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Numbakulla: The Pot Healer Adventure Second Life Innovative Learning Environment SLurl: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Numbkulla/215/18/22 This is the kind of place that I imagined I would visit when I first signed up for Second Life. While Second Life itself may not be a game, it has massive potential to be a place where educational games can be embedded and hosted. The Pot-Healer Adventure is not an educational game per se, but a highly interactive quest that gets the player to explore and solve puzzles. However, it is one of the few environments I've found so far that has key elements that couldn't easily be reproduced as an Adobe Flash video. The game starts with a shipwreck, which has left debris strewn over land and floating in the sea. It's an intriguing beginning, and a nice device to allow the player to interact with nearly everything visible. At the start you can pick up a notebook, which keeps track of things you pick up in the game, and gives you hints about what to do. A notecard at the beginning tells players that they are to find out about a mysterious old civilization that a previous explorer is no longer able to investigate. I'm not sure how this environment itself could be used for educational purposes, but the way it has been designed could and should be adapted for other purposes. I imagine the explore-and-interact puzzle format to lend itself to teaching history, and anthropology. It would be a particularly good way to teach how historians gather evidence, and what they can learn from old diaries, work reports, and other documents. I am glad that I found this interesting environment, and hope to return and explore it some more. I think that it could serve as inspiration to others looking to create more interactive quest-type lessons.

Ning site is dedicated to teachers exploring the potential of using MUVEs for teaching and learning about Social Studies. This is the group Virtual Pioneers in Second Life. Many links to great educational projects for K12 teachers and ISTE.

Stagecoach Island is an online virtual world created by Wells Fargo. You can explore the island and its hidden secrets, connect with friends and make new ones, and at the same time learn smart money management.

Places to go in SL for educators ... explore

The Virtual Worlds Story Project (TVWSP) utilizes "Questing" to develop interactive, immersive, and educational journeys designed to explore specific ideas/themes, teach vital 21st century learning skills, and generate Narrative Synergy™ through story.    The goal of every Quest is to help each individual experience and express his or her Narrative Thread™ - that special spark of spirit that makes each of us unique.  Once identified and articulated, these threads or "strands of story" form the warp and weave of larger communities of practice*.

Ocean science museum in SL: the educational sim includes a "Journey into the Deep" 2,000 meter underwater elevator, virtual replicas of the NOAA's research vessel "Okeanos Explorer" and submersible "Cleria", an undersea manned habitat, and lots of other scientific experiences to discover International Japanese/other collaboration

List of global historic places recreated in Second Life. Some lists open in Google Earth also! Learners can explore in GE and then walk around in SL!

This article discusses how Teen Second Life and similar dynamic online tools gives teenagers another way to explore their identity, in a low-risk, no consequences environment, and how teachers can use this environment to explore serious issues.

Webquest in 3D powerpoint by Bernie Dodge

An installation of Guantanamo Bay Prison in SL. I have to be honest, I have yet to be able to explore it after repeated tries over the past week. I've read about it and am intrigued, but my avatar is unable to collect the prison uniform necessary for the experience. I'm going to keep trying because it looks fascinating. Below is a link to a machinima produced about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT7p231Cfxk

This is a simulation of an archeaological dig in Turkey. The site represents a Neolithic village where many generations lived, one building on top of another for over a 1000 years. The textures are appealing and realistic, and there's a lot of information on the patient and reverential process of uncovering bones (generations of families buried under each house) and artifacts of this ancient Neolithic people. "Team OKAPI and Berkeley archaeologists mirror the prehistoric village, museum and archaeology in action at Catalhoyuk, Turkey. Take a guided video walk, visit the museum, explore reconstruction of Catalhoyuk, build your own Neolithic reconstruction and remixes, and much more."

This site is an example of a way to combine storytelling and/or reading comprehension with a more interactive environment. You go to the magical town of Brigadoon and learn the story of some of its inhabitants. Along the way you get quizzed on what you've read. Kits are available for those interested in designing their own quests. I wish they had made the environment more interactive, so that one could explore the places referenced in the story.

Continuing my theme of visiting virtual versions of Bay Area museums, I really enjoyed the virtual Exploratorium. In flatland, the Exploratorium is famous for their hands-on displays. It is very kid-friendly, and is a fun place to visit for all ages. I was interested to see how they would transfer this hands-on approach to learning into Second Life. I was not disappointed. The exhibits are very original and very interactive, and I had a lot of fun exploring. I will definitely be returning to the virtual Exploratorium. A previous Diigo post talks about the virtual Exploratorium, so I found this great video that shows off a number of the exhibits. Hopefully it will inspire you to visit it yourself!

Virtual Storytelling Project - 125 Grade 8 students in 5 Regina Public schools were involved in an inquiry learning project integrating English Language Arts, Social Studies and Arts Ed Drama curriculums, as well as cutting edge technology through the use of Teen Second Life and the iLife suite of applications.

Given that Congress has the lowest approval rating of any branch and that most sessions are broadcast on CSPAN (zzzzz....), I'm not sure what good a Second Life for Congress will accomplish, however if teachers want to have students in a government class explore. At the sim-hearing that took place, Congress people posed questions about the dangers of the second life community (e.g. safety for children, etc.). This was back in 2008, but doesn't Congress already have enough on it's hands than to worry about hte dangers of second life?

This is a wiki that explores educational uses of different virtual learning environments. It was really interesting learning about programs/tools other than SL, such as augmented reality. Click on the "About Us" link to find out more about the Horizon Project.

Apparently it can be done. Here is a PowerPoint describing the possibilities fellow mathematicians ahve found for using second life to teach mathematics.

The more I explore SL, the more possibilities I see for education, even at the elementary level. Nearly all my 4th & 5th grade students play some sort of video games and love them, so why not use that as a medium for teaching? I think the hardest part will be convincing districts and parents that it can be valuable.

Great site for kids who want to explore the world and its geography virtually. Kids get to "meet" people from the past and enrich their knowledge of the world around them. For kids ages 7 to 14.