Information Technology Reference
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some difficulties which have been found before
can be overcome, improving the learning process
as a whole. We are not trying to say that a virtual
laboratory can replace the traditional laboratory
classes. Instead, it could complement it, for many
reasons, including financial, security, simulations
that are microscopic, ease of information search
over the internet, and others.
Applets are software applications, which are
executed in the context of another program, in
the majority of the times a web browser, to create
an interface with the user. The Applet normally
interacts with this host program through restricted
privileges of security. The use of applets can be
very interesting; therefore these simulations can
present characteristics that make possible the
active learning by the students. The use of these
software can overcome many of the difficulties
professors face. One example is the applet used
in the University of São Paulo by Professor
Eduardo Toledo dos Santos, for the Descriptive
Geometry online teaching. One problem found in
the teaching of Descriptive Geometry is that the
resolution of exercises on the blackboard requires
great skills and precision. The use of a simulation
would help the professors with these kinds of is-
sues. “Another problem refers to the fact that the
individual learning speed varies greatly among
the students of a same classroom, demanding that
each step is explained several times, which can
compromise the attention needed for the learning,
especially in exercises of difficult space visualiza-
tion” (Santos, 1999).
cASE StudIES
“Essential Simulation is an engineering tool
used by both students and practitioners to gain
insight into a system's behavior” (Veith, Kobz
& Koelling, 1998). Simulations can very be
useful when we want to analyze the behavior
of systems, without having to act in the systems
themselves, either for their complexity, for
their availability or for the cost of the system.
Next an example of author Tamie L. Veith is
presented, where the simulation brings innu-
merable benefits, because the analyzed system
is very complex, expensive and of difficult
access by students: “As part of an engineer-
ing problem-solving class, a student is given
a simulation model of a manufacturing line
that consists of several machines in sequence.
The cost of holding partially completed items,
revenue associated with completed items, and
the relationship between production rates and
per-unit production costs are embedded in the
simulation model. The student specifies the
production rates at the different machines and
runs the simulation. The model shows items
moving through the manufacturing line, the
queues of items at the different machines and
the customers picking up completed items at the
end of the line. After execution, the simulation
computes an average per-unit profit or loss for
the manufacturing line. Through repeated inter-
action with the simulation the student identifies
the production rates that maximizes the long-run
profits” (Veith, Kobz & Koelling, 1998).
A cHEmIStry APPLEt
APPLIcAtIon
The Polytechnic School of the University of São
Paulo offers 15 engineering courses, which all
have a first year in common. In this common year,
all basic courses are taught, including a chemistry
course called General Technological Chemistry
(QTG). The official contents of the discipline are:
“Topics: the chemical composition in microscopic
level and how the constituent units of materials
for Engineering are arranged and interact with
each other; concepts on chemical behavior of
materials, that is, the reactions of degradation of
metallic materials (electrochemical and corro-
sion); the mechanisms of action and the main uses
of substances that act as surfactants; the use of
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