Distance and Virtual Laboratories in Teaching and in the Training of Natural Science Teachers

The paper focuses on the importance of methodological aspects of natural science education at the start of the era of the information society. In the introduction we consider the significance of the exploitation of ICT to enhance the basic methods of knowledge acquisition and understanding in the natural sciences and their application in the school curriculum. Selected approaches to the use of the Internet in pupils‘ and student‘s experimental work - remote laboratory, remote sensing and virtual laboratory - are described with examples. In conclusion we try to suggest the advantages and limits of the incorporation of these technologies into educational practice primarily in general education.