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A Virtual Reality Laboratory for Distance Education in Chemistry

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 International Journal of Social and Human Sciences 1 2007

11

A Virtual Reality Laboratory for Distance

Education in Chemistry
J. Georgiou, K. Dimitropoulos, and A. Manitsaris

 and provide a cost-effective solution for secondary education

Abstract—Simulations play a major role in education not only as well as a valuable complementary or distance learning tool
because they provide realistic models with which students can for university students.
interact to acquire real world experiences, but also because they Virtual reality technology has been widely proposed as a
constitute safe environments in which students can repeat processes
significant technological advance that can offer a novel form
without any risk in order to perceive easier concepts and theories.
Virtual reality is widely recognized as a significant technological of education. Especially in the case of chemistry, the
advance that can facilitate learning process through the development potentials of virtual reality technology can facilitate learning
of highly realistic 3D simulations supporting immersive and process surpassing major restrictions characterizing traditional
interactive features. The objective of this paper is to analyze the educational methods. Its primary objective is to provide highly
influence of virtual reality’s use in chemistry instruction as well as to realistic and believable simulations of chemical procedures
present an integrated web-based learning environment for the
within a fully-immersive, interactive and three-dimensional
simulation of chemical experiments. The proposed application
constitutes a cost-effective solution for both schools and universities virtual world. The educational benefit of these applications is
without appropriate infrastructure and a valuable tool for distance the active participation of students in learning process, since
learning and life-long education in chemistry. Its educational researches have shown that humans remember only 10% of
objectives are the familiarization of students with the equipment of a what they read, 20% of what they hear, but retain up to 90%
real chemical laboratory and the execution of virtual volumetric of what they learn through active participation [3]. Moreover,
analysis experiments with the active participation of students. students can observe or carry out virtual chemical
experiments, which are either difficult or even impossible to
Keywords—Chemistry, simulations, experiments, virtual reality.
be performed in a physical laboratory e.g. high-speed
chemical activities that do not allow observation and reliable
I. INTRODUCTION
measurement of results (explosions, issues of chemical

T EACHING chemistry either at school or at university

constitutes a challenging task requiring a theoretical
approach on specific chemical concepts as well as a deep
kinetics etc), extremely slow or complex chemical processes,
experiments involving health risks for students and teachers
(e.g. radiations), processes requiring expensive consumables
study on specific phenomena through the conduction of or devices not available in a conventional laboratory etc [4].
experiments in specially equipped laboratories. However, the Recently a lot of research efforts have been made aiming
total number of chemical experiments carried out at a to take advantage of the potentials that virtual reality and Web
school/university laboratory is usually limited due to safety technologies offer at chemistry instruction, such as CSU
factors, lack of appropriate infrastructure and equipment, Chemlab [5], VRLUP [6] and Lab 3D [7], which deal with
restrictions in terms of time and space availability, poor hygiene, safety and biochemistry issues respectively.
accuracy on account of significant experimental errors Furthermore, in [8] a virtual reality application is presented
involved in final results etc [1]. aiming to familiarize post-graduate students with the facilities
Despite of this fact, experiments constitute an integral part of of a large-scale chemical plant, which are not otherwise easily
the chemistry instruction, as they play an essential role in the accessible to students, and provide them the opportunity to
comprehension of theory and the acquisition of a wide range conduct a series of virtual experiments. Specifically, three
of skills and abilities [2]. Hence, an alternative educational modules are presented: i) Vicher I dealing with industrial
approach is required to address the aforementioned problems methods of handling the decay of catalysts and heterogeneous
catalytic mechanisms, ii) Vicher II, dealing with non-
isothermal effects in catalytic reactions and iii) Safety, which
Manuscript received May 31, 2007. allows students to walk through a chemical pilot plant to
J. Georgiou is with the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece,
evaluate the hazards and safety systems. Moreover, many
Egnatia , GR-54124,; Phone: +30 (2310) 996228; Fax: +30 (2310) 996228;
Email: [email protected]. applications have been recently developed using simple 3D
K. Dimitropoulos is with the Macedonia University of Thessaloniki, models for the efficient teaching of chemistry in secondary
Greece, Egnatia 156, GR-54006,; Phone: +30 (2310) 891-898; Fax: +30 education, such as VR-Assisted Chemistry Education [9],
(2310) 891-290; Email: [email protected].
High School Chemistry Educational and Virtual Reality [10]
A. Manitsaris is with the Macedonia University of Thessaloniki, Greece,
Egnatia 156, GR-54006,; Phone: +30 (2310) 891-898; Fax: +30 (2310) 891- etc.
290; Email: [email protected]. However, it should be pointed out that the term “virtual” is

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also used by a large number of applications without distance education practices aim at the substitution of face-to-
exclusively implying the use of virtual reality technology. In face instruction using various communication means, such as
most of these cases, the term is used to indicate that mail, video or audio tapes, educational programs on TV,
experiments are not executed in a real laboratory, but in a teleconferences etc and rarely, in some special cases, a limited
computer. Many applications belong to this category, such as number of meetings. The advent of the World Wide Web has
the Oxford Virtual Chemistry [11], the Model Science changed radically the area of distance education providing a
Software [12], the IrYdium project [13], the Crocodile new form of learning, widely known as online education [15]
Chemistry [14] etc. Nevertheless, the drawbacks of this (or alternatively e-learning). The main advantage of Web is
category in comparison with virtual reality systems are: lack that it provides a suitable platform for the development of
of immersion feeling, limitations in interaction and navigation,
distance learning tools, which directly connect learners with
not realistic representations of models in three dimensions etc
teachers and relative educational sources [16]. This form of
This paper aims to study and underline the benefits and
communication involves the use of simple text as well as the
impacts from the use of virtual reality technology in chemical
transmission of voice, image and video. Specifically, the main
education as well as to present a novel virtual reality
advantages of Web-based distance education are:
environment, which faithfully reproduces a real chemistry
x Space independency: Learners are able to participate
laboratory in three dimensions. The proposed system takes
in the learning process from any place, even from
advantage of virtual reality potentials and recent advances in
their own home simply using their personal
Web technologies to provide both a complementary
computers.
educational tool and a distance learning application for
students of chemical engineering. The fundamental goal of the x Time independency: The simultaneous participation
application is to transfer via internet each student into an of teachers and learners is not a prerequisite in online
interactive virtual world, which simulates a real educational education. Learners choose when they are ready to
process. Initially, students can navigate in the virtual lab and study the educational material and determine the time
interact with its equipment to acquire the required experience needed to assimilate the learning content. That is,
and familiarity with a chemical laboratory. Subsequently, the students can repeat processes and revise the content
second step of the application involves the simulation of of an online application without any time limitations,
volumetric analysis experiments with the active participation adapting so the learning process to their personal
of students in the experimental process. Specifically, the needs.
virtual experiments supported by the proposed system x Low cost: The total cost required for the training of a
concern: i) volumetric analysis of acid from base and vice large number of learners at universities, schools,
versa, ii) volumetric reduction-oxidation and iii) enterprises and so on is significantly reduced by the
complexometric neutralization and water hardness estimation. use of Web-based learning applications. On the other
The interactive features of the application allow students to hand, the cost corresponding to users-learners is
conduct virtual experiments considering all the parameters usually limited to the price of a conventional PC.
that may affect the final experimental results. The main x Easy access: The main advantage of online learning
advantage of this educational approach is that students can is free and easy accessibility via Web. Furthermore,
repeat the same procedure without any limitation, study and in most cases the connection with other external
compare the results in order to perceive easier each one of the educational sources (e.g. libraries) is also possible.
experimental processes. Finally, the application contains x Simultaneous participation of a large number of
relative educational material such as theory, exercises, tests learners: Web allows the participation of a large
etc constituting so an integrated educational tool for distance number of trainees in the learning process, something
learning in chemistry. that is hardly achieved with traditional distance
In the next Section the role of Web in distance learning is learning methods. Considering also that Web
presented, while in Section II the main educational benefits constitutes the largest and the most powerful global
from the use of virtual reality technology in Web-based network, in which millions of computers are
education are highlighted. The virtual laboratory application is connected to, one can easily understand its enormous
described in Section III and the familiarization function is potentials in distance education and the dissemination
presented in Section IV. Finally, the volumetric analysis, of knowledge as well.
volumetric reduction-oxidation and complexometric x Non-isolated learners: Traditionally in distance
neutralization and water hardness estimation experiments are education, learners are considered isolated from the
analyzed in detail in Section V, VI and VII respectively, other members of the learning community studying
whereas conclusions are outlined in Section VIII. the learning material on their own. On the contrary,
in online education, Web promotes the cooperation
II. ONLINE DISTANCE EDUCATION between learners and teachers as well as the creation
of learners’ groups with common educational
The term “distance education” is mainly used to imply the
objectives. This capability is possible due to the
physical distance among teachers and learners. Traditional

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synchronous or asynchronous communication [17] be regarded as the extension of internet in third dimension.
supported by Web technologies. This capability allows the development of Web-based virtual
x Equal opportunities to all participants: As it has learning environments, which are approachable by all internet
already been mentioned the learning process is users. The most practical use of virtual reality is in training
adapted to the personal abilities of each learner. and simulations. However, there are many applications aiming
Hence, while in a real learning process it is a to reproduce a learning process of a real classroom. These
common phenomenon some students not to be able to applications allow students to interact with information in a
follow the learning rhythm, in online education Web physical sense beyond the conventional interaction supported
provides equal opportunities to all participants by typical two-dimensional Web pages. In the next section a
regardless of their abilities, as they have as much Web-based virtual reality application for the simulation of
time as they really need to study the learning chemical experiments is presented.
material.
x Simulation of a real learning process: Web allows IV. THE VIRTUAL LABORATORY
the creation of learning conditions that are usually The virtual lab constitutes a combination of hypermedia and
developed in a real classroom. For this purpose virtual reality features. For the development of Web-pages,
various pedagogical methods such as behaviourism, the Microsoft FrontPage software was used, whereas virtual
cognitivism, constructivism, collaborative learning worlds were created using VRML and 3D Studio Max
etc [18][19] can be applied. software. The proposed system is, in essence, a hypermedia
x Attractive environment: The use of multimedia application and, thus, it is a collection of HTML pages, which
technology (video, sounds, 3D graphics etc) engages constitute the base of the application. A common prototype
students attention and creates a pleasant learning was followed for the designing of all HTML pages, while the
environment [20]. VRML worlds are embedded and presented always at the
In general, the potentials of Web shift the centre of learning centre of the HTML pages. In order to present virtual worlds
process from teachers to learners. This simply means that properly, the installation of a plug-in, the Cortona VRML of
learners acquire an active role and determine the development Parallel Graphics, at the user’s browser is a prerequisite. The
of the learning process. These features are further enhanced virtual lab has been designed for a resolution of 1280x1024
by the use of virtual reality technology in online education as and a 32 bit depth of color. These are the minimum
described in the next section. specifications of the application, which requires only the
existence of conventional equipment without any support
III. VIRTUAL REALITY IN DISTANCE EDUCATION from peripheral virtual reality devices that increase the cost of
Virtual reality has introduced a new form of education the application and, consequently, restrict the number of
allowing students to experience situations, instead of simply potential users.
reading or hearing about them [21]. Its use in online distance
education set the base for the implementation of interactive
systems offering to students the ability to broad their
knowledge without any help from their teachers [22]. The
interactive functionalities supporting virtual reality
environments reinforce the active participation of students and
thus they are not any more regarded as simple passive
observers, but as active members of the learning process, in
which they can either discover or even produce new
knowledge.
An educational virtual environment can be defined as one Fig 1. The main page of the application.
or more virtual worlds that offer multiple educational
functionalities to each user-student [23]. Within these virtual Apart from the virtual worlds of the lab, the main page (Fig.
worlds, students can navigate, interact with virtual objects and 1) of the application contains links that allow trainees to have
study the educational material, which can be either a 3D access to relevant theory issues, solved and unsolved
model or even text, image, sound or video. Besides, it is exercises, diagnostic tests as well as questions answered or not
widely recognized that virtual reality technology engages based on [24] [25]. This educational material has been used so
students’ attention and turns learning into pleasant and that the application can play an integrated educational role by
entertaining process. In short, three are considered to be the helping trainees-users to acquire the required theoretical
main features of these applications: immersion, interactivity background, raise questions and give answers or interpretation
and representation in three dimensions. about the experimental results and phenomena. Moreover, the
Generally, the use of virtual reality technology in Web virtual worlds of the proposed application provide the
provides a new framework for distance education, since it can following educational functionalities:

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• Familiarization with the equipment of a chemical virtual object, the shape of the cursor changes inciting them to
laboratory select the object. The result of this selection is the appearance
• Execution of virtual experiments of a brief description of the object, which explains its
function, and a smaller 3D model corresponding to the
V. THE FAMILIARIZATION FUNCTION selected object so that learners observe it from different angles
of view. The description of the object as well as its 3D model
One of the fundamental objectives of the proposed
appears at the third part of the screen, which is always located
application is the familiarization of users-students with the at the bottom of the page (Fig. 3).
equipment of a real chemical laboratory. This function is of
great importance especially for students without any previous
experience in a real chemical laboratory, due to the reasons
described in the introduction of this paper. To this end, the
first function supported by the system allows students to Fig. 3. The third part of the page contains the 3D model of the model
navigate within the virtual world and manipulate its and a brief description explaining the use of the chemical instrument.
equipment through the interactive functionalities of VRML
language. This function should be always performed before The virtual lab appearing during this function is exactly
the execution of virtual experiments, as the familiarization of the same with the labs used for the simulation of the chemical
students with the lab’s equipment is a prerequisite for the next experiments. However, each experiment is executed in
stage of the application i.e. the correct execution of virtual different virtual workbenches and requires the use of different
experiments. chemical instruments. The main advantage of this designing
approach is that students have access to all the equipment that
is to be used for the conduction of virtual experiments and
thus students are already familiar with their function. The next
stage is the simulation of the experiments. Specifically, the
application supports the simulation of three chemical
experiments:
i) volumetric analysis of acid from base and vice versa,
ii) complexometric neutralization and hardness
estimation,
iii) volumetric reduction-oxidation.

VI. THE VOLUMETRIC ANALYSIS EXPERIMENT

The main goal of this virtual experiment is the
concentration estimation of an unknown solution of acid or
base through a neutralization reaction. Specifically, the
Fig. 2. The virtual laboratory.
application supports two different methods for the estimation
of the final point of the process (Fig. 4):
More specifically, students are routed to the virtual lab
• Using a pH-meter
through the main page of the application. The Web-page
• Observing the color change of an index.
containing the virtual environment is divided in three parts,
At first, students should prepare the lab, before the
each of which performs a different role in the learning
execution of the experiment. With this function, the
process. The first part contains the title of the applications and
application aims to simulate all the experimental process
hyperlinks, which allow users to either return to the main page reinforcing so the feeling of presence within the chemical lab.
or approach the help manual of the application. The goal of The workbench includes the burette’s base, the burette itself,
this manual is to make the use of the application easier and to the pH-meter, several conic bottles, washing bottles and other
provide sufficient guidance for the execution of experiments. chemical instruments. Above the workbench, there are five
The existence of a help manual is considered a prerequisite for bottles containing solution of acetic, sulphuric, phosphoric,
the development of a user-friendly application. hydrochloric and oxalic acid. Additionally, there are five more
The second part of the page contains the virtual world bottles containing solution of ammonia, calcium hydroxide,
(Fig. 2), in which students are able to navigate in order to sodium bicarbonate, sodium hydroxide and sodium acetate. At
learn the equipment of the lab and the use of each one of the the edge of the workbench there are also five small bottles
chemical instruments. Through this function students will also containing various indices, such as thymole blue (base),
learn how to navigate within the virtual world using the thymole blue (acid), blue bromothymole, methyl red and
keyboard or the mouse of their computer. This supported phenolopthalane.
function is of great importance especially for students who are In the next stage, students should form the topologic
not experienced with 3D technology and virtual reality arrangement for the execution of the experiment. During the
environments in general. experimental process students follow well-defined instructions
Every time students locate the cursor of their mouse on a and specific steps, while results can be observed either

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visually through the change of the index’s color or using the

pH-meter. The chemical instruments needed for the
experiment are a conic bottle, a burette, a mixer and a pH-
meter. Firstly, students should place the burette and then the
electric mixer exactly under the burette. Subsequently, the
conic bottle is placed above the mixer and under the burette, (b)
so that the solution contained in the burette to be easily added.
A. Using pH-meter for the estimation of the final point
Firstly, sufficient volume of the solution (acid or base) is
introduced in the conic bottle. This means that students should
choose one of the bottles containing these solutions, using
(c)
their mouse, and add a specific amount of solution in the conic
Fig. 5. The equivalent point can be graphically estimated by the
bottle. Specifically, each click on the bottle of the solution
graphs shown in the third part of the HTML page.
corresponds to 1ml. Subsequently, 50ml of acid or base are
introduced into the burette and the electric mixer is used B. Using index for the estimation of the final point
(students should turn on the mixer clicking on it) for the In this case the estimation of the equivalent point is based
efficient mixing of the solution in the conic bottle. Students on the change of the solution’s color in the conic bottle. The
then click on the virtual pH-meter to introduce its electrode in equipment needed for this experiment (the conic bottle, the
the conic bottle. Each time they click on the burette, 1ml of burette and the mixer) is placed appropriately, as described in
the solution is added in the conic bottle and at the same time the previous section. Again, the solution contained in the
the corresponding value of pH is presented on the screen of burette is gradually introduced into the conic bottle, while the
the pH-meter. resultant solution is mixed during the whole process. Clicking
on the bottle of the index, we add the appropriate amount of
index to the solution. The process is completed when the color
of the solution (Fig. 6), within the conic bottle, has changed
(the color depends on the index used).

Fig. 4. The pH is presented on the screen of the pH-meter. The

process completes when the pH value remains almost constant at the (a) (b)
equivalent point Fig. 6. The process is completed when the color of the solution
has changed
The whole process involves a gradual introduction of the
acid or base solution from the burette to the conic bottle. The
titration process (volumetric analysis) has been completed
when the pH value remains almost constant, after its sudden
change to the equivalent point (Fig. 4). The equivalent point
can be graphically estimated by the titration curve, as shown Fig. 7. The equation of gram-equivalent, as shown in the third part of
in Fig. 5. These graphs are presented in the third part of the the HTML page.
HTML page and they present the change of pH with regards
to the added volume. The use of these graphs allows the Based on the equation of Fig. 7 and knowing the initial
accurate estimation of the equivalent point. volume and the normality of the solution of acid or base, as
well as the volume of the solution consumed (burette’s
indication), we can estimate the normality of the unknown
solution of acid or base.

VII. COMPLEXOMETRIC NEUTRALIZATION AND WATER

HARDNESS ESTIMATION
(a) The objective of this experiment is the measurement of Ca2+

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and Mg2+ concentration and the final estimation of water easily perceptible by the change of the color (from red-violet
hardness. This can be achieved through the conduction of to blue). Furthermore, 50ml of EDTA are introduced in the
three experiments. The EDTA is not a standardized substance, burette and the electric mixer is turned on for the efficient
thus, in the first experiment, the concentration of EDTA mixing of the solution in the conic bottle.
solution (NEDTA) is titrated with a standardized Ca2+ solution,
which is produced by dissolving CaCO3 in HCl, using as
index Calcon, with pH=12, and adding 4F of ȃĮȅǾ. In the
second experiment, water is titrated with EDTA in the
presence of Calcon index (pH=12) with NaOH. From this
process the Ca2+ concentration in the water (eqCa2+/L) is
estimated. In the third experiment, water is titrated with
EDTA, in the presence of EBT index, with pH=10,5 adding
NH3-NH4Cl buffer solution. From this process the (eqCa2++
eqȂg2+)/L concentration in the water is accumulatively (a) (b)
estimated and, consequently, the concentration of Mg in water Fig 9. a) The color of the solution before the reaction and b) the
(eq Mg2+)/L can be found by simply subtracting the resultant color has changed from red to blue indicating the completion of the
concentration of Ca2+ estimated in the second experiment. process.
The learner executes the experiments following faithfully
the experimental process performed in a real laboratory. The titration process is performed with gradual addition of
Hence, the workbench should be prepared appropriately EDTA from the burette to the conic bottle. After the
before the execution of the experiments. Above the completion of the process the color of the solution has
workbench, there are bottles containing various agents. changed to blue as shown in Fig 9. The experimental process
Specifically, the large bottles contain EDTA solution, MgCL2 can be repeated introducing different amounts of standardized
solution, standardized calcium solution (CaCl2) and water, Ca2+ (CaCl2) solution.
whereas the small bottles contain NaOH, EBT index, Calcon Based on the equivalent equation (Fig 7) of the reacting
index and NH3-NH4Cl buffer solution. Subsequently, students solutions and knowing the volume and the normality of the
should form the topologic arrangement and execute the Ca2+ solution used as well as the volume of the EDTA
experiments following specific steps provided by the solution consumed, we can estimate the normality of the
application. The final result can be observed either visually or EDTA.
numerically. At first the burette, the mixer and a conic bottle B. The second experiment
are placed at the workbench exactly as described in the
Clicking on the second bottle, we can place it on the mixer
previous section and shown in Fig. 8.
(under the burette) removing at the same time the first one
used in the previous experiment. 50ml of water (by clicking
on the tap) and appropriate amount of 4F NaOH are added so
that the value of pH to be increased to 12. Moreover, Calcon
index is added to the solution by clicking on the
corresponding bottle as well as EDTA from the burette, while
the solution is mixed at the same time. The color changes from
red to blue indicating the completion of the reaction. The
experimental process is finished with the cleaning of the
workbench.
Similarly with the previous experiments, the volume and
the normality of the EDTA solution are known as well as the
corresponding volume (50ml) of the water. Hence, it is
Fig. 8. The chemical apparatus used for the experiment
straightforward that the normality of ȃCa [eqCa2+ /L] in the
water can be easily estimated from the equation of Fig. 7.
A. The fist experiment
C. The third experiment
Sufficient amount of Ca2+ solution (CaCl2) is introduced
In this experiment, the gram equivalent equation of Fig. 7 is
into the conic bottle by clicking on the corresponding bottle
used for the estimation of the water’s normality in Ca and Mg,
(each mouse click corresponds to 1ml of CaCl2). For the
and consequently the accumulative concentration of
attainment of the final reaction, the presence of an alkaline
[eqCa2+eqȂg2+] / L. By subtracting the concentration of Ca
environment is considered as a prerequisite. To this end, the
estimated in the previous experiment, we can find the
addition of 5ml NaOH 4N is also required. Subsequently,
concentration of magnesium (eq Ȃg2+ / L).
students should click on the Calcon’s bottle to add this index
to the solution so that the completion of the reaction to be

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D. Water hardness estimation indication. The normality of KMnO4 can be estimated using
For the water hardness estimation the accumulative the equation of Fig. 7.
concentration of [eqCa2+eqȂg2+] / L is considered equal to Subsequently, unknown quantity of FeSO4 is introduced in
eqCaCO3/L. The equivalent concentration of CaCO3 and the second conic bottle, which is placed under the burette.
consequently the hardness of water is given by the following Moreover, certain quantity of H2SO4 2M is added and the
equation: solution is heated up. The same process is followed until the
color of the solution to become violet. The volume of KMnO4
(gr/L CaCO3)=(eq CaCO3/L)xȋ.ǿCaCO3=(eq CaCO3/ L)x50= consumed in titration is calculated and knowing its normality
50 ([eqCa2+ eqȂg2+] / L (1) we can estimate the quantity (mgram) of Fe using the equation
or of Fig.11.
50x103 ([eqCa2+ eqȂg2+] / L ) mg/L CaCO3 (2)
However, 1ȠF = 10 mg/L CaCO3. Hence the water hardness
can be defined as:
5x 103 ([eqCa2+ eqȂg2+] / L ) ȠF (3)
Fig 11. The equation, shown in the third part of the HTML page,
gives the mgrams of Fe.
VIII. VOLUMETRIC REDUCTION-OXIDATION
In this experiment, the unknown amount of Fe2+ is IX. CONCLUSION
estimated according to the volumetric reduction oxidation In this paper a novel Web-based virtual learning
technique. The lab contains the burette and its base, water environment for the simulation of volumetric analysis
bottles and other chemical apparatus. Above the workbench experiments was presented. The proposed application takes
there are four bottles containing KMnO4, H2SO4, Fe2SO4 and advantage of the recent advances on Web and virtual reality
oxalic acid respectively, as shown in Fig 10. technologies in order to reproduce conditions of a real
learning process in a chemical laboratory and enhance
learning through a real-time interactive simulation of
volumetric analysis experiments. The virtual laboratory
presented in this paper constitutes a cost-effective solution for
both schools and universities without appropriate
infrastructure and a valuable tool for distance learning and
life-long education in chemistry. The use of virtual reality
technology turns learning into an entertaining and easily
comprehensible process, while Web provides free access and
use to all internet users with a complete time and place
independency. Finally, the application allows the
familiarization of non-experienced students with the
equipment of a chemical laboratory and the execution of
virtual experiments without the need of teacher’s presence. In
other words, students have the main role in the learning
Fig 10. Four bottles are placed above the workbench
process as they can repeat each experiment as many times as
they really need in order to perceive better the chemical
The equipment needed for this experiment is: two conic procedure, adopting so the learning process to their personal
bottles, a burette and a mixer. After their placement at the abilities and needs.
workbench, the lab is ready for the execution of the
experiment. Initially, the titration of oxalic acid (standardized REFERENCES
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