How long does a lab take to complete?

Our experience is that students can complete a lab in 60 to 90 minutes. The time range varies with student sophistication and attentiveness to detail.

Are students expected to know the physics in advance?

Students are expected to know the fundamentals of any physics that precedes the topic. For instance, in a lab on Newton's laws they are expected to know what acceleration is. But the labs are self-contained in terms of the topics being taught. When students start the lab on Newton's laws, they are not expected to know what a net force is or what Newton's laws are.

Do the labs require calculus?

No.

What has the student reaction to the labs been?

Highly positive. Students view the Kinetic Books electronic labs as a great supplement to real-world labs. Most say they would prefer a mix of virtual labs and "real world" labs, since they view the two as addressing different skills and providing different ways to learn.

Students value the immediate feedback that the labs provide and they certainly enjoy those labs that have game-like exercises. They particularly appreciate the lab writeups, which include sections telling them what they are expected to learn and provide focused questions to test their knowledge and understanding. Some students have commented that because the lab writeups supply much useful information, they would like the chance to read them in advance.

What has the teacher reaction been?

Instructors tell us the labs are extremely efficient to conduct and that their students really seem to enjoy and learn a great deal from them. Initially, some instructors raised the concern that a few students might feel excluded by the more game-like activities, but we have not found this to be the case. The lab activities always require students to draw conclusions and to apply physics concepts, so they are far more than idle amusement. None of the games is a "twitch" (reflex-driven) game, so Nintendo/Xbox/Playstation experience is not particularly helpful. Instructors have also told us they use Virtual Physics Labs for extended homework assignments or preparation for physical labs.

How much do the labs cost?

Labs cost $29.95 per computer. This price applies to individual installations of the product, as for students who want to explore it at home or in a dorm. We charge $199 for a 35-computer configuration such as a school computer lab. Multiple students can use the same computer at this price.

What is "lab grading"?

Most of the required student responses in the lab are free-form text. Students are frequently asked to form hypotheses or analyze data and are asked questions like, "How would you determine the height of the tower?" or "What does your data indicate is the relationship between the force and the distance between the charges?" They are also asked for quantitative responses, but these are a minority. Students type their responses into their browsers, and when they are done with the lab and any revisions they wish to make, they "submit" all their responses at once.

When a student "submits" the lab, a new HTML page is created. This page contains each question from the lab along with the student's responses. He or she can review and then print this page or save it to disk. No attempt is made to assess the quality of the written responses or the correctness of the numerical answers. This contrasts with the Kinetic Books physics textbook, where most of the homework questions require either quantitative responses or are multiple choice, yes/no, or similar kinds of questions that can be automatically graded. The natures of the student responses desired in labs and in homework problems are different, and the designs of the two products reflect that.

Are the labs available?

Yes. The labs are available for sale now on both the Windows and Macintosh platforms. If you are an instructor at an institution and want to evaluate this product, you can do so over the web or request a trial CD. We are sorry, but this offer is not available to students or home schoolers.

The Web provides a convenient way for you to evaluate the labs. The online sample content may change on a periodic basis. Today and in the future, you can also install the labs from a CD onto your hard drive. The product is designed to run off a hard drive for superior performance, and so that students do not have to be online to use it.

Can the labs be printed?

The labs can be printed but are not designed with this in mind. It may be useful for some students to read the labs in advance, but they require the interactivity provided by a computer to be useful.

What are the system requirements?

Click here for system requirements.

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