Atlanta – Can online science laboratories replace the experience
of sitting at a lab bench with beaker in hand? No way, say many
professors. But Kemi Jona, director of Northwestern University’s
Office of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Education
Partnerships, argues that virtual labs are at least as good, and
in some cases better, at teaching students concepts to prepare
them for modern laboratory research. He’s a leader of
iLabCentral, an effort by colleges to share their high-end
scientific instruments with professors and high-school science
teachers over the Internet to support virtual science labs. The
project is run by Northwestern and the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology and supported by a $1-million grant from the
National Science Foundation. In a presentation to leaders of the
Southern Regional Education Board here Wednesday during its
meeting on emerging technologies, Mr. Jona demonstrated the
system, performing a laboratory experiment about detecting
radiation. He gained access to a W