Vernier's LabQuest2 enables you to collect data and share it with a variety of mobile
devices. As part of the connected science system, it can enhance many science
classrooms. Let's take a closer look.
For example, here we have five lab groups in a classroom with one LabQuest at each
table. Let's take a look at what happens while each group of students are
collecting data during a science experiment.
Students could have a variety of mobile devices. We could have iPads, we could
have Android tablets, Chromebooks, smartphones, whatever it may be. In each
case, the lab group has a single set of sensors connected to the LabQuest. On each
student's device is the free graphical analysis app. We have Graphical Analysis
for iOS, Graphical Analysis for Android and Graphical Analysis for Chrome. All of
these are free on their respective app stores.
LabQuest uses its built-in Wi-Fi to let you send the data to each of the student
devices in real time while the data is collected from the sensors. One variation
on this configuration is to use desktop computers instead of a LabQuest. The same
data-sharing technology that is built into a LabQuest is also available in our Logger
Pro for Windows and Logger Pro for Macintosh program. As long as the computer
is on the same network as the students' devices, the data can be shared in the
same way.
So once the students have worked together to collect the data, they each have a copy
of the data on their personal devices. If in this sample the students are tasked
with finding the slope of the line, each member of the lab group might go about
that job in a different way. One student might select a beginning and an end point
and plot a straight line between them. Another student might do a statistical
analysis of that data set. The third might choose to apply a curve fit. In each case,
they find their own path to answers but all work from the same data set. The
students work together to collect the data and have that shared experience and then
they move into the individual experience of analyzing the data. This is the real
promise of having individual student screens because the students can do the
critical thinking and analysis on an individual basis.
Once the students have finished their own analysis of the data, they can export in a
variety of different formats. They can print it, save it as a PDF or move it into
a word processing program to write lab reports. They can also save the data as a
text file or CSV, which can be moved into Excel, Matlab, Google Docs, whatever you
like. Another format is CMBL which can be opened in Logger Pro if the students want
to finish the lab on a desktop computer at home.
Logger Pro always includes a school-wide
site license. You can also export it to a web-based analysis tool, such as Plotly.
Another way to make use of LabQuest's built-in Wi-Fi is to connect it to the
LabQuest viewer software. This program is a little different than others because it
is intended for the instructor instead of the students. The teacher can project one
LabQuest screen and can keep the class focused on the same task. Alternatively,
the instructor can take a bird's eye view of the classroom and see a thumbnail view
of several different LabQuests at once. This can inform the instructor as to which
lab groups might need assistance and make it easy to discuss interesting results.
LabQuest2 is unique in the marketplace in that it's the only interface that allows
for a one to many connection and enables real-time data sharing from a single
source to multiple student devices.