Molecular Workbench (MW) is a free and useful open-source modeling program that was specifically designed for use in education. Powered by a set of real-time particle simulation engines that compute and visualize the motion of particles interacting through force fields, in both 2D and 3D, it is a simulation platform for learning science. Many abstract concepts in physics, chemistry and biology can be dynamically visualized, and virtual experiments that are only limited to your imagination can be designed.
MW provides an easy-to-use authoring system for creating model-driven activities with customized interfaces. Novice users can operate this authoring system just like using a word processor. Macro languages are provided to advanced users for constructing and controlling models in a more flexible way.
The customizability of models through the authoring system allows you to design user interfaces appropriate to your audience, without having to get them involved in the complexity of the modeling engines. Moreover, MW is a special web browser for getting models and activities made by using its unique authoring system. This results in the ease of distribution of your work. You can independently put your work on the Internet in exactly the same way as you deal with the HTML pages, and they can be opened by anyone using MW in exactly the same way a web page is opened using a conventional browser.
In addition, MW offers a built-in assessment system that, together with the authoring system, enables you to design questions and mine data on your own. A database that has already collected thousands of student reports composed of questions and answers and snapshot images taken from simulations is also available for analysis. (See sample reports.)
MW is also the principal software that runs the activities in the more pedagogy-oriented MOLO and MOLIT databases. MW has reached the milestone of 10,000 downloads worldwide (click here to view a map of global use of MW).
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