Abstract
The Web-based environment provides a platform for creating inquiry science projects for students to work out tasks using evidence and resources from the Web. Such projects are typically developed with the help of a user-friendly interface by teams of teachers, post graduate students and researchers. Projects in Webbased environments can also incorporate data collection, graphics, resource sharing, and other built-in components. They are entirely browser-based, meaning that students only need access to a computer with an Internet connection, with no required software other than the Web browser. Student accounts must be created and coordinated.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs): Are microcomputers originally developed to handle Boolean operations.
Web: Can refer to a structure that joins other component parts, for example computers, as a hypertext system that operates over the Internet, used for serving Web pages and transferring files.
Industrial Portal: Is the technology that helps groups of different people and parties when they need to share the same information. A portal is browser-based and has the commonality of features that make it an attractive option for providing a view into a plant and its processes.
Data Acquisition: The detection and collection of data from processes and systems external to the computer system.
Human-Machine Interface: Computer-based processes that facilitate an effective and efficient access for the human operator to the computer tasks used by the human operator.
Operator: A person doing the monitoring and controlling, whether in direct or supervisory control.
Client-Server Model: A model with one entity in the network—the client—making a service request to another remote entity, a server.
Supervisory Control: Control where one or more human operators are continually programming and receiving information from a computer that interconnects through sensors to the controlled process or task environment.