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| |  | | | The Virtual Lab Educational Software
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| The Virtual Lab is a free, downloadable, CD-ROM based program providing virtual access to a variety of sophisticated scientific instruments. This project was funded through the NASA Learning Technologies Project, or LTP, and is targeted to high school and entry-level college students. |
Microscopic image of a firefly |
The project's concept was initiated from educators' desire to have access to sophisticated scientific instruments available at NASA. By providing a fun, hands-on experience that brings relevance to class material, we hope to inspire the next generation of explorers.
The instrumentation includes a Scanning Electron Microscope, or SEM, Light Microscope, Atomic Force Microscope, and an Energy Dispersive Spectrometer for the SEM. |
Microscopic view of Costa Rican sand |
Virtual Lab's instruments let explorers operate a virtual device to examine real specimens. Exhaustive sets of images systematically photographed at hundreds or even thousands of positions and several magnifications allow anyone to zoom in on the most minute detail of each specimen. Controls on each Virtual Lab device cleverly and smoothly move the viewer through these images to display the specimen as the instrument saw it. Users control position, magnification, focal length, filters and other parameters.
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| The Virtual Lab library also includes short videos with information about how the instrument works, how it is used at NASA, and how the specimens are prepared, as well as instructional videos on how to use the software. |
The Virtual Lab is freely available to all. For the latest teacher resources for Virtual Lab, including links for Virtual Lab download, please visit NASA's Cogs Site: Integrating the Virtual Lab into Your Classroom http://www.nasa-inspired.org. Developed by the University of Central Florida and St Leo University, this site contains numerous teacher resources for integrating Virtual Lab seamlessly into your classroom, including lesson plans, rubrics and quizzes, all aligned to national standards. Educational games linked to microscopy and telescopes are also available on that site at no charge.
For additional information on other free Learning Technologies Project software check here: http://learn.arc.nasa.gov.
The Virtual lab software was written by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Beckman Institute. For software development information, please visit the developers site, at: http://virtual.itg.uiuc.edu/.
Beckman Institute has an outreach program called Bugscope, which allows schools to remotely control their real Scanning Electron Microscope via the web. The schools provide the bug and schedule a date and time for the online session. To learn more about the Bugscope program visit http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/.
Point of Contact:
Theresa C. Martinez
Education Technology
Mailcode: XA-D
Voice: (321) 867-0590
Fax: (321) 867-2097
E-mail: Theresa.C.Martinez@nasa.gov
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