This gallery contains 4 photos.
I will be joining ISTE’s SIGVE and the IB Educators Guild in WoW in on an Hour of Code to celebrate Computer Science Week and to advocate for teaching coding at all grade levels. This will be at least my third … Continue reading
This gallery contains 5 photos.
Can the virtual world SL breedable pets such as Meeroos and breedable plants such as Sibotanicals provide some opportunities to learn about biological and botanical genetics? The breedables are an amusing addition to the virtual setting, as the scripting progresses, the concepts of DNA and … Continue reading
The virtual environment offers students alternative ways of learning concepts. Educators understand that differentiating instruction is important and that we should not limit ourselves to telling and explaining. The information in a lecture or demonstration is magnified when students are given an opportunity to actively engage in an activity that provides a way for students to practice, apply or even play with the new content. A community college professor demonstrates a virtual world activity designed to follow a lecture and provide students a chance to “build a molecule” in virtual space.
This gallery contains 5 photos.
Environments in virtual worlds can be realistic or fantastical, each has benefits for students both as visitors and as creators. National and state educational standards require that students can identify, describe and understand the differences in both land and water-related … Continue reading
Studies over the past 50 years indicate a significant, positive correlation between spatial thinking and STEM disciplines. Project Talent is one of those studies to support spatial training among our students. Findings indicate that thinking with images plays a central role in scientific creativity and communication.
Determining a path on Core1 in Reaction Grid
Participating in a virtual world incorporates spatial thinking on a variety of levels. As consumers, participants in a virtual world deal with location, shapes, object’s relationship to each other and verbal descriptions such as near, far, next to, on, and under. In order to traverse the digital terrain they need to be able to move and to communicate spatial concepts.
On a more complex level participants may rearrange furniture, complete puzzles, move objects, and use maps, all contributing to spatial thinking.
Using a map to locate an event on Second Life
In a virtual world workshop
As producers in the virtual environment, participants build and script. Building requires assembly, measurment, visualizing 3D models and reproducing them or creating new ones. Producers can build real or imagined structures, vehicles, objects and clothing.
Virtual worlds could, used effectively, provide formal and informal learning models for STEM learning environments. With the recent announcement of Race To The Top Winners, significant funding is allocated towards the STEM disciplines school districts may have an opportunity to expand and research this promising environment.
A competition from NASA provides a challenge for High school students, in 2 phases. In phase 1 students have an opportunity to work cooperatively, in teams of three-to-five students, as engineers and scientists to solve real-world problems related to the James Webb Space Telescope. Final solutions from this first phase of the challenge are due on Dec. 15, 2010.
Teams who complete Phase 1 are then paired with participating college engineering students for Phase 2, the InWorld phase of the challenge. Each InWorld team will refine designs and create 3-D models of the Webb telescope.
For more information about the challenge, visit http://www.nasarealworldinworld.org/.
Gridjumper's Blog 