"Virtual Worlds" TeachU seminar report

I attended OLN's "Virtual Worlds" online seminar today. I learned some interesting things about Ohio University's forays into Second Life. Developers at OU have worked with middle and high school teachers in the creation of virtual labs that focus on teaching concepts that are particularly difficult to understand.

For instance, Chang Liu demonstrated how a virtual lab instructs students on where maggots come from. When you think about it, it's a difficult concept - they seem to just appear out of nowhere. Through a virtual lab environment composed of three jars with rotting meat, one that is completely open, one that is open but has a screen on it, and one that is closed off with a lid, students can learn to grasp the concept of maggots coming from flies. In the jar with the screen, the maggots form on the screen, not the meat. And they do not show up in the jar that is closed - the meat still rots, but because no flies can get in, no maggots. This really appeals to the gross factor lots of kids like without having to let meat rot in the classroom.

One participant made an important point, though. SL mimics real life. However, not all things that happen there can happen in real life. Will kids be able to tell the difference? Will kids (or adults, for that matter) be able to understand that you can't fly in the real world, just in Second Life. However, the way these maggots form IS how it happens in real life. Sounds like it would be good to try to teach these often misunderstood concepts in SL, but it would be interesting to see if the knowledge translates. When tested 6 months later, will the students know that maggots are fly eggs? Or, will they say they come from rotted meat? Hmmm...

The archive of the session can be viewed here.