Concept and design of a virtual laboratory

In this paper we introduce the concept of a virtual laboratory as an electronic metaphor for a 'real' lab. The virtual laboratory allows the user to discover knowledge through simulated experiments guided by hypertext documents. It contains all the elements of a good physical laboratory: a wide range of objects and tools which can be assembled into experiments, a reference book, and a notebook for recording thoughts, inspirations, results and conclusions. The concept is illustrated by an example of a laboratory design