Wheeling Company Gets Grant to Build Virtual Physics Lab - Linda Harris, Wheeling State Journal

Polyhedron Learning Media Inc., a Wheeling company specializing in multimedia software development for education markets, hopes its virtual physics lab for college students will be just the first in a long line of marketing successes. The company has been awarded a $760,000 contract to develop an online introductory physics labs through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. Incorporated in 2004, Polyhedron previously had received an SBIR Phase I contract to develop a prototype set of online labs for use by college students taking introductory physics classes. Once Polyhedron had demonstrated the technical merit of its work, the company was eligible to apply for Phase II funding for research and development purposes. Polyhedron President Jeanne Finstein called the virtual lab a "smart use" of technology. "Our goal is that when we finish, we end up with the virtual lab for the entire one-year introductory physics course at the college level," she said. "These will be available online through Thomson Learning, one of the main publishers of college level science textbooks. Ultimately, the college students would use these labs either as a supplement or a replacement for the hands-on labs that typically accompany an introductory physics course."

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