Committees within the Teaching & Learning course in Fall 2011 met and developed ideas about productive uses of Second Life and virtual locations for K12 clss

1. On using virtual space for K12 students; for events and
professional development; and, for simulations & locations

2. Jason Adamo, Jennifer Coe, Tina Gagliardi,
Benjamin Rosenthal, Dana Taurisano

3.  Second Life is an on-line virtual space where
users can interact with others through the use of avatars.
 Users can explore, socialize, participate in individual or
group activities, and create & trade virtual property.
 Users can build three dimensional virtual objects that are
stand alone or that are interactive.
 Users can find events such as concerts and lectures, and
cultural locations like museums, art exhibits, book
clubs, and theaters.
 Users can post
PPTs, video, internet, documents, images, etc.

4.  Professional Development
 Training
 Lesson Practice
 Presentations and Lectures
 Collaborative Learning
 Distance Learning
 Tutoring, Help Sessions, or Office Hours
 Networking
 ISTE Island

5.  Virtual Field Trips
 NOAA, Planetarium, Museums, Libraries, Cities
 Game Rooms
 Sports Simulators, Card & Board Games, Create Games
 Private Islands
 Private islands can be created for each class, school, or district that
can be controlled by island administrators to ensure age appropriate
material. Individual user names and passwords are issued to users
for access.
 SER/VE – Lecture Hall, Create Pods, Practice Building
 Additional Benefits
 Team Building, Discovery Center, Biographies, Bio-Dome
 What appears to be an entertaining computer game can convey
serious science, bringing to life esoteric research with an
engaging virtual experience (NOAA).

6.  Teaches visitors about our changing planet
through “immersive storytelling.”
 Experience environments you would not
otherwise have access too.
 “Ride through the eye of a hurricane, soar through the
layers of the atmosphere on a weather balloon, or view
underwater creatures from the safety of a NOAA virtual
submersible; all while being exposed to the real-life data
and research incorporated into the
adventures.”
 Experience Take a tour of NOAA’s
virtual island on Second Life at
http://youtu.be/is8YX32GAyQ

7.  “Visitors can mingle with scientists from
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on
Explorer Island, explore the surface of the moon on Lunar
Exploration Island, teleport to e-Education Island for free
educational resources, visit an interactive planetarium with
real-time showings of constellations and see a model of the
Martian surface that was created using actual NASA data.”
 Visitors can also watch live space
shuttle launches. Screens at the
islands' outdoor meeting spaces can
show NASA video clips or stream live
NASA TV. During shuttle launches
and landings, users from around the
world gather and watch together.

8. Laboratories
The sky is NOT the limit with
Virtual Learning Environments.
Hospitals
Farms, Greenhouses
Ecosystems
Amusement Parks

9.  Friendly competition
 Simulates a real world experience in a video game-type
environment.
 Alternative learning experience
 Combines Web 2.0 skills with fun and learning.
 Expands their social network
 Provides for and fosters positive and safe communication with
students from different classrooms and even different
countries.
 Investment
 If they help make it, they will want to continue to be part of
it. Facilitates learning though engagement and group
participation.

10.  Link SL activities with classroom material so that students
will understand that the “fun” is relevant, and not just a
game.
 Assign building challenges for students to create modules,
accessories, and prizes to receive or be involved in.
 Students are more likely to be challenged by the effects when
they have an investment in their creation!
 Require peer review for participation in group work to
reinforce the importance of work (as they play).
 SL provides immediate feedback because it is interactive.

11.  The program keeps track of number of log-ins, time spent
in virtual environment, number of activities opened and/or
completed.
 Teachers could hold special community events where
students are encouraged to attend, “prizes” given
out, bonus questions asked.
 Special speakers could be planned, students asked to
“comment” via chat during and afterwards, and number
and quality of questions or comments logged and reviewed
by teacher.
 Students can “report” inappropriate behavior with an easy
“click and comment” method.
 Students complete peer surveys of presentations and work
completed.

12.  Curriculum:
 Need for activities and projects in the learning
environment that are aligned with course curriculum
and standards.
 Has to be more than fun!
 Assessments:
 Methods must be in place to assess student learning.
 Results:
 Students must gain from the experience through
increased knowledge acquisition and retention of
information.

13.  Provides simulated experiments  NASA training puts learners
in real-world contexts. through simulated events.
 Develops 21st Century and  Airlines have pilots go directly from
critical thinking skills. the simulator to the yoke of a 747.
 Medical students have progressed
from learning on cadavers to
working with physical simulators
and, more recently, onscreen
simulators.
 If a prospective doctor can learn
about a complex piece of anatomy or
“The challenges of the new millennium a difficult procedure from a
require that students be adaptable and simulator, certainly our kids can
analytical, and that they have the skills to learn the frog's interior layout from a
identify and use the best tools in a rapidly sim like Froguts (Edutopia, 2011)
changing environment”
(Solomon and Schrum, 2007).

14.  K-12 Education & Learning Innovations with Proven
Strategies that Work | Edutopia. (n.d.). K-12 Education
& Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies that
Work | Edutopia. Retrieved December 13, 2011, from
http://www.edutopia.org/
 http://www.nasa.gov
 http://www.noaa.gov
 www.secondlife.com
 Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007).Web 2.0: new
tools, new schools. Eugene, Or.: International Society
for Technology in Education.

15. Eric Hauenstein
Virtual Space Events
for M.A.T. Students
Teaching and Curriculum – Fall 2011
SUNY Empire State College

16. Professional Development Expo
 Expo setup in Second Life with a variety of booths providing information
and conducting workshops
 Separate expos by content area, or combine if logistically possible
Logistics
• Schedule workshops at regular time intervals
• Provide a .pdf with a map of booths and a schedule of workshops.
This can be a notecard that visitors receive as a pop-up when the
login to the area
• Create a poster at the default login area with directions on how to
get around in Second Life
Possible Booths/Topics
(the possibilities are endless) • Classroom Management
• Incorporating Common Core • Inquiry Lessons
Standards • Curriculum Writing
• Rubric Writing • Emerging Content
• Lab Safety • Demonstration Ideas
• Essay Grading

17. Administration Panel
 Round Table discussion with administrators in Second Life
 Principals, Superintendents, Department heads
Questions:
 What is your number one thing you are looking for in a new teacher?
 How do you go about assessing an applicants resume? Is there
something specific you do or do not like to see on a resume?
 What do you expect of a new teacher in regards to lesson plans
coming into the position?
 How does your department work together-- do you have regular
meetings to share ideas? Do you all just work on your own lessons?
 Have you noticed any specific trouble spots in the material for
students? What do you do to remedy this?
 If you could give one tip to an applicant coming in for an interview
what would it be?
 What is a part of the interview process that takes new applicants by
surprise?

18. Virtual Interviews
Who knows better than the students what actually works in the classroom?
Recommendation: New teachers invite K12 students from varied geographic
locations into SL to ascertain what works, what doesn’t, and what they want out
of science education…
• Teachers introduce themselves
• Start w/ something fun
• Go kart tour, etc.
• Informal Interview - Possible Questions (teachers answer some too)
• What was your favorite activity from a science class – why?
• What is the hardest part of science class?
• What does your science teacher do that makes the material more
understandable?
• What does your teacher do that does not seem to help you learn?
• Describe the best science teacher you’ve ever had.
• What is your favorite piece of technology (anything – video games, software,
hardware, etc.)?
• If you could do any science project, what would it be?
• What would an ideal science classroom look like? What items are there? How
is it laid out?
• Would you enjoy participating in Science Lessons on SL (SLSL!)?

19. Samples of “Live”
Education Resources for
Virtual Space

20.  Brookhaven National Lab
 Space Time, Quantum Mechanics and the Large Hadron Collider
http://www.bnl.gov/video/index.php?v=229
 The Long Island Solar Farm
http://www.bnl.gov/video/index.php?v=236
• Cold Spring
Harbor Laboratory
– DNA Learning Center
http://www.dnalc.org/

21. • Bodies The Exhibition
11 Fulton St
(between South St & Front St)
New York, NY 10038
Neighborhood: South Street Seaport
(888) 926-3437
www.bodiesny.com
• Cold Spring
Harbor Laboratory
Dialogue in the Dark at South Street Seaport
11 Fulton Street
New York, NY 10038
Phone: 888-926-3437
E-Mail: dialoginthedark@prxi.com
URL: www.dialognyc.com

22.  http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/national/nes2/home/i
ndex.html

23. First Lego League
http://firstlegoleague.org/challenge/2011foodf
actor

24. TIME TRAVEL
TO
HISTORICAL DISASTERS

25. FIND AND VISIT PAST DISASTER LOCATIONS
Use Second Life to Visit/Create Spaces Where Disasters have Struck
Pompeii Volcano’s Before
Herculaneum Tsunami’s After
Mt. St. Helens Hurricane's Changes

26. Biome Field Trip
Imagine taking your class to the Mojave Desert on
Monday, the Arctic tundra on Tuesday and an
African savanna on Wednesday.
Second Life “Biome Field Trip” allows them to
explore the varied flora and fauna, watch virtual
food-webs in action and discover how life has
adapted to various ecological conditions around
the world.
This rich program can be adapted for
interdisciplinary work as soil and water samples
may be gathered and meteorological readings can
be taken. The depth of study is only as limited as
the programming.

27. Biome Field Trip
In addition to exploring the biotic and
abiotic features that shape these
environments, Biome Field Trip also
addresses “anthropogenic” biomes;
examples of the effects of man’s intrusion
on nature.
When you return “home”, attend our
Conference Area, where students can
augment their virtual experience with the
first-hand accounts of other students from
around the world.

28. Possible Concepts to Study
 Plate tectonics
 Earthquakes
 Earth’s layers
 Volcanoes
 Geysers

29. Journey To the Center of the Earth
 Using virtual spaces to create a difficult to
conceptualize concept.

30. Organic Nomenclature
Scrabble

31. Bringing Students Together
• The Second Life environment allows for endless possibilities that are not possible
with the limitations of the real world environment. The space in which makes up the
Second Life world allows not only for the transformation of the virtual “physical”
space but also allows for an instantaneous way in which students who are at great
distances from each other to come together and collaborate.
• Because there are limitations in communication when distant cultures come into
contact I wanted to use the Second Life space in a way that would seamlessly
bridge this gap. The medium in which this gap would be bridged comes in the form
of a game in which a common language would be used.
• The common language of Organic Chemistry is called IUPAC nomenclature. This
“language” allows for anyone anywhere to look at a organic molecule and create a
systematic name independent of ones cultures language.

32. The Game
• Using the IUPAC nomenclature in combination with a scrabble type game could
bring students throughout the world together to compete in building and naming
organic molecules.
• The common lower scoring letters would be the hydrocarbon building blocks of
the molecules while the higher scoring pieces would be the functional groups.
• For example a series of game pieces would be:
-C-C- -C=C- -COOH
-OH
Each student would place a piece on the board until a completed molecule was
build. The team would then have to correctly name the molecule to score points.