For some MIT undergrads, the science lab is anywhere they want it to be. Through an online science laboratory, or iLab, students can remotely access lab materials and devices via the Web. Pretty soon, select high schools will also have this option.
And options are just what Kemi Jona, a research associate professor of Learning Sciences and Computer Science at Northwestern University, wanted to bring to K-12 science. Jona thought the iLab would give K-12 science teachers lab alternatives. So Northwestern University and MIT developed the iLab Network Project to bring this resource to K-12, starting with high schools.
The iLab connects lab devices, such as microscopes and signal analyzers, to the Web. This allows teachers and students to access equipment remotely. These are not simulations -- but actual devices. The tracked data is real, so if sensors aren't calibrated properly, they won't read correctly.
"The idea is to connect actual laboratory equipment to the Web so that you can access it remotely," Jona said. "You don't actually have to be in the room touching the equipment to use it."
This project will give students contact with equipment otherwise inaccessible due to costs, time restraints and safety concerns.
MIT has recently added a neutron beam experiment to the iLab network, using a nuclear reactor to conduct the test.
"There's a beam of neutrons that comes out of a reactor and you can put different materials into the beam and see what happens to the neutrons, how it scatters and absorbs these neutrons," Jona said.
Students can find out how many neutrons are absorbed into materials -- such as copper and polyethylene. And to make an already cutting-edge experiment more engaging, a webcam can be attached to the nuclear reactor so students can see the device in motion as they receive data.
Jona added that this experiment is a great way to learn about the properties of different materials, which is already a main component to high school science curriculum.
With access to these types of experiments, the entire learning process could change.
"It could be a game changer ... allowing them to do labs and experiments in their classes that they could never dream of doing," Jona said.
However, in order for iLabs to affect any change, it must be classroom friendly and easy for teachers to integrate within existing curriculum requirements.
"We'd like to bring teachers into our project as members of the team ... at least one physics teacher, one chemistry teacher and one biology teacher," Jona said. "Possibly more, but at least one expert in each of those areas to help us do the mapping."
The teachers will aid in identifying how to make the site understandable and accessible to high school students as well as how to integrate iLabs into curriculum.
In regards to integrating the project into the traditional lab environment, Jona posed the question: "How does the way that we conduct labs in high school change for the better because we have this new flexibility?"
Jona said that the iLab team was looking to answer this question and how the project can change the nature of science teaching at the high school level.
"What we want to do with our teachers is begin this sort of re-envisioning process," he said.
As part of this science class face-lift, teachers will have access to tools that give them flexibility in the types of experiments they conduct in class. They will no longer have to stick to experiments bound by the availability of standard equipment. They will be able to shop for labs and equipment as if they're shopping on eBay, which is exactly how Jona envisions the iLab site.
Jona envisions the future of iLab as a portal where "buyers" and "sellers" come together to find and share labs and lab equipment.
"It's like an educational marketplace rather than a commercial marketplace," he said. "That one site where you want to go and find a device to use, a laboratory device, and it will help you find it, no matter what university it is at or where in the world it's at."
This marketplace won't be open for business until spring of 2009 when 20 to 30 schools will participate in the iLab pilot project. The participants will be virtual, specialty and public schools from the Chicago area. The iLab could be particularly beneficial to virtual schools that don't have the same lab access as traditional schools.
"It's a perfect fit for them," Jona said.
In addition to preparing to launch the pilot program, MIT and Northwestern are trying to expand their partnership. In the fall, the universities will host, with the Museum of Science and Industry, a visioning workshop in Chicago -- to bring science museums and national labs in on the project.
"They could also potentially be places that purchase expensive equipment and make it available to their community," Jona said. "We really want to engage with them and ask them to think about how this changes the nature of what science museums do and how they think about their role."
Most importantly, the iLab project could change the role of the student to one of a more scientifically motivated and engaged participant in this science lab of the future.
Other digital tools that are making an impact on future science labs include the PASCO SPARK Science Learning System.
The SPARK:
Some of the labs include:
Scoping things out
Another science lab transformation may come in variations of the fragile yet bulky microscopes of old.
One version, the ProScope HR, is a digital, handheld microscope. The ProScope works by a touch view system -- meaning students touch the lens to whatever they want to examine and then view the magnified version on a computer. The microscope can be connected to a laptop or desktop by USB port.
*This story is from Converge magazine's Summer 2008 issue.
