The purpose of this project is to design and develop a web-based teaching computational unit (TCU). The project is based on a simulator for the distillation process and facilitates the teaching/learning process of specific chemistry concepts.

The design and development of the TCU integrates multiple information technology and communication tools such simulators, artificial intelligence techniques, WEB engineering, multimedia and databases. Different theories of knowledge management are used as a framework.

Reusability and scalability are key principles considered during the design and development of the TCU, allowing for future re-deploys or development of similar new products with minimum modifications to its components. The architected solution consists of: a simulator, an interaction system, an evaluation system, a storage system and register system, all of which work under a web environment.

The simulator allows the TCU’s users to simulate one of the distillation processes with four variables: temperature of boiling (at sea level) of the liquid A, temperature of boiling liquid B, the maximum temperature of the system, atmospheric pressure and height. The users are able to see the results of the simulation and adjust the variables until the desire results are obtained.

The simulator also has a knowledge base and an inference engine.

1) The user interface system allows the user to participate in forums, chat rooms and a weblogs to exchange experiences, knowledge and knowledge if the distillation process. This is achieved integrating existing freeware

2) The storage and content distribution system allow the users to store and publish documents and articles related to distillation process. A Content Manager Store (CMS) is used to manage the data and available freeware it’s used to provide the mentioned functionality to the users.

3) The register system allows to administrate the different user classes (Administrator, Teacher, Student, Visitor), as well as manage generic data for each user.

4) The evaluation system allows the teachers following up the progress of their students and validating the completion of any assigned activities.

As mentioned earlier on this document, all the systems conforming the TUC are integrated and presented into a WEB portal, so users can access it from any computer with access to the internet.

Finally, the design and development of this project is a joint effort of two different research groups: DIDAQUIM which works the chemistry didactic and Metis which works CMS and knowledge management.