Global Kids' Online Leadership Program

I have been negligent at posting about how the "I Dig Zambia" virtual summer camp is going because we've all been so busy working on the camp all week.  Building upon the successful "I Dig Tanzania" camp last year, "I Dig Zambia" is a two-week intensive summer camp that brings together 11 teens in New York with 8 teens in Chicago to learn about evolution, biology, paleontology, and social and cultural issues in Zambia.  The camp takes place within the virtual world of Teen Second Life, with the New York teens logging in from Global Kids headquarters and the Chicago teens participating from the Field Museum of Chicago.

It's been an outstanding and challenging first week, both for our kids and the educators. Here's a recap of some of the cool activities we had our high schoolers engaged in.

Continue reading "[IDZ] "I Dig Zambia" Week One Wrap-up: Fossil Digs, Grassroots Soccer, Comic Strips, and Mass Extinction" »

Posted by Rik at 12:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you are a regular reader to the blog, you might have followed along with our Science through Second Life project that we ran during the past school year. Well we are excited to announce the release of an independent evaluation that was conducted during this project. The project, funded by the Motorola Foundation, integrated Second Life and a wide range of web tools into a standards based high school science class in New York City.

Key findings included:

• Students’ attitudes towards science-related careers changed positively with the StSL curriculum.
• Students’ self-efficacy and self-confidence in their abilities to do science-related work increased.
• Compared to the traditional science curriculum, the number of students reporting being overwhelmed by science class fell by 50%.
• 40 minutes of class time was not enough for the range of activities on many occasions.
• Students’ low literacy skills played a major role in shaping the curriculum activities.
• Low achieving students’ grades improved significantly compared to the previous semester.
• Students’ collective intelligence skills improved throughout the semester. More students reported that they felt more comfortable working with others to get something done using digital media in the post survey.
• Students’ confidence in the effectiveness of blogging, doing Comic Life projects, and using SL for science learning increased throughout the semester.

Download a PDF of the full evaluation findings here.

Posted by joyce at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On 09.06.08 I introduced a term I have coined, "the ludic life," and discussed its implications for Second Life and learning. In short, Eric Zimmerman, the game designer, had been making the argument that we have entered "a ludic century." We once moved from an industrial age to an information age. However, we are now interacting with that information in a way Zimmerman finds best described as ludic, which is not to say everything is becoming a game but rather game/play dynamics, aesthetics and sensibilities will increasingly define our social interactions.

While Zimmerman uses Wikipedia as his example, I am looking to articulate that Second Life is a better example and, more importantly, the way in which SL allows users to combine their real life identities and practices within a ludic context not only makes it a powerful space for teaching people how to live a ludic life, but it also becomes the key defining characteristic of the Second Life experience.

Much more at: http://www.rezed.org/group/ludiclife

You can also view the video at: http://blip.tv/file/1642807/

Posted by Barry at 1:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the article Virtual Environments and the K-12 Education, Kelly Czarnecki offers up a look at projects using virtual worlds in K-12 schools and what is being learned from them. Within that framework she brings up Teen Second Life and spotlights Suffern Middle School and our Science in Second Life program as a good example of enabling educators to utilize virtual worlds to engage students, specifically in Science, technology and programming.

Download the article as a PDF.

Posted by joyce at 6:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Science in Second Life year has ended and Ms. Rebe's fantastic students are enjoying a much deserved summer break! However, before school ended, everyone participated in one last science adventure - learning about more sustainable building and energy alternatives. They even did independent research and presented their findings both in Second Life and Real Life. The students were absolutely super. Everyone involved was really pleased they had the opportunity to work with such a great group!
Here's just a peek at their final work!

Posted by Cathy at 12:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last week saw Global Kids Global Science class come to a close, led by Tracy Rebe at our High School for Global Citizenship. It was the first OLP program to be developed and run within a classroom setting, mandatory and not optional. The program was designed to use Second Life during most sessions, as well as blogs, flickr, digital comics, and more.

Frankly, we had no idea which parts, if any would work. Now that the program has come to a close, Tracy reports that yes, the students developed an awareness and empathy to global science, environmental and sustainability issues, and did so in a way that was only possible through use of a virtual world.

Equally exciting are the quotes below taken the from the youth's final blog entries regarding their final words on the class. I am sure you will enjoy them as much as we did:

Continue reading "[SiSL] Teen's comment on their SiSL experience" »

Posted by joyce at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you look at students' responses below, you may say "you don't need to say much why you congratulate/cheer the students in Ms.Rebe's class", but I do want to talk little bit about what I have seen in Science through Second Life.

Continue reading "[HSGC] /clap for Ms.Rebe's class" »

Posted by Selen at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I do recommend this second life to people all over the world because the would have the oppertunertity to be able to learn things that are dangerous like for example going inside an volcano. they would be able learn things that are about science and have fun at the same time.

Posted by Asha at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

it's kind of cool you know being in this class has changed my life physically and mentally so yea and it has helped me learn about computers and other places(meaning all around the world) and different states.

Posted by Shaquile B at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My experiences in second life was koolim not sure if i would recommend because it depends on if you like using technology for your studies and projects.second life is a good experience for people that us.

Posted by Brandon at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)