ESC's MAT students (pre-service teachers) consider ways to use environments like Second Life in their future classrooms.

2. What type of virtual experiences
could be helpful to students
in places like Second Life?

3.  Virtual experiences can Virtual
be helpful in the Simulation
classroom when they
supplement the
resources and data
students have from their Real Life Classroom
Experience Material
class room material and
their real life Inquiry
experiences. Based
Learning
 When these three
resources are used
together, they can
effectively encourage
inquiry based learning.

4. Real-Life Experience
• Remember last month when so many students were
out with the flu?
Class room material
• Lecture, Readings, Statistics
• Definitions and Case Studies
Virtual Simulation
• Experience an epidemic in Whyville.
• Collect and report data, discover solution, monitor
results.

5.  Whyville is an example
of a virtual experience
that encourages inquiry
based learning.
 Participants are able to
interact in real-time
virtual science
simulations!
 Organizations, such as
NASA, CDC, and the
Getty Museum have all
created outreach
material in Whyville.
http://www.whyville.net

6.  Help discover a cure
for WhyPox, a
contagious disease
that has hit Whyville.
 Rescue aliens trapped
 Geodig is a geology on Earth by using the
game that takes you sun to locate them.
around the world in
 Build a rocket
search of rocks,
launcher that will get
fossils, and gems.
the Space Shuttle to
the Space Station
safely.

7.  To be truly useful, I  Integration with class
believe that an room lessons and state
effective virtual standards
environment for the  Automatic reporting
classroom will require capability- the site
several elements: reports back to teacher
 “Kid-friendly” and easy all student activity and
to use accomplishments
 Accurate and up-to-  Proven effectiveness in
date information from increasing student
reliable sources memory and inquiry
based learning skills

8. Why does this type of virtual
experience encourage inquiry based
learning?

9.  Virtual environments
encourage inquiry If students are to gain an
based learning by: appreciation for science
 Providing students and compete in the
with learning scientific and technically
opportunities that oriented society of the new
encourage millennium, they will
investigation, data need a curriculum that
collection, student- promotes active learning,
lead experimentation problem solving, and
and a chance to solve ways to solve questions.
problems based on (Llewellyn, 2005)
their experiences.

10. Identify
View water Research
Take a water organisms
sample under organism
sample present in
microscope
sample

11. None of these
steps were
“cookie cutter”
solutions.
Take boat to water Reduce problem
Based on research Each required the
with sensor to (in this case by
choose student to
determine adding plants)
appropriate evaluate and
organism levels and monitor
sensor analyze data to
and source results.
come up with the
best solution!

12. What “other” types of places would be
useful to a group of high school science
students?

13.  Pick your science topic. Join with other future
Citizen Scientists from around the world.
 Get together with your science classmates and
teachers and start a Research Theme that may
carry your ideas to Melbourne, Tokyo, Lisbon,
London, New York, Vancouver or across town .
 Your study may touch the lives of thousands of
students for many years to come.
 Sign up as a whole school, as a science class, or
as an individual science student.

14. You can also join an:
 On-going Cooperative Multi-year Project
Through High Schools United:
Current Projects:
 Global Warming
 Where are all the Fish?
 The End of Amphibians?
 Rainforests in Crisis
 Survey of the World’s Birds Inquiry-based learning:
 Grow Our Energy: Biomass  Starts with your imagination!
 Recycle, Reuse, Reduce, Rethink
 Students could initiate and create their
 Sustainable Diets
own world wide study theme.
 Genetic Engineering in the 21st Century
 They can see it grow and prosper.
 They can watch it move on to other
Your potential is only students in other states and countries.
They would feel a part of a much larger
limited by your 
scientific community of learners
imagination. inquiring about science topics and posing
questions ad broadcasting findings.

15. 24/7, All-Year-Round
Constantly Changing and Always Interesting!
Special Exhibits Now  Present your findings to the world and
to your friends and family.
Showing Include:  Create you own science web site or put
it on YouTube and get the world
excited.
 Compete with other students from
around the world and be recognized
for your hard work and imagination.
 You can sign up as a whole school, as a
classroom or as an individual science
student.
 This would be a socially interactive,
engaging lab related activity.
The The The Big  It really would be the ultimate
Human Life of Picture- inductive student-initiated minds-on
lab.
Body in a Cell Our  There is an opportunity for inquiry
Action Globe’s based learning---to conceive, create
and display their own exhibits and
Health working experiments.

16. Regular Guest Speakers, Past and Present, in our Great Hall.
 This Month’s Guest Speakers : Charles Darwin, Francis Crick and
James Watson, Gregor Mendel, Louis Pasteur, Jane Goodall, John James
Audubon and Albert Einstein. Listen to them live as they speak and
carry out virtual experiments. Talk to them afterwards and get answers.
Know the past and present and be the future.
 Help hook your class up with Albert Einstein live. There is an extensive
library of archived talks that can be viewed and downloaded. Tell your
science teacher about them.
 This is science history and science present, and it is alive. Actively delve
into science in the past and discover questions asked then that still need
answers today. Learn about the historical context of scientific concepts
and the individuals who formed them, and provides a better
understanding of scientific inquiry.

17. The
Milk- Origin
DNA is
safe to of
a
drink? Species
Double
Helix.

18.  Talk to them face to face or watch as they
talk to fellow students from around the
world .
 Talk directly to other science students
from around the world. Volunteer to
help tutor a fellow student from Costa
Rica to China to Senegal.
Students would be better able to create their own
 Darwin Finchy is your moderator. 
understanding of scientific concepts and
experience fresh perspectives and insights on
those concepts from students around the world.
 Likewise, as they mentor other students, their
understanding of scientific concepts becomes
deeper.
 If they can teach someone from a different
culture a scientific principle then they really
know it.
 Docents, interpreters and translators are
available 24/7 to assist you.
 Get with your school and use it in study
hall and hook in to review for science
tests or quizzes or to create labs.
 This is active, engaging, socially
interactive homework study, not just
passive memorization.

19. 3-D Virtual Space is just waiting for you.
 Customize your own lab and invite fellow students to participate with
you. Don’t burn down your parent’s house. Instead, pick your own
problems, make your hypotheses and test them with your own
procedures using your own virtual equipment.
 Make conclusions and publish results. Chat with real scientists live about
your experiments; get their advice.
 Create your own science blogs or websites.
 Produce and host your own regular science programs to be published on
the World Wide Web.
 Helpful student and adult docents available.
 Excellent science advice and production assistance available.
 This is another ultimate inquiry based student initiated learning tool.
They create not only their own lab experiment but their own virtual lab
complete with equipment.
 The student chooses everything and creates everything in his/her space.
 They can then go on to run experiments and publish results as they see
fit.

21. How can we use Second Life for
Professional Development??
The possibilities are…endless!

22. Assistance for writing a grant!
 www.TeachersNetwork.org
Variety of grants for teachers
 www.TeachersCount.org
Find a grant for your classroom  www.schoolgrants.org
or for professional Going for the Gold! grant
development! writing workshops are designed
 www.NWP.org by educators for ... Especially
Free resources offered by the valuable to those who are new
National Writing Project! to grant writing, school grants
 www.teach-  teachers.net/projects/grants
nology.com/teachers Teachers - Join the grant writing
Web Sites that examine funding mail ring
for teachers! ... School grants-  educators.about.com/cs/grant
grant opportunities, grant writing/htm
writing tips, fund raising Grant writing sources and tips
opportunities, contests, ... to make grant writing easy

23.  Networking Page (Talk to teachers in your
area or around the world!)
 Find other teachers (of your discipline) in
your area
 Question and Answer Blog page
 Looking for a mentor, or offering your
services? (tutor, mentor, host teacher)
 Share ideas, photos, journal entries

24.  Where to find “guest
speakers” for
professional
development
 Where to offer your
services
 Virtual workshops,
lectures, and
conferences
 Virtual laboratories for
lab demos
 Virtual meeting rooms
and lecture halls

25. A virtual world for:
 Job posting from
employers around the
World (or in your
area!)
 Cover letter and
resume help
 Job search and
interviewing tips
 Graduate School
Program Brochures &
Virtual tours

26.  Used Science
Equipment for Sale
 Gear Swap! Equipment
Loans!
 Science Supplies “Free
to a Good Home!”
 Wish List section for
your school
 Scientific Catalogs on-
line! (Wards, Boreal
Laboratories, etc)

27.  On-line texts
 Ideas and Activities
 Lesson Plans
 Curriculum Guides
 Field Trips in your area
 Field Guides on-line
 Virtual tours with docent guides (Galapagos
Islands, Saturn's Ring, Mt. St. Helens
 Display your student's work!
 Research library & database

28.  We used the following
tools in assembling our
project:
 Angel- Over 35 emails!
 Slideshare- Between the
three of us, we were using
two different presentation
programs. Slideshare
allowed for quick viewing
with downloads. We
were also able to embed
presentations right into
our emails!
Upload and share your PowerPoint presentations and Word documents on
SlideShare. Share publicly or privately. Add audio to make a webinar.

29. Group Presentations:
 Next time you do an online
PowerPoint File Size:
group project, try using  A tip I picked up was
GoogleDocs for group to start your
presentations. It allows you to
upload a PowerPoint presentation with a
presentation and then have blank slide. It reduces
multiple users edit it online. the file size.
 There is also a Google for
Educators discussion group  Here is a pdf of some
where you can read ways other PowerPoint tips.
teachers are using GoogleDocs
in the class room- including
presentations and
spreadsheets! Even if you
don’t “google”, there are some
great examples!