Utilising the Virtual Laboratory Resources for incorporating ICT in the Chemistry Teacher Education

Abstract

Teaching chemistry laboratory procedures by means of a virtual laboratory on a personal computer will be much welcome by educational institutions for whom maintaining a hands-on chemistry lab is not viable due to various reasons. Instructional laboratory simulations can be incorporated in the virtual laboratory resources where students are free to make the decisions they would confront in an actual laboratory setting. Real-life situations and problems are faced by them, where they have to make/take decisions and face the consequences thereof. The student may take such additional support online after he has attended the same in the laboratory. Concepts and skills learnt by him through hands-on activity in the classroom-laboratory would be enhanced through this sort of blended learning approach. But the chemistry teachers are not often aware of the potential of these virtual laboratory resources. So an attempt to showcase the rich virtual laboratory resources are done in this paper so that the readers may be convinced that they must be utilised appropriately for incorporating “ICT in the Chemistry Teacher Education”.