Catch of the Day - Wed 29 July 2009

The catch of the day for Wednesday is iLab Central.

iLabCentral is where teachers and students go to access real lab devices over the internet, making high school science labs more real, more engaging, and more accessible.

The iLabs online experimental facilities can be accessed through the Internet, allowing students and educators to carry out experiments from anywhere at any time. These remote labs significantly increase the breadth of experiments that students have access to in their classrooms thereby greatly enriching their science education.

iLabs currently offers nine labs in conjunction with the Center for Educational Computing Initiatives at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Northwestern University's Office of STEM Education Partnerships. Included among these offerings are the Polymer Crystallization Lab, the Shake Table Lab, the Neutron Spectroscopy Lab, and the Radioactivity Lab.


The following are possible through The iLAB Network:

• Science teachers and learners in traditional and online high schools and informal science education programs now have the ability to experience the excitement and authenticity of using high-end equipment to investigate the world in the same way that scientists do.
• Students are provided new research and learning opportunities, allowing them to share and discuss procedures and results.
• Teachers can learn to integrate iLABs in a range of science courses (including AP courses), encouraging them to go beyond the current paradigm of cookbook science labs with outdated or inappropriate equipment
• Students around the world can access costly or delicate lab equipment which their schools might not other wise have the resources to purchase and operate .

Click here to see a Flash video example of the ELVIS lab located at MIT.

The iLab Network is supported in part by the National Science Foundation