FETC 2008: Virtual ChemLab

I’m fresh back from FETC 2008, and I’ve got lots to share. I’ll start with a presentation I attended by Brian Woodfield over at Brigham Young. Dr. Woodfield is project director for the Virtual ChemLab (VCL) computer simulation that BYU has been working on the past several years, and is offered to high schools and universities through Pearson Prentice Hall.

Several simulated laboratories are offered through the software, and Dr. Woodfield provided many interesting demonstrations during his lecture, including ones for a Physics Lab, Physical Science Lab, General and Organic Chemistry Labs. Improvements and additions to the offerings continue to occur with each passing year. Graphics art students at BYU work on the computer graphics, and each year new students attempt to outdo previous efforts. Coming soon will be a simulated Biology Lab, complete with microscopes and genetics.

Graphics indeed were good. Dr. Woodfield opened the presentation with photos of traditional chemistry labs, and explained how tedious and time consuming classroom experiments are to set up, and how they tend to stifle experimentation and creativity among students. Placing accurate simulated experiments within appropriate contexts, though, does allow free exploration and additional opportunities for serendipitous discovery. Plus, it allows much faster and less expensive experimentation. It’s also safer. Click here for a brief list of horrific accidents that have occurred in high school chemistry labs over the years. Dr. Woodfield demonstrated an “explosion” by mixing the wrong chemicals, and the beaker came back ready for another experiment. This was much safer than real world explosions.

Over the years, BYU has found VCL to be as useful as any other tool in the classroom. In other words, most of its effectiveness depends on the teacher or professor using it. Implementation is key, and instructors with a positive attitude will have the most success with the product (I think this is true of every educational product).

They’ve found most kids take 15 - 30 minutes to learn the interface. BYU instructors have also found giving students the Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument before classes using VCL helps pinpoint those who prefer direct instruction over personal discovery, and who therefore may need more initial assistance with the program.

VCL seems to be most useful when assigned as homework. Dr. Woodfield indicated instructors have noted a 30% increase in performance on exams in classes using VCL versus those who do not. Also, students who did not use VCL invariably performed poorly on quizzes over the covered material.

Dr. Woodfield shared many interesting anecdotes about using the program. One involved a teacher in Indianapolis who wanted the program for her students. The school was unwilling to provide a site license, so she bought a single license and installed it on a computer in the back of her room. VCL became so popular, the students told their parents about it, and complained they did not get enough time on the program. The parents pitched in and paid for a site license so VCL could be installed on every computer in the school. Stories like that attest to the program’s popularity.

Worksheets that teachers have put together are available. Also, a couple of papers by Dr. Woodfield and his colleagues appeared in the Journal of Chemical Education concerning use and assessment of the program in college course. These are available for download at the main VCL site:

B.F. Woodfield, H.R. Catlin, G.L. Waddoups, M.S. Moore, R. Swan, R. Allen, and G. Bodily, “The Virtual ChemLab Project: A Realistic and Sophisticated Simulation of Inorganic Qualitative Analysis”, J. Chem. Ed. 81, 1672-1678 (2004).

B.F. Woodfield, M.B. Andrus, T. Andersen, J. Miller, B. Simons, R. Stanger, G.L. Waddoups, M.S. Moore, R. Swan, R. Allen, and G. Bodily, “The Virtual ChemLab Project: A Realistic and Sophisticated Simulation of Organic Synthesis and Organic Qualitative Analysis.” J. Chem. Ed. 82, 1728-1735 (2005).

Finally, there is a nice wiki on VCL for Sloan-C members that has more details. From all accounts, and by every indication, this looks like an excellent addition to high school and college chemistry courses. Highly recommended.