Virtual Experiment Environment's Design for Science Education

Abstract

We present the educational possibilities of the Web based virtual experiment (VE) environments in the science education. As there are a lot of things that cannot be experimented with in the lab among the contents of experiment of science education, there are a lot of difficulties in the teaching-learning process. Therefore, we have developed virtual experiment environments on the Web designed to be compatible to the learner levels through level analysis in the learning contents. The students can select the learning level in the exploring step of learning cycle model: regular, advanced and remedial courses, according to the degree of their understanding or interest about the learning topic. The virtual experiment environments will support students to learn scientific phenomena and concepts focusing on: radiation balance, the earthquake waves, the earth’s crust structure, the movement of sea water, and solar system in the science field of middle school. The VE environments have been evaluated to the responses of learners on a Web. This study shows that the Web-based VE environments in science education can be effectively used as a virtual class.