The design of a remote experiment for high school students

This paper presents a research study that aims to develop and validate a remote experiment for high school use. While developing, explicit attention is paid to the justification of the didactical design and its generalization in terms of design criteria to be applied to new initiatives. The purpose of the remote experiment is to determine the speed of light in air and the index of refraction of some substances. This is done by applying the information provided on a accompanying website and controlling the setup of the experiment. The setup is located at the university and can be controlled from behind a computer on any arbitrary spot. Part of the research project is designing the accompanying website such a way that the experiment can be carried out autonomously. The research project is built out of four consecutive phases: an exploring initial design and trial phase, a development phase, a test phase and a concluding phase. At the time this paper was written the first phase had just been finished and illuminated 7 classes of weakness. That helped to define several didactical instruments that should be built into the final product – a product that will be designed and implemented in the second phase.