First Three Weeks of Science Through Second Life Class
Time is flying... Students in Ms.Rebe's science class has been learning in one of the most popular virtual worlds Second Life though their virtual representations for almost three weeks.
They have learned how to get around in Second Life, how to communicate, how to use some of the features on the SL interface. Last Friday before their holiday break, they get to do a Scavenger Hunt in Second Life both to practice the skills they learned so far and to explore SL teen grid. Many of them were able to complete some parts of the missions if not all of them. They practiced zoom in on other avatars to see if they are humans or non-human avatars or exchange calling cards with other residents in the grid, and more. All of them were trying to accomplish the missions and finish the scavenger hunt while discussing how to do certain things with their team mates in Second Life. I thought whole activity was very engaging and all students had fun while practicing their recently learned SL skills. In the second session on Friday, students played Customer Consequences game and got to realize how much their life style affect the earth and how many earths we would need if everybody has lived as they do. The simulation was great to engage students in thinking about their ecological footprint. This is one of the most advantageous aspects of the digital games which is to make students reflect on their decisions while engaging in the gameplay. Below, you can see students' reflections after they played the game.
