1797 A Virtual Laboratory of Mathematics Education Pedro Palhares University of Minho, Portugal Alexandra Gomes University of Minho, Portugal V introduction Virtual laboratories are increasing for all areas of scien- tific domains. However, the concept of such laboratories can be extended to include educational activities. But the point is, how to do it? We have been involved in the development of a virtual laboratory on mathematics education for the past 15 months. Our institution is involved in the train- ing of primary school teachers. On their final year, our students go to primary schools and teach there in some supervised classes. Our idea is to create an instrument that can be used with primary school children by our stu- dents, during the earlier-mentioned practice in schools. Therefore it has to be an instrument with features that include being appealing to children, easy to use, and helpful to novice primary school teachers. whAt is in thERE? As far as mathematics are concerned, one can also find several virtual laboratories of different kinds. Even though mathematics is not an empirical science, it uses observation, experimentation, induction, com- parisons and generalizations. However, the objects of mathematical investigation are purely mental and not real. In mathematics, concepts are abstract and are totally controlled by their definition, unlike empirical sciences where concepts tend to approximate a given reality (Fischbein, 1996). In this sense we can speak about mathematical virtual laboratories. Let us note that we can find so-called virtual labs that are nothing more than presentations of mathematical content in a virtual media and therefore cannot be considered, in our perspective, laboratories. We assume that in order to be a laboratory it should include some kind of experiment and/or interaction within the virtual environment. Searching the Internet, we were able to find lots of virtual laboratories which we organized in the follow- ing four types: · Labs devoted to the learning of "advanced" topics of mathematics with specific software designed to perform function analysis, make graphics, solve equations, and so forth; these labs are intended usually for university students or for mathema- ticians who can gather information/data for the understanding of a topic, the proof of a theorem, or the formulation of a theory. They also offer the possibility of exploring mathematical concepts and modelling. Labs that allow the communication of users emerged in an e-learning environment. These labs use the Internet as a means of communication between different people in several places. Usu- whAt is out thERE? Virtual laboratories are very popular especially within the field of experimental sciences such as chemistry, physics, biology, or even medicine. On a quick search through the Internet, one can find lots of implementa- tions, in different areas, of so-called virtual labora- tories. These laboratories allow the performance of experiments that are difficult or even impossible to implement in real laboratories, either for economical reasons or for ethical reasons (such as experiments involving live animals). Also, virtual laboratories offer the possibility of verification/simulation of physical laws and allow variations within the same experiment and the realiza- tion of experiments in different levels of complexity. In this sense we can even say that virtual laboratories become more powerful than the real ones. · Copyright © 2008, IGI Global, distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.