Click the image to view the “easy scan” atomic force microscope lab

“I grew up in the ´60s, and back then you could buy a kit that would walk you through the process of building a television or shortwave radio.” says John C. Bean, J. M. Money Professor in the Charles L. Brown Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “I was one of those kids who wanted to take something apart to learn how it worked. Today, children don´t have that option — you can´t take apart an iPod and figure out how it works.”

These experiences and his life-long commitment to innovative educational methods, prompted Bean to create The Virtual Lab at U.Va. — a Web site five years in the making that employs emerging software visualization tools to explain technologies affecting our daily lives.

Click the image to view the Van de Graaff generator lab

He met with two science instructors from local high schools and posed one important question: “Where can I be of most help to you in your science instruction?” Both teachers revealed that the problem was in the explanation behind “wow-factor” demonstrations. Students loved in-class demonstrations to illustrate concepts like basic charge attraction and repulsion for the entertainment value, but the instructors found that it was difficult to explain what was occurring behind the scenes to illicit the exciting visual part of the demonstration.

What if the “behind the scenes” causality could become part of the visual demonstration, Bean wondered. He took this idea to the National Science Foundation in the form of a proposal, which ultimately resulted in funding for the Virtual Lab site. With universities, community colleges and two high schools on board, the site began to take off.

Click the image to view the
molecular beam epitaxy lab

Currently there are eight virtual labs on the site: labs range from a microelectronics teaching lab to an electricity and magnetism lab and even include a nanoscience component. Each lab contains a variety of subject-relevant experiments; once selected, explanatory text, accompanied by animated images, guides the visitor through the experiment. In many cases, this visualization is also accompanied by a podcast narrated by Bean. The site´s content is written and recorded for high school students and college freshmen, although Bean has also received positive feedback from middle school students and teachers who are regular Virtual Lab visitors.

Take a tour of The Virtual Lab at U.Va. by visiting www.virlab.virginia.edu/VL/home.htm.