Online Simulations/ Data -Time savers

There are topics in science where online simulations and data are really useful and time saving. One of the first few labs that students do in my Physics class is a virtual lab on how a body moves up and down an inclined plane and the calculation of work done.(http://www.ngsir.netfirms.com/englishhtm/Incline.htm). It is true that the lab can be easily done in class physically but students sometimes find the data collected manually to be consumed by so many errors such as friction, systematic and personal errors. The virtual lab gives them a full scene on how work is done and the concept of energy along with relevant freebody diagrams. Online data gives more time to students for scientific inquiry since actual data collection could be time consuming.
Internet provides students access to raw data in the form of spreadsheets, text files, aerial satellite images, maps and graphs. Topics like energy and climate where facts and analysis of data should involve all regions of the globe, it is not practically possible to go around and collect data. If the data is restricted to a particular region then it will be biased and the conclusion will be incorrect.
I would like to share a few examples of online data in the different science disciplines.
Clinical growth charts of humans with age: http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/clinical_charts.htm
Radioactivity: List of isotopes and their half lives.http://astro.berkeley.edu/~dperley/areopagus/isotopetable.html
Astrophysics :http://www.windows2universe.org/our_solar_system/planets_table.html
Chemistry:Trends in Electronegativity, Electron affinity, ionization potential as you move in a periodic table
http://www.teacherlink.org/content/science/instructional/activities/electronegativity/Electronegativity-print.PDF
Earth science: Carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere in 2011.
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/global.html

Online studies maybe in the form of online data or analyzing graphs for predicting future occurrences.
Online data is inquiry based and has a lot of benefits in giving the students content knowledge and in increasing their focus and interest. Students have the freedom to find topics they are interested in. They have a whole lot of variables to choose from and they could narrow it down to what they want to know.
As in any other form of learning one of the major issues in giving freedom to browse the internet is that students may sometimes be exposed to inappropriate material. The teacher has the responsibility therefore of providing limited and relevant access to internet material. It is imperative that the data is meaningful, the time spent on analyzing the data worthy and the conclusion justify the focused research question. The data should be from an authentic source and the conclusion and the study should more often than not have a real life application.
The data should be blended into the inquiry and the whole exercise should reflect a science process.
Students should be able to create an appropriate relevant question around the data. They should be able to frame a question and should be able to use the same data to study various variables and thus various issues.
Analysis of data should be done using different strategies such as using graphs, arguments and debates. The analysis and interpretation should support conclusion. Students should be able to communicate their findings effectively and defend their argument and conclusion.
Online data and simulations provide students with data and procedures that they feel more assured of since the error possibilities are minimal. They are therefore interested in analyzing such data since the results obtained will be very precise and they could be confident about the conclusions that they have made in a particular study. The data is usually more than what they could collect and therefore gives them ample scope to use their technological skills in constructing datatables and drawing graphs using various graphing techniques and producing presentations.
I use online simulations especially from http://phet.colorado.edu/ and http://www.physicslab.co.uk/ for showing simulations on a whole variety of topics in Physics. My students also do a virtual lab on photoelectric effect from http://phet.colarado.edu/simulations/sims.php?sim=Photoelectric .We use a binding energy data from http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pertab/pertab.html#c1 to study the binding energy curves of certain elements and a couple of simulations for distances in astrophysics and a parallax lab in astronomy. http://astrosun2.astro.cornell.edu/academics/courses/astro101/herter/java/simulations.htm
It is true that students have to do experiments and collect data manually in order for them to develop working skills in the laboratory but it would kindle their scientific mind when they work with online data. This would also interest students who are not good in doing experiments but otherwise scientific thinkers.
It would therefore take science education to a new level if online simulations and online data are made a component of science education.