complex to support theoretical courses in physical education.
  • Metallurgist - a complex for metallurgy and heat treatment (for universities and technical schools).
  • Zubrol - a complex on the theory of mechanisms and machine parts (for universities and technical schools).

Virtual devices on Zapisnyh.Narod.Ru... Very useful in engineering education will be the site Zapisnyh.Narod.Ru, where you can conditionally download virtual devices on the Sound Card, which open up wide opportunities for creating technology. They will certainly interest teachers and come in handy in lectures, in scientific work and in laboratory workshops in natural and technical disciplines. The range of virtual instruments available on the site is impressive:

  • combined LF generator;
  • two-phase LF generator;
  • oscilloscope recorder;
  • oscilloscope;
  • frequency counter;
  • ACh characterograph;
  • technographer;
  • electric meter;
  • meter R, C, L;
  • home electrocardiograph;
  • device for assessing capacity and ESR;
  • chromatographic systems ChromProcessor-7-7M-8;
  • device for checking and diagnosing faults of quartz watches, etc.

One of the virtual engineering devices from the site Zapisnyh.Narod.Ru

Physics virtual labs

Environmental virtual lab on Virtulab .Net. The portal's environmental laboratory touches upon both general issues of the Earth's development, and individual laws.

Visualization is one of the most effective teaching methods, helping to understand much easier and deeper into the essence of various phenomena; it is not for nothing that visual aids were used in ancient times. Visualization and modeling are especially useful when studying dynamic, time-varying objects and phenomena that can be difficult to understand by looking at a simple static picture in a regular textbook. Lab work and educational experiments are not only useful, but also very interesting - if properly organized, of course.

Not all educational experiments can or should be carried out in "real" mode. It is not surprising that computer modeling technologies quickly came to this area. There are now a number of software packages on the market designed to carry out virtual educational experiments. This review will consider a relatively new aspect of such solutions: virtual online laboratories. With their help, it is possible to carry out computer experiments without purchasing additional programs, and at any convenient time, there would be access to the Internet.

There are several trends in the development of modern network projects of this kind. The first is scattering over a significant amount of resources. Along with large projects that accumulate a significant amount of content, there are many sites on which a little bit of laboratories are collected. The second trend is the presence of both diversified projects offering laboratories for various branches of knowledge, and thematic specialized projects. Finally, it should be noted that laboratories dedicated to natural sciences are best represented online. Indeed, physics experiments in general can be a very costly undertaking, and a computer laboratory allows you to look behind the scenes of complex processes. Chemistry also wins: there is no need to purchase real reagents, laboratory equipment, there is no fear of ruining something in the event of an error. An equally fertile field for virtual laboratory workshops is biology and ecology. It is no secret that a detailed study of a biological object often ends with its death. Ecological systems are large and complex, so the use of virtual models makes it possible to simplify their perception.

Our review includes several of the most interesting online projects, both diversified and thematic. All web resources of this review are sites with open, free access.

VirtuLab

The VirtuLab resource is the largest collection of virtual experiences in various academic disciplines in today's Runet. The main unit of the collection is a virtual experiment. Technically speaking, this is an interactive video made with Adobe Flash. Some laboratories are made in three-dimensional graphics. To work with them, you need to install Adobe Shockwave Player with the Havok Physics Scene add-on. You can find this add-on at director-online.com. You need to unpack the resulting archive into the Xtras directory of your Adobe Shockwave Player, which is located in the Windows system directory.

VirtuLab is the largest collection of virtual online
laboratoriesin Russian

Each video allows you to conduct an experiment that has an educational goal and a clear task. The user is offered all the tools and objects needed to get the result. Tasks and tips are displayed as text messages. In the VirtuLab videos, the teaching aspect is strong, for example, if the user makes a mistake, the system will not let him go further until the error is corrected.

VirtuLab's collection of experiments is quite extensive and varied. VirtuLab does not have its own built-in search engine, so in order to find the experiment you need, you just have to scroll through the catalog sections. The archive is divided into four main blocks: "Physics", "Chemistry", "Biology" and "Ecology". There are narrower thematic sections inside them. In particular, for physics, these are sections of this discipline. Here there are experiments in acquaintance with mechanics, electrical and optical effects. A number of laboratories are made in 3D graphics, which helps to demonstrate a variety of experiments: from experiments with dynamometers to refraction and other optical effects.

In Biology, the basis of division was the classes of the school curriculum. The content of the tasks here can be very different. So, there are tasks for studying the structural features of various living organisms (for example, a constructor for assembling all kinds of organisms from the proposed "parts") and tasks that simulate work with a microscope and with preparations of various tissues.

The PhET site is a diversified collection of Java applets,
with which you can work both online and on a local computer

Separately, in the Cutting Edge Research section, highlighted demos dedicated to the latest research. New items in the archive appear regularly, the New Sims section is intended for them.

Take a look at the Translated Sims subsection. This page contains a list of all languages ​​into which the proposed virtual laboratories have been translated. There is a Russian among them - there are exactly fifty such experiments here today. Curiously, the number of demonstrations in English, Serbian and Hungarian is almost equal. If you wish, you can take part in the translation of the demonstrations. For this, a special application PhET Translation Utility is offered.

What are PhET demos and who might benefit from them? They are built on Java technology. This allows you to run experiments online, download applets to your local computer, and embed them as widgets on other web pages. All of these options are provided on each PhET demo page.

All PhET experiments are interactive. They contain one or more tasks, as well as a set of all the elements necessary to solve them. Since the course of the solution, as a rule, is disclosed in sufficient detail in textual notes, the main purpose of the demonstrations is to visualize and explain the effects, and not to test the user's knowledge and skills. So, one of the demonstrations of the chemical section suggests composing molecules from the proposed atoms and looking at a three-dimensional visualization of the result. In the biological section there is a calculator of the balance of calories consumed by a person during the day: you can indicate the types and amounts of food consumed, as well as the amount of physical exercise. Then it remains only to observe the changes in the experimental "little man" of a given age, height and initial weight. The math section boasts very useful graphing tools for various functions, arithmetic games, and other interesting applications. The physics section offers a wide variety of "laboratories" that demonstrate a variety of phenomena - from simple motion to quantum interactions.

PhET
Grade: 4
Interface language: English, there is Russian
Developer: University of Colorado
Site: phet.colorado.edu

Wolfram Demonstrations Project

A very valuable resource for online labs is the Wolfram Demonstrations Project, a multi-industry resource. The goal of the project is to visually demonstrate the concepts of modern science and technology. Wolfram claims to be a single platform to create a unified directory of online interactive labs. This, according to its developers, will allow users to avoid the problems associated with the use of heterogeneous learning resources and development platforms.

The Wolfram Demonstrations Project catalog has over 7,000 items.
virtual laboratories

This site is part of the major internet project Wolfram. The Wolfram Demonstrations Project currently has an impressive catalog of over 7,000 interactive demos.

The technological basis for creating laboratories and demonstrations is the Wolfram Mathematica package. To view the demos, you will need to download and install a special Wolfram CDF Player with a size of just over 150 MB.

The project catalog consists of 11 main sections related to various branches of knowledge and human activity. There are large physical, chemical and mathematical sections, as well as those devoted to technology and engineering. The biological sciences are well represented. The levels of complexity of the models, as well as the levels of presentation, are very different. The catalog contains rather complex demonstrations aimed at higher education, many laboratories are devoted to illustrating the latest scientific achievements. At the same time, the site also has sections for children. A certain inconvenience can only be the language barrier: the Wolfram project is currently purely English-speaking. However, there is not much text in demos and laboratories, the management tools are quite simple, and they are easy to deal with without prompts.

There are no specific tasks or control over their implementation. However, you cannot call content just presentations or videos. There is a fair amount of interactivity in Wolfram demos. Almost all of them have tools that help to change the parameters of the objects represented, thereby conducting virtual experiments on them. This contributes to a deeper understanding of the demonstrated processes and phenomena.

Wolfram Demonstrations Project
Grade: 4
Interface language: English
Developer: Wolfram Demonstrations Project & Contributors
Site: demonstrations.wolfram.com

IrYdium Chemistry Lab

In addition to "diversified" projects on the modern Web, there are many specialized online laboratories dedicated to certain sciences. Let's start with The ChemCollective, a project dedicated to the study of chemistry. It contains a lot of thematic materials in English. One of its most interesting sections is its own virtual laboratory called IrYdium Chemistry Lab. Its device is noticeably different from all the projects discussed above. The fact is that here are not offered any specific, specific experiments with their tasks. Instead, the user is given almost complete freedom of action.

IrYdium's online chemistry laboratory features
high flexibility in setup and operation

The laboratory is made as a Java applet. By the way, it can be downloaded and run on the local computer - the corresponding download link is placed on the main page of the project.

The applet interface is divided into several zones. In the middle there is a workspace, which displays the progress of the experiment. The right column is given over to a kind of "dashboard" - information about the reactions taking place is displayed here: temperature, acidity, molarity and other auxiliary data. On the left side of the applet there is a so-called "Reagent warehouse". This is a set of all kinds of virtual reagents, made in the form of a hierarchical tree. Here you can find acids, bases, indicator substances and everything else that an experimental chemist needs. A good selection of various laboratory glassware, a burner, scales and other equipment are offered for working with them. As a result, the user gets at his disposal a well-equipped laboratory with little limited experimentation capabilities.

Since there are no specific tasks here, the experiments are carried out as necessary and interesting to the user. All that remains is to select the required substances, build an experimental setup using the proposed virtual equipment, and start the reaction. It is very convenient that the resulting substance is allowed to be added to the collection of reagents in order to be used in subsequent experiments.

In general, it turned out to be an interesting and useful resource with high flexibility of use. If we take into account the availability of an almost complete Russian translation of the program, then the IrYdium Chemistry Lab can become a very useful tool for mastering basic chemical knowledge.

IrYdium Chemistry Lab
Grade: 5
Interface language: Russian English
Developer: The ChemCollective
Site: www.chemcollective.org/vlab/vlab.php

"Virtual laboratory" teachmen.ru

This is the second Russian project in our review. This resource specializes in physical phenomena. The scope of virtual laboratories is not limited only by the scope of the school curriculum. The online experiences they offer, developed by specialists from the Chelyabinsk State University, are suitable not only for schoolchildren, but also for students. From a technical point of view, this resource is a combination of Flash and Java, so you will need to check in advance for updates to the Java Virtual Machine on your computer.

The tasks of the project "Virtual laboratory" are different
higher complexity

The design of the laboratories here is schematic and strict. It seems as if some kind of revived pictures from the textbook appear. This is also emphasized by the availability of materials intended to accompany the training sessions. The main emphasis in such experiments is placed on performing specific tasks and testing the user's knowledge.

The project catalog includes a dozen main thematic sections - from mechanics to atomic and nuclear physics. Each of them contains up to ten corresponding interactive virtual laboratories. In addition, illustrated lecture notes are available, some with their own virtual experiments.

The experimenter's working environment is reproduced here rather carefully. The devices are shown in the form of diagrams, it is proposed to build graphs and choose answers from the available options. Experiments in the Virtual Lab are more difficult than in VirtuLab. The collection of the resource includes experiments in atomic and nuclear physics, laser physics, as well as an “atom designer”, which offers to assemble an atom from various elementary particles. There are experiments on finding and neutralizing a radiation source, studying the properties of lasers. In addition, there are also “mechanical” laboratories oriented primarily towards schoolchildren.

Online Labs in

In addition to large resources with dozens and hundreds of virtual test sites, there are many small sites on the Web that offer a number of interesting experiments on a certain, usually narrow, topic.

A good starting point when looking for small virtual
laboratoriesable to become a project Online Labs in

In such a situation, in order to find the necessary demonstrations, of course, catalog projects that collect and organize links to such sites will come in handy. The Online Labs in (onlinelabs.in) directory can be a good starting point. This resource collects and organizes links to projects offering freely available online experiments and laboratories in various branches of science. A corresponding section is highlighted for each science. The interests of the project are primarily in physics, chemistry and biology. These sections are the largest and most updated. In addition, those devoted to anatomy, astronomy, geology and mathematics are gradually being filled. Each of the sections contains links to the corresponding Internet resources with a short annotation in English describing the purpose of a particular laboratory.

"Virtual laboratory" teachmen.ru
Grade: 3
Language: Russian
Developer: Chelyabinsk State University
Site: