1.1. Remote and virtual labs/experiments – in science and technical museums
Technically, a remote experiment takes places in a location separate from the experimenter. The experimenter may be speaking to an audience and wanting to present experimental results as shown in Figure. Or the experiment is located at a distant location where access is difficult or impossible for one or the other reason. A remote experiment consists of two conceptually distinct parts. First of all there is the experiment itself, which is conducted remotely, and secondly there is the method used to provide the necessary remote features. The experiment is controlled via software through the internet by issuing commands to an interactive surface, which we shall illustrate below.
Figure : A typical remotely conducted experiment. The speaker or experimenter is in a location different from the laboratory where the experiment resides, e.g., in a seminar room (left) and controls a real experiment (right). The control of the experiment is mediated to the speaker via the internet.
With the development of new computer technologies, JAVA- an interactive multimedia programming language, and the WorldWideWeb, it is now possible to simulate engineering and science laboratory projects on a computer. With Internet access, it is now possible to offer learners "virtual laboratories" via the WWW.
A virtual laboratory is defined as an interactive environment for designing and conducting simulated experiments. The experiment execution consists in running a program loaded in a remote server machine. To start this program the user accesses the server through a user interface. A software monitoring platform starts the simulation program. The program models some real experiment behavior, producing output signals, graphs and/or data when set of input parameters is configured by the user.
On the following
links you can see some other examples of e-learning activities in museums:
http://elearningexamples.com/museum-of-scienceindustry-chicago/