General Ordering Information

Adopting Web School of Science For Your Course

Technical Requirements

Test Page

Common Questions

• Why does it say "Sorry, you cannot access this lab at this time because only 1 user may access this lab from this account at one time."?
• Why does it say "Could not log you in. Please try again." even when I enter the correct username and password?
• How do I access the labs?
• How do I download my E-book with Software?
• How do I change my password?
• How do I enable JavaScript?
• How do I install Java?
• How do I enable Java?
• "The application requires an earlier version of Java. Do you want to continue?"
• Why does nothing happen when I press the buttons...?
• How do I contact technical support?
• How do I send a screenshot to technical support?
• How do I clear the cache in my browser?
• I've installed and enabled Java, but I still get a red 'X' in the applet window instead of the applet?

General Ordering Information

Courses for Undergraduates

Students: Labs (or topics) can be purchased and used individually or as a complete set. Check our catalog for the latest offerings. Technical requirements are listed below. With your purchase you will receive your login name and password so you may access the labs and their exercises for a semester (six months).

Instructors: We are currently offering full free access for instructors. Please register now for your login name and password.

Courses for Graduates and Professionals

We currently offer two E-books with Software for purchase (and download): Applied Population Ecology with RAMAS EcoLab and Conservation Biology with RAMAS EcoLab. Each book is in PDF format and is bundled with RAMAS EcoLab for Windows-based PCs. The installer is Windows-only, so you will need Windows even to access the PDF file.

Once you have made your purchase, your account information and a sign-in link will be emailed to you. When you sign in, you will be given access to the download link.

Adopting Web School of Science For Your Course

Register as an Instructor

Instructors get free access to all labs and the teachers' manual. Registering is free, why not register today!

Download the Teachers' Manual

The teachers' manual includes answers and teaching tips for each lab. Once you are registered as an instructor, the Sign In page (or the Links page) will include a link for downloading the manual. The manual is in PDF format.

Give the appropriate purchase URL to your students or bookstore

(Alternatively, you or your school may purchase a site license).

Your students will need to purchase the full set of the labs (if adopting the complete set) or the selected labs. These can be purchased from our store. To use the full set of 14 interactive labs for Environmental Science, please give the following URL to your bookstore or your students:
http://www.webschoolofscience.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WSOS&Product_Code=ES-ALL

If you decide to use specific labs, you can get the URLs from our store: http://www.webschoolofscience.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=WSOS&Category_Code=ES

When your students make their purchase, Web School of Science will send them an email with sign in information and a link to the Sign In page. When your students sign in, they will see the list of purchased labs, as you do when you sign in or use the Links button at left. (The Links button is only available when you are signed in.)

Purchase a site license

(Alternatively, you may instruct your students to purchase the labs themselves).

Decide how many students will be accessing the labs at the same time and purchase a site license from our catalog. Site licenses are offered by number of simultaneous users (which may be less than the number of students in the course) and a time period of 6 months or 5 years.

Site licenses are accessed using a single email address and password, which eases administration and access. At sign in, users can check a box so that the email address and password are saved in cookies, making subsequent sign in automatic. This makes it easier to set up in some computer lab environments -- as long as the computer has a modern internet browser (such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Mozilla, etc.) with JavaScript and Java, the labs are accessible without installing anything.

Technical Requirements for Web School of Science Environmental Science Labs

• HTML 4
• Cookies
• JavaScript
• Java

• Firefox 2.0 or later
• Internet Explorer 6 or later
• Opera 8 or later

Cookies

Cookies are required both for purchasing from Web School of Science and for keeping you signed in to your account. If cookies are disabled in your web browser, you will normally be told of this when you try to sign in to Web School of Science.
Get help on enabling cookies.

JavaScript

The unfortunately named JavaScript (it is not related to Java and is configured separately) is required so that applets appear in their own windows. If JavaScript is not enabled, nothing will happen when you click on applet buttons.
Try test applet.
Get help on enabling JavaScript.

Java

Java is required for the interactive computer models (implemented as Java applets) that accompany most exercises. If Java is not installed or not enabled, the applet window might be blank or contain a red "X".
Try test applet.
Get help on installing Java.
Get help on enabling Java.

Test Page

You will need to have your Internet browser properly configured to view the Java applets used in many of the exercises found on this web site. To test whether you have the proper settings click on the button below to launch a sample applet.

If nothing happens when you click the button (no new browser window opens), click here to try the test a different way. You may need to enable JavaScript.

You should see a screen similar to this one: (it will vary slightly depending on the operating system and the browser).
(Not shown to scale)
If instead you see something closer to this: (it will vary slightly depending on the operating system and the browser).
(Not shown to scale)
Then you need to install and/or enable Java.
If you installed and enabled Java and the applet window still shows the red 'X', please see this FAQ.