Classrooms in Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Spain, and the UK have access to a beta-version of the the Virtual Science Hub (ViSH) collaborative online platform. The platform, which launched on 26 April 2012, aims to give teachers and students tools to use and learn about the role of e-infrastructures in scientific research.
This online resource is supported by the Global excursion project (a European Commission project), and offers teachers and pupils between the ages of 14 and 18 access to learning materials and experimental laboratories for using distributed computing tools. Students can see how grid and volunteer computing are used in real scientific research today. The scientific disciplines on offer include the natural sciences, nano-technology, and bio-technology.
“The ViSH platform offers a place for researchers and teachers to contact each other and collaborate in the creation of scientific learning resources, and to share those resources among themselves and with students in the classroom,” said Enrique Barra and Antonio Tapiador, developers of ViSH at Agora Systems and Universidad Politecnica Madrid, in Spain, respectively.
The full school implementation phase will start in September 2012, with the project ending in 2014. The project is currently seeking collaboration with complementary projects, dissemination projects, and training programs.
- Adrian Giordani