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The iLab Network Visioning Workshop:  How Can Remote Online Labs Create a Paradigm Shift for Informal Science Education at Museums and National Labs?

Co-Hosted By

Office of STEM Education Partnerships, Northwestern University

Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago

November 10-12, 2008

Northwestern University Chicago Campus

340 E. Superior St.

Chicago, Illinois

View Agenda

Please join us in Chicago this November for the iLab Network Visioning Workshop, which is being co-hosted by the Office of STEM Education Partnerships, Northwestern University and Museum of Science and Industry. This workshop will bring together the science museum and national labs education outreach communities to explore how remote online lab technology changes science education and outreach strategies and creates new partnership opportunities. Policymakers and funders will also be attending. Online laboratories are experimental facilities that can be accessed through the Internet, allowing students and educators to carry out experiments from anywhere at any time. Remote labs enrich science education and outreach by vastly increasing the scope of experiments that students, museum visitors, and the general public can have access to. The iLab Network enables people to use real instruments, rather than simulations, via remote online laboratories using their web browser. Unlike conventional experimental facilities, iLabs can be shared and accessed widely by students and other audiences across the world that might not otherwise have the resources to purchase and operate costly or delicate lab equipment. The iLab Network uses the Internet to bridge the traditional gap between universities and other research labs with advanced laboratory devices and museums, science education and outreach programs, and K-12 school communities who historically have not had access to such devices. It offers a scalable solution to improving STEM education by growing the use of labs to increase inquiry-based learning and exposure to authentic scientific equipment and practices in both formal and informal environments.

Numerous iLabs are already online and in use worldwide, including through MIT and universities in Australia, China and Nigeria. As part of this project, MIT is making a neutron beam experiment housed at its research nuclear reactor available online, and new devices will also be put online at Northwestern University. Partners include Chicago Public Schools, Evanston Township High School, Museum of Science and Industry, Illinois Math and Science Academy, and Illinois Virtual High School, who will all be testing and deploying iLab remote online laboratories in their formal and informal science education programs. For more information about the iLab Network and about participating in the workshop, please contact Dr. Kemi Jona at Northwestern University.

This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant OCI-0753324. However, any opinions, findings, conclusions, and/or recommendations are those of the investigators and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.