Introduction to Virtual Courseware—Looking at life science activities
on your computer
PART A: TUTORIAL
1. Overview of the ScienceCourseware.org Web Site
1.1 Go to the web site www.ScienceCourseware.org
Comment: This is the home page for the Virtual Courseware Project. This web site
hosts four separate subprojects developed over the last 12 years: (a) Biology Labs On-Line
(BLOL), (b) Geology Labs On-Line (GLOL), (c) Virtual Courseware for Earth and
Environmental Sciences (EEC), and Virtual Courseware for Inquiry-based Science Education
(VCISE). GLOL, EEC, and VCISE are available free of charge. BLOL is a commercial web site
developed for college education.
1.2 Click on the link to Biology Labs On-Line. A new window will open. Take a virtual tour of
any or all of the 12 BLOL applets.
Comment: The BLOL commercial web site is located at BiologyLabsOnLine.com. Each applet
has an annual cost of $7.00 per year. A site license is $133.33 per year for each applet. Although
marketed mostly to colleges through University bookstores, many high schools purchase site
licenses. Packages of multiple applets are also available. See the web site for details.
1.3 When you are finished, close the BLOL window and return to the main page for the Virtual
Courseware Project (ScienceCourseware.org).
1.4 Click on the link to Geology Labs Online. A new window will open.
Comment: The GLOL subproject consists of five activities: Virtual Earthquake, Virtual Dating—
Isochron, Virtual Dating—Radiocarbon, Virtual River—Discharge, and Virtual River—Flooding.
Each activity is a linear tutorial with text, images and interactive exercises using embedded Java
or Flash applets. At the end of each activity the student receives a personalized “certificate of
completion.”
1.5 Click on the link to Virtual Dating. A new window will open.
1.6 Click on the link to Virtual Dating Demo and then click the link to Virtual Dating
Radiocarbon. Click the “Next” button at the bottom of the page to navigate through the
demonstration. Try the interactive applets. Close the window when you reach the end of the
demonstration.
Comment: In the regular version, students can only reach the end of the activity and
obtain a certificate of completion if they correctly answer all of the questions.
1.7 When you are finished, close the Virtual Dating window and the GLOL window and return to
the main page for the Virtual Courseware Project (ScienceCourseware.org).
1.8 Click on the link to Virtual Courseware for Earth and Environmental Sciences.
A new window will open.
Comment: The EEC subproject consists of two main suites: Earthquake and Global Warming.
Each of these suites contain several tutorials and simulations. The Earthquake suite contains
tutorials on the S-P Lag Time for seismograms and Earth’s Latitude & Longitude and simulations
on the Travel Time of seismic waves and locating the Epicenter & Magnitude of an earthquake.
Science Methods Online
http://www.cnsm.csulb.edu/depts/scied/edel475/
Department of Science Education
California State University, Long Beach
The Global Warming suite has seven tutorials on the Milankovitch Cycles, Seasons on Earth, the
Carbon Cycle, the Hydrological Cycle, Greenhouse Effects, Greenhouse Gases, and Albedo and
simulations on an Energy Budget Model for the Earth’s surface and predictions of Future Climate
Change.
1.9 Click on the Demonstrations button.
1.10 Click on the Future Climate button. A new window will open. Use the Control Panel to play
the animations and advance through the demonstration.
1.11 When you are finished, close the Demonstration window and return to the main page for the
Virtual Courseware Project (ScienceCourseware.org).
1.12 Click on the link to Virtual Courseware for Inquiry-based Science Education. A new
window will open. Comment: There is currently only one VCISE activity, called Drosophila,
which is available to the general public. However, two others will be released in the near future:
Relative Dating and Natural Selection. An activity on Genetic Drift will be released by the end of
the year. We will tour Drosophila and log into “developers site” to get a preview of Natural
Selection.
1.13 At this point, let’s test your web browser for compatibility. On the left side of the page, click
the link that says, “You can test your browser's compatibility by clicking here.” A new window
will open. Look closely at the page to see if your web browser passes the Javascript and Flash
compatibility tests. Also, turn off any pop-up blockers for this site. If necessary, you can follow
the link at the bottom of the page to get the latest version of the Flash player.
1.14 When you are finished, close the Browser Compatibility Test window and return to the main
page for the Virtual Courseware Project (ScienceCourseware.org).
Comment: Feel free to explore any or all of these Virtual Courseware activities in more depth
and, if appropriate, consider them for your own use in the classroom.
2. A Tour of the Drosophila Activity
2.1 If you are not already there, go to the web site www.ScienceCourseware.organd click on the
link to Virtual Courseware for Inquiry-based Science Education. A new window will open.
2.2 Click on the link to Drosophila. You will see a window with tabs on the side.
Comment: There are two ways to access Drosophila: as a student and as a teacher.We will first
tour Drosophila as a student and then access the Teacher’s Workspace.
2.3 Click on the tab for Tour. Use the forward and reverse buttons to take an animated tour of the
Drosophila activity.
Comment: The tour was designed for students. It does not cover the teacher workspace. This will
be covered in the synchronous online portion of the workshop.
2.4 After completing the animated tour, click on the tab for User Homepage.
2.5 To enter the Drosophila activity as a guest, click on the button that says Enter as Guest on the
bottom right of the window.
Science Methods Online
http://www.cnsm.csulb.edu/depts/scied/edel475/
Department of Science Education
California State University, Long Beach
2.6 Feel free to explore the Drosophila activity. The onscreen instructions will help you. You will
be guided through a set of genetic experiments as part of the synchronous portion of the
workshop. Comment: When one enters as a guest, one has full access to the activity. However,
guests can not save information in the notebook or report for access at a later time.
2.7 When you are finished, close the Drosophila window.
3. Alignment to the California and National Science Content Standards
3.1 If you are not already there, go to the web site for the VCISE subproject
(www.ScienceCourseware.org/vcise).
3.2 Click on the link to Drosophila. You will see a window with tabs on the side.
3.3 Click on the tab for Education Standards. Find California on the map and click on it. A new
window will open listing the California Science Content Standards for grades 9-12. Standards
highlighted in green are ones where addressed by the Drosophila activity.
Comment: Clicking on the button Show Relevant will collapse the list to show only those
standards addressed by the Drosophila activity. Clicking on the button Show All will expand the
list to show all the standards.
3.4 Close the window for the California Science Content Standards. Return to the browser
window displaying the tab for Education Standards. Click on the United States flag. A new
window will open listing the National Science Content Standards for grades 9-12. Standards
highlighted in green are ones addressed by the Drosophila activity.
3.5 When you are finished, close the National Science Content Standards window and close the
window for the Drosophila activity.
4. Establishment of a Teacher Workspace Account
4.1 If you are not already there, go to the web site for the VCISE subproject
(www.ScienceCourseware.org/vcise).
4.2 Click the Register button at the bottom right side of the page.
4.3 Enter your information into the Teacher registration form to create your own Teacher
Workspace. Click the Register button at the bottom of the page when you are done.
Comment: Make a note of your username and password. You will need these to access your
Teacher Workspace.
4.4 To log into your newly created Teacher Workspace, enter your Username and Password in the
Teacher Log In area of the VCISE home page, then click the Log In button.
Comment: The Teacher Workspace has a series of tabs on the right side of the page.
These will be explained in the synchronous part of the workshop. For now, we will
establish a class for demonstration purposes only.
4.5 Make sure the My Classes tab is selected. Click the Add a New Class Button.
4.6 For Class Name type NOYCE Workshop. Select 9 for Grade Level and Biology for Subject.
Click the Register button.
Science Methods Online
http://www.cnsm.csulb.edu/depts/scied/edel475/
Department of Science Education
California State University, Long Beach
4.7 Write down the Class Code. You will need this later to create a student
account. Comment: You can establish as many classes as you wish within the Teacher’s
Workspace. Each class is assigned a class code. You share the class code with the students in
your class. Using this class code, they can establish their own accounts. The class code ties their
information (notebook, quiz results, report) to your Teacher Workspace. You can use this
information to assess your students.
4.8 Click the Return button to go back to the main view of the Teachers Workspace.
4.9 Click on the Manual tab. This displays the Teacher’s Manual for the Drosophila activity. At
the top of the page is a link to a pdf version of the manual. You can peruse the manual at your
leisure.
Comment: Among other things, the manual has suggested assignments and genetic information
on all the mutations within the Drosophila application.
4.10 When you are finished with the manual, you can explore the Teacher’s Workspace on your
own. When you are done, click on the Logout / Sign Out link at the bottom left side of the page.
5. Establishment of a Student Account
5.1 If you are not already there, go to the web site for the VCISE subproject
(www.ScienceCourseware.org/vcise).
5.2 Click on the link to Drosophila. You will see a window with tabs on the side.
5.3 From the User Homepage tab, click the Create New Account button in the Students area.
5.4 Enter the class code from the class you established in part 4 above. When you click in the
next field, a window will pop up asking you to verify that you are registering for the correct class.
Establish a student account using your own name or a fictional name. Write down the class code,
username, and password. You will need all three to access the student account. Click Submit
button when you are done.
5.5 From the User Homepage tab, enter the Class Code, Username, and Password for the student
account you just created in the Registered Users area. Click the Log In button to enter the activity
as a student.
Comment: A Save button will now be available to the student while accessing the Notebook and
Report. When they log in at a later time, the Notebook and Report are automatically loaded from
the point at which they last saved their information.
5.6 Close the Drosophila activity window.
6. Accessing the Natural Selection Activity
6.1 Go to the developer’s web site for the VCISE subproject (dev.ScienceCourseware.org/vcise).
This is a password protected web site where beta versions of the activities are tested.
6.2 Enter the Username: noyce and the Password: scholar. Both the username and password are
case sensitive.
Science Methods Online
http://www.cnsm.csulb.edu/depts/scied/edel475/
Department of Science Education
California State University, Long Beach
Comment: In addition to Drosophila, two additional activities are listed: an earth science activity
called Relative Dating and a life science application called Natural Selection. We will look at the
Natural Selection activity in some detail during the synchronous part of the workshop.
6.3 Click on the link to Natural Selection. You will see a window with tabs on the side.
Comment: Please keep in mind that the Natural Selection activity is still under development.
Parts of the activity are missing (e.g. animated tour, quiz, teacher’s manual). Also, it has not been
tested as rigorously as Drosophila, so you may encounter an occasional glitch. Feel free to report
and bugs.
6.4 Click on the button marked Enter as Guest. Feel free to explore the Natural Selection activity.
Simply close the window when you are done.
Comment: The objective of the Natural Selection activity is help students to learn the principles
of natural selection though inquiry-based learning. The paradigm for the activity is a laboratory
environment where the trait of body color in water fleas can evolve in response to predation by
fish. Different body colors offer different survival advantages depending on the color of the
plants added to the fish bowl or aquarium. The different species of water fleas have a different
heritability for body color. Through mating experiments, students can explore the concept of
heritability. Through the predation experiments, students can associate body color and plant color
with survival in the presence of fish predators. In the population experiments students can use
plant color and the initial composition of the water flea population to see natural selection and
adaptation at work over several generations.
PART B: ASSIGNMENT
You have two options for to this assignment.
1. After working through the tutorial, use the virtual courseware website as if you were a
student in the class. Do a lab, write a lab report, take the quiz and get a certificate
indicating you’ve completed. Then write a short reflection about why an activity like this
might appeal to some learners and what challenges you might face in implementing this
activity in your classroom.
OR
2. Write a lesson plan that utilizes one of the Virtual Courseware applications. Use a lesson
plan template given to you by your methods instructor OR you can use the template shown
below. Lesson Plan Template
The following is an example of a lesson plan template which you can use to
1. Lesson Plan Title
9. Plan For Independent Practice
2. Concept / Topic To Teach
10. Closure (Reflect Anticipatory Set)
3. Standards Addressed
11. Assessment Based On Objectives
4. General Goal(s)
12. Adaptations (For Students With
Learning Disabilities)
5. Specific Objectives
13. Extensions (For Gifted Students)
6. Required Materials
14. Possible Connections To Other Subjects
7. Anticipatory Set (Lead-In)
8. Step-By-Step Procedures
Source: http://www.lessonplanspage.com/LessonTemplate.htm
Science Methods Online
http://www.cnsm.csulb.edu/depts/scied/edel475/
Department of Science Education
California State University, Long Beach
Submitting your Assignment
Please follow the assignment submission instructions given to you by your instructor. Some
instructors may ask you to email the assignment to them and others may prefer that you turn in a
paper copy of your work. Finally, some instructors may ask you to submit your work via
Beachboard. When in doubt, email your instructor to ask how to submit your work.
Science Methods Online
http://www.cnsm.csulb.edu/depts/scied/edel475/
Department of Science Education
California State University, Long Beach