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"Undercover Mom" Fox News story on virtual world culture for kids and tweens. 4 minute article. Good vid to introduce pervasiveness of vw for this demographic kzero interview re: vw and kids

The Federal Trade Commission today issued a report that examines the incidence of sexually and violently explicit content in online virtual worlds. The congressionally mandated report, "Virtual Worlds and Kids: Mapping the Risks," urges operators of virtual worlds to take a number of steps to keep explicit content away from children and teens, and recommends that parents familiarize themselves with the virtual worlds their kids visit.

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.

Virtual worlds for kids.

Overview of how Global Kids and other educational/non-profit organizations used Teen Second Life from 2005 until its close in late 2010. In addition to listing projects and case studies, Barry Joseph discusses what we might learn from this "experiment".

Kate Farrell interviewed regarding using virtual worlds in K12 education - highlighting Science in Second Life (Global Kids) Good explanation Sottish publication

I found this YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGMH_1VnnaY) about a virtual museum exhibit created by teens. It showcases "Kristallnacht," or "The Night of Broken Glass" from the holocaust. Teens from the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. worked with teens from New York and museum staff via Skype, SL, & phone (sound familiar, COMETEERs?) to discuss issues, storyboard, and even create a design document (future COMETEERs!) to create the exhibit in SL. Interestingly, it seems that the build was done by an SL company called "Digital Refinery," "...an all teen in-world development company," headed by a 15 year old CEO. Teens visiting the site are placed in the role of an investigative reporter in order to find out what people did during Kristallnacht. They can click on cutouts of people to get information and learn about the choices that ordinary people faced during this event. Visitors also observe the environment; broken storefront windows, a before & after Kristallnacht replica of a synagogue, and just general destruction of the Jewish community. When they are done, they reflect, discuss and write about what they have seen & learned, and post notecards to share their experiences. I love that this is all built by teens, but that they also had to work with adults in RL to learn how to cooperate and communicate intelligently. I am big on making history interactive, otherwise it just seems boring to many kids. SL holds so much potential for this sort of activity; time for textbook companies to look into this instead of making ridiculously expensive, environmentally unfriendly textbooks that bore kids to tears. Ok, I know I'm dreaming, after all, if the textbooks weren't expensive, those companies would go out of business. Hmm.

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!

OpenSim 4th grade class island. Ongoing creative applications of MULE's (curriculum based) for elementary students.

This group has really taken SL and ran with it. Very interesting work they are doing here

Kids can chat and play in an environment that is moderated by adults. Aimed towards children ages 6 to 14. Educational as well as entertaining. Designed to be a child's introduction to the internet and virtual worlds.

Systems Thinking and Game Design through the eyes of a 4 year old. Interesting observations about the value of games in understanding problem solving and social interactions. Not directly related to virtual worlds - although good for understanding WHY virtual worlds and online games might be valuable student learning experiences.

This award-winning website allows children to: * Interact with dozens of famous historical and fictional characters from the arts, literature and sciences. * Submit creative writings for others to read and comment upon. * Explore famous works of art and play art related games. * Undertake challenging quests that take kids into the world of classic literature, the arts and humanities. * Practice typing with typing-tutor games. * Learn best practices for staying safe on the Internet. The website is not free, and they have a Teachers Console for class management. They recently partnered with the San Francisco Opera to bring classical music to young adults.

Possible activities for students when introducing Second Life. I like planning activities for my students. I thought that having us build campsites was an excellent way to learn the "Build Tools". Here are some activities that might help with planning on teaching students basics in Second Life.

This site has been around since 1999 and reportedly has a player base of more than one million. Whyville works directly with the Getty, NASA, the School Nutrition Association, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Players, or "citizens" earn a salary of "clams", a virtual currency, by participating in a wide range of educational games and activities. Whyville has become involved in a number of projects aiming to encourage children to consider technical and scientific careers.

This was a fun place to visit. My little kids enjoyed walking around this scenic SL Zoo. I liked the graphics and the set up. However, I would have liked to be able to interact with the animals. Also, if there were sound effects, they were not available at the time I was in this virtual site. It would have been a nice touch if the creator added informational cards about the different animals that were displayed. I'm going to search around a bit to see if there are other virtual zoos.

This sounds like a great idea for a vitual field trip to a zoo. This might be the only way for teachers to "get out the classoom" because of buget cuts. Too bad there are no sound effects or information cards.

I haven't gotten a chance to check it all out, but this page offers a link to a math playground in SL as well as another website that utilizes web 2.0 to teach math. I think it is funny that we are learning about all of these in our educational technology program, yet my district blocks all the pages from being viewed. I wonder if in the world of cyber bullying we will ever be able to convince the district that there is use for programs like this in the general education curriculum.

I couldn't find the math playground in SL, but I loved the one on the website! If that site isn't blocked in my district, I am using it on Monday! This will be a great way to get my kids' attention and let them practice some skills they need work on.

I feel strongly about kids actually having to go out and participate actively in "real life" sports. I do however see the benefit of using virtual reality to improve mental strategies and to develop skills independently. Virtual reality in sports and fitness can help to encourage young people to be more active. This article describes some of the advantages and disadvantages to using virtual reality in sports and fitness.