I recently explored two virtual environments suggested by Solomon and Schrum (2014): River City Project and EcoMUVE (p.178 and 181). Both virtual environments are geared towards middle grades science and seem like a great way to engage students. Solomon and Schrum convey (2014) that a benefit in adding virtual environments into our lessons encourage student-led inquiry and “exploratory thinking” (p. 177). While virtual environments are incredibly engaging, students still need the teacher-provided structure and support. Also, students still need participate in “self-reflection in order for the implementation of virtual environments, according to Solomon and Schrum (2014) (p.179). The River City Project puts students into a city that has been struck by disease. Students must hypothesize on how it will spread and how humans can negatively or positively impact the disease. To experiment and test their hypothesis, students will be led through a variety of different sources: interviews, photos, newspaper articles, etc. To implement this virtual environment, teachers must sign-up, be approved, and attend a training. My favorite virtual environment out of the two I researched is EcoMUVE. This virtual environment provides a unique experience in two ecosystems: pond and forest. There are so many components to this curriculum! There are tons of teacher resources, student resources, modules for extension or remediation, food web applications, and even post-assessments aligned to the National Science Standards. The best part is that it is free! That is right, teachers, FREE! I downloaded the game and was able to explore the forest ecosystem. This virtual environment allows students to explore the relationship between biotic and abiotic factors in one ecosystem, as well as the causal relationships of different factors. One exciting feature of this virtual environment is that students can click on an organism they find as they are exploring, and an index card full of information about the organism displays and saves in their virtual notebook. Additionally, students can time travel while analyzing the population data. They can, then, create hypothesis about the trends in the data. One of my favorite feature is the food web tool. All organisms in the ecosystem your student explores show up in a food web tool. Students can drag organisms around and connect them in ways that show the transfer of energy. If a student is unfamiliar with an organism in their list, they can click on the picture and a list of facts needed to complete the food web is displayed. For teachers to implement, they simply need to download the software and follow the steps in the guide provided. Simple as that! With structure and appropriate planning, I think that virtual environments are an out-of-the-box way to get content across to students. I have never attempted using virtual environments in my classroom, but am eager to use the EcoMUVE project! Please view the image gallery to access screenshots of my first virtual environment experience. Solomon, G. (2014). Web 2.0 How-To for Educators. (2nd ed.). http://ecolearn.gse.harvard.edu/ecoMUVE/overview.php http://rivercity.activeworlds.com/rivercityproject/index.html
1 Comment
9/18/2016 03:19:40 pm
These look like great resources for a middle grades science class. After reading this post, I visited the EcoMUVE site and fell in love with all of the resources made available to the modern day classroom and teachers. This resource offer many opportunities for students to apply and develop their use of various science skills. I like the research component of the EcoMUVE. I think it is crucial that our students are provided with learning experiences that allow them to hypothesize and experiment their ideas. This is a skill that is lacking in many classes due to the heavy push to ensure that students know the content. In the upcoming years, we will adopt new standards for science, Georgia Standards of Excellence, and these standards provide teachers with standards that require them to teach both content and science process in the classroom. I think anytime we can find and use resources in our classroom to support this idea is great.
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