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TEACHING RESOURCES INFORMATION

TITLE OF TEACHING RESOURCE

JuniorLAB

IMAGE

NAME OF AUTHOR(S)

Developed by Nickolas D. Charistos,
Scientific supervisor: Michael P. Sigalas

NAME OF PRODUCER

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki - Greece

DATE OF PRODUCTION

2004

WEBSITE OF THE PRODUCT

http://www.molwave.com/software/juniorlab/juniorlab.htm

TYPE OF PRODUCT

Downloadable software

LEVEL OF CHEMISTRY KNOWLEDGE

Basic, Medium

PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH

Self-learning

SUBJECT AREA

Fundamental Chemistry

TARGET GROUP LEVEL

Lower Secondary School, Upper Secondary School

LANGUAGE/S OF TEACHING RESOURCES

English

TUTORIAL SUPPORT

Yes

DESCRIPTION

Prerequisites: The application uses the Macromedia Shockwave plug-in and has been designed and developed especially for the Web. It has a simple graphical user interface and requires a download of only 80 KB, allowing it to be used even with low bandwidth Internet connections. Its performance is comparable to a desktop application. juniorLAB requires Windows XP, 2000, ME, or 98. A 3-D accelerator such as DirectX 7.0 (recommended) or OpenGL is suggested, but not required. The Shockwave Player needs to be already installed.

Contents – Task Description: juniorLAB is a web delivered simulation of acid base chemistry laboratory experiments suitable for middle school students.
It has been developed for the needs of the Secondary Education in Greece as a small part of a multimedia educational system developed for the Pedagogical Institute. Several modules of juniorLAB have been developed in order to fit the instructional needs of teachers. Two of them are presented here.
In the first one, solutions of acids, bases, sodium chloride and distilled water, as well as some indicators, pHmeter and pHmetric paper are available. Each time 10 mL of a given solution or water are added to the beaker. The students can freely experiment with solutions of acids, bases and salts. The experiments could be the use of indicators, pH paper and pH meter for the measurement of the pH of a solution, the effect of dilution on the pH and the acid - base neutralization. In the second module, solutions of acids and several metals in swarf form are available. The students can experiment with acid and different metals and observe the different chemical behaviours.

Aims: This teaching resource aims at encouraging self-learning by enhancing the motivation to learn chemistry. The material is presented in a user-friendly and easy-to-follow manner and it aims to help students to investigate the acid-base chemistry and to understand more about these topics.

Use in class: The tasks to be performed by the students are described in a clear way. The material is designed mainly for use by the students themselves for self-learning and experimentation. The teacher can incorporate the teaching resource in the class practice via the use of an interactive blackboard, in order to stimulate discussion which will eventually lead to the acquisition of new knowledge.

COMMENTS

This teaching resource is designed in a user-friendly manner in order to make chemistry more appealing to the average student. This interactive application can have a significant effect in motivating students to explore and visualize the world of chemistry. The material is scientifically reliable. The resource can be used as an excellent tool for introducing the student to the visualization of chemistry. The teaching resource could have even larger pedagogic value if it made available student worksheets, detailed teaching plan proposals and assessment criteria and material.

NAME OF THE REVIEWING ORGANISATION

TEI of Ionian Islands

Comments about this Publication

Your comments are welcome

Date: 2013.06.18

Posted by Lília Maria Braz (Portugal)

Message: The resource JuniorLab has been very useful to me to teach subjects related with acid-base concepts, being most adequate to 8th grade students (3rd cycle). Generally, I use it to provide students with a tool to consolidate knowledge in a quick and enjoyable way and to motivate curiosity and interest for chemistry. The fact of being interactive allows students to choose the reagents and equipment to be used. It develops a critical spirit with regard to contents and increases motivation and interest to study chemistry. As the instructions are simple to follow, students have developed an autonomous capacity of work, either in classroom or at home. They can observe results and draw conclusions very easily. When students use this resource during work in group, stimulating discussions happens and interesting hypothesis are very often formulated.
I consider that this resource is not very innovative in view of the existing technology. In my opinion it should include a larger number of variables thus becoming more useful to be use at higher school levels. I would add that the use of JuniorLAB should not exempt from experimental activities.

Date: 2013.01.26

Posted by H&M Kombinezon wiatroszczelny - NOWY!!! (Poland)

Message: Chemistry Laboratory Simulation juniorLAB is a web delivered simulation of acid base chemistry laboratory experiments suitable for middle school students.
It has been developed for the needs of the Secondary Education in Greece as a small part of a multimedia educational system developed for the Pedagogical Institute.
The students can freely experiment with solutions of acids, bases and salts. The experiments could be the use of indicators, pH paper and pH meter for the measurement of the pH of a solution, the effect of dilution on the pH and the acid - base neutralization.
Several modules of juniorLAB have been developed in order to fit the instructional needs of the teachers.
The big plus of this resource is that it is in English and even teachers and students in countires outside Greece can enjoy it both in the classroom and at home.

Date: 2012.09.29

Posted by João Paulo Matos (Portugal)

Message: This resource proves to be interesting as a motivational tool for studying the chemical nature of substances. It seems more suited to students of the 3rd cycle (7th to 9th grades). By providing high interactivity, the simulation allows an individual use, at home, to consolidate contents associated with the execution of experimental activity in the classroom. It should be emphasized that there is a large number of concepts available to work with, namely indicators, pH scale and chemical formulas. At a graphical level, this resource is very well designed, very intuitive, even managing to work around any language issues.

National Reports on successful experiences to promote lifelong learning for chemistry The national reports on chemistry successful experiences to promote lifelong learning for chemistry are now available on the related section of the project portal. The reports presents examples of successful experiences in the partner countries and the results of testing of ICT resources with science teachers.