The Development of an Interactive Virtual Laboratory Simulation Software: A Case Study of Basic Physics Experiments

Abstract

This paper presents the techniques for the development of a web-based interactive virtual laboratory simulation software with a case study of basic Physics experiments to determine the acceleration due to gravity. The virtual learning environment has been developed in the following manner, namely: 1). Determine the computer programs and applications to be used in the software using the hyper text mark-up language (html); 2). Design software content Based on java applets; 3). Model the laboratory interface, experimental materials, equipment and characters necessary for the virtual Physics laboratory; 4). Develop the virtual   laboratory; 5). Collect expert opinions about the virtual laboratory; 6). Finalize and test the virtual laboratory for simulation; and 7). Deployment of the virtual laboratory software for use by clients. The paper also presents the attributes related to the interface of the software and attributes related to the use of the virtual laboratory software as a material in education. The effectiveness of the proposed interactive virtual laboratory software is justified by its deployment for use by secondary school students with positive responses through interactions and questionnaires. Comprehensive techniques on how to compute the acceleration due to gravity and generate the corresponding predictive mathematical models for the experiments have also been presented together with the associated programs written in MATLAB. The limitations of the virtual laboratory simulation software and directions for further improvements are briefly highlighted.

Keywords: Hyper text mark-up language (html), interactive virtual laboratory, Java® Applets®, Physics experiment.