about iLabCentral

Making high school science labs more real, more engaging, and more accessible

Online laboratories (iLabs) 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 and engineering education by vastly increasing the scope of experiments that students have access to in the course of their academic careers. As partners, the Center for Educational Computing Initiatives at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Northwestern University's Office of STEM Education Partnerships offer the following through The iLAB Network:

• Gives science teachers and learners in traditional and online high schools, museums, and informal science education programs the ability to experience the excitement and authenticity of using high-end equipment to investigate the world in the same way that scientists do
• Provides new research and learning opportunities for students, allowing them to share and discuss procedures and results
• Prepares teachers to integrate iLABs in a range of science courses (including AP courses), encouraging them to go beyond the current paradigm of cookbook science labs with outdated or inappropriate equipment
• Allows access by students and other audiences around the world who might not other wise have the resources to purchase and operate costly or delicate lab equipment.