Our experience in education and tutorials regarding the modeling of elementary flows, heat and mass transfer during crystal growth in ground-based and microgravity environment using the computer system convection in microgravity and applications is presented. The system supports free and forced convection problems on the basis of the Navier-Stokes equations for the Boussinesq approach. The computer laboratory as the intellectual shell of this system includes basic double-diffusion gravity-driven and Marangoni problems in enclosures, a Bridgman model, and a Czochralski model for microgravity and ground-based applications. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.