The Virtual Lab Educational Software

The Virtual Lab is a free, downloadable, CD-ROM based program providing virtual access to a variety of sophisticated scientific instruments. This project was funded through the NASA Learning Technologies Project (LTP) and is targeted to high school and entry-level college students.

The project's concept was initiated from educators' desire to have access to sophisticated scientific instruments available at NASA. By providing a fun, hands-on experience that brings relevance to class material, we hope to inspire the next generation of explorers.

The instrumentation includes a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Light Microscope, Atomic Force Microscope, and an Energy Dispersive Spectrometer for the SEM.

Virtual Lab's instruments let explorers operate a virtual device to examine real specimens. Exhaustive sets of images systematically photographed at hundreds or even thousands of positions and several magnifications allow anyone to zoom in on the most minute detail of each specimen. Controls on each Virtual Lab device cleverly and smoothly move the viewer through these images to display the specimen as the instrument saw it. Users control position, magnification, focal length, filters and other parameters.

The Virtual Lab library also includes short videos with information about how the instrument works, how it is used at NASA, and how the specimens are prepared, as well as instructional videos on how to use the software.

How to obtain our Software

The Virtual Lab is freely available to all. For the latest version please visit Beckman's Virtual Lab site ( http://virtual.itg.uiuc.edu/).

For the latest teacher resources for Virtual Lab, including links for Virtual Lab download, please visit UCF's Cogs Site: Integrating the Virtual Lab into Your Classroom ( http://www.nasa-inspired.org).

For additional information on other free Learning Technologies Project software: http://learn.arc.nasa.gov.

Beckman Institute has an outreach program called Bugscope, which allows schools to remotely control their real Scanning Electron Microscope via the web. The schools provide the bug and schedule a date and time for the online session. To learn more about the Bugscope program visit http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/. Many other universities and science centers are now providing similar programs. Check around.

You may find a facility close to your area. There is a world of information about microscopy on the web. At the Florida State University Microscopy site (http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/virtual/virtual.html) you can learn about the different types of microscopes and manipulate some sample outputs on the web.

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