Saturday, October 10, 2009

Article on using online worlds in middle school

"Whyville" -- like Second Life, but designed for middle school students to collaboratively investigate science topics. http://www.edutopia.org/second-life-virtual-reality-collaboration
Graphics are simple, and it's considered easier to learn than Second Life.

A middle school English teacher uses Teen Second Life for literature circles! She finds kids very motivated, including struggling readers and writers and shy kids.

She also had students create avatar based on a Revolutionary War period person -- dress, background, etc. Eventually, the students got to wander around in Teen Second Life as their avatars, having discussions with characters from other books!

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