Virtual Labs: Making it Real for Brighter India

Abstract

Early 17th century Francis Bacon started defining scientific practice and in the mid-19th century secondary school science classes began to contrivance science labs. During the early 20th century, leading educators were suggesting that science labs be used to develop scientific thinking habits in young students, and at the beginning of the 21st century, educators are still seeking to achieve this goal. Technology offers one path to success. Yet, the numerous “virtual labs” available offer little, or no, practice in scientific thinking. This paper presents a new approach to using technology, one that uses real experiments and provides students with the opportunity to think like scientists. Efficiency. This paper presents a new approach to using technology, one that uses real experiments and provides students with the opportunity to think like scientists. Keywords: Vlab (Virtual labs), IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), MHRD, ICT, Nodal Center.