Understanding simple electric DC circuits often represents a great challenge to many students in lower secondary schools. As a result, students' knowledge of this subject is often dominated by alternative conceptions, even after instruction. One of the reasons for these learning difficulties is the intangibility of key physical quantities and…

Increasing numbers of college students own cell phones, and many of these phones are smartphones, which include features such as still and video cameras, global positioning systems, Internet access, and computers as powerful as the desktop models of only a few years ago. A number of chemical educators are already using these devices for education.…

Simulations and games are not new artifacts to the study of science in secondary school settings (Hug, Kriajcik and Marx 2005), however teachers remain skeptical as to their value, use and appropriateness (Rice 2006). The difficulty is not only the design and development of effective play environments that produce measurable changes in knowledge…

In this article, we describe a Java-based virtual laboratory, accessible via the Internet by means of a Web browser. This remote laboratory enables the students to build both direct and alternating current circuits. The program includes a graphical user interface which resembles the connection board, and also the electrical components and tools…