Computerized Chemistry Lab

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Deborah J. Boyd on August 11, 2010 at 8:22am

Hi Desmond, I am in Arlington, Va. (DC suburb) and you brought up a subject that I have wanted to happen for over 15 years. Online Education has eliminated Chemistry and all other laboratory courses from the beginning. I would like to make the case that we could impart the same wisdom online by videographing an experiment. I do not think there is that much value in "hands on" experience. Does everyone really need to dissect a poor little frog in order to see what the parts look like. We can get the same experience through a virtual process that can be repeated eternally while only sacrificing one frog.
So you will not find an online chemistry lab. I will tell you that you can become a millionaire should you decide to do one. What you need to do is set out a plan and show how much revenue would be derived from the investment. There is a huge market for this all over the world. Once the virtual experiment is done, translation into other languages is simple.
peaceby2027@gmail.com

Permalink Reply by Dennis Pack on August 11, 2010 at 11:00am

HI desmond,

I haven't found a complete online Chemistry lab, but I did find a couple sites that are very handy. And, they are either free or not very expensive.

The Molecular Workbench has many good simulations for all areas of science. I found the students really benefited from being able to visualize on a molecular scale. http://mw.concord.org/modeler/

Gizmos was also useful, though some exercises are a bit long a repetitive. The free trial will give you a good idea of how they work. http://www.explorelearning.com/

This site has links to many different simulations that could be useful. I haven't checked them all out ... worth a look. http://cse.edc.org/products/simulations/catalog.asp

Lastly, there are many good videos on TeacherTube.com. The videos of dangerous reactions (like Li + water) are very useful. I found downloading them at home helped bypass school website restrictions and intranet failures.

Hope that helps ...

Cheers
Dennis Pack

Permalink Reply by Shawn Kibel on September 22, 2010 at 5:00pm

Dennis,

Thank you for posting those links. I co-host an edu-tech podcast. A regular feature is the teacher tip of the week. You gave me some gems I haven't seen before. Great stuff!

-Shawn Kibel

Permalink Reply by Desmond A. Hasty on September 23, 2010 at 6:36am

Sounds great Dennis! Thank you so much. I will check them out and forward them to my Science department.

Desmond

Permalink Reply by Desmond A. Hasty on August 1, 2012 at 10:34am

Thanks Sheri. I'll check this out and see if my colleagues like it. Sorry for the delay.