Smartlab: Next-Gen Virtual Science Laboratory (Student Level)

Abstract

Hands on laboratories are very critical in the study of Physics and Chemistry concepts of science. Nevertheless, most schools encounter issues like lack of resources in the laboratories, lack of equipments, safety issues and lack of accessibility to laboratory physical set-ups. As a solution to the problems stated above, this project introduces SmartLab: AI-Powered Virtual Lab, a web-based solution, that aims to offer students an interactive and intelligent virtual laboratory experience that complies with the FBISE curriculum. The SmartLab system allows students to conduct virtual experiments in an easy to use interface through which students can choose experiments, change the experiment parameters, simulate the results of the experiment and create reports about the experiment. The system has been equipped with a machine learning model that offers the predictive-feedback and helps a learner to interpret the expected outcomes of experiments. This has been a brilliant feature that boosts conceptual learning as it directs the students when running experiments and it minimizes the errors encountered when choosing parameters. The system is built on the basis of recent web technologies such as Next.js, React and TypeScript, PostgreSQL, and Prisma ORM that guarantee scalability, maintainability, and effective data management. The modular design couples the frontend elements, backend services as well as database functions and enables unproblematic communication between modules of the system and future-proofing of expansion into multiple experiments. Moreover, the platform has role-based access control between students, teachers and administrators, which allows monitoring of the experiments, tracking performance and management of the system in a systematic way. SmartLab offers a convenient, risk-free and economical alternative to a conventional lab space by using simulative experimentation in combination with assistance of artificial intelligence. The proposed system on the whole enhances the teaching of science by increasing student engagement, remote learning, and also offers a smart digital lab to conduct Physics and Chemistry practical experiments.