From jokaydia: Exploring Virtual Worlds and Games in Education

Teen Second Life Projects

The Teen Second Life or the 'Teen Grid' is designed for young people aged 13-17. It is a teen-only space where access to educators and other adults is limited. There are a number of fantastic projects running on the teen grid which engage young people from around the world.

Kidz Connect - Collaborative performance and storytelling in Second Life

The Kidz Connect project supports a series of collaborative performance and storytelling workshops for young people, which introduce them to theatrical and digital technologies for storytelling and performance.

The workshops culminate in an original performance by young people in distributed locations, with participants using the skills they have gained in the workshops to create a performance that occurs both live in theaters and online simultaneously in Second Life.

In 2006, the pilot project included young people from New York and Amsterdam and explored New York’s dutch heritage and the connection between historical and contemporary culture in New York and Amsterdam. In 2008, the project continued with students at the Patel Conservatory in Tampa, Florida and students at the IVKO Montessori School in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

The Kidz Connect project illustrates how Teen Second Life can allow kids can connect with kids in other countries and construct a connected performance while learning about other cultures.

For more information visit the Kidz Connect blog, check out the original Kid's Connect Website or the Kid's Connect Wiki, watch videos from the Kidz Connect project on Blip.tv or view the Kidz Connect Flickr Stream.

PacificRim Exchange - Virtual Exchange Program

Created in 2006 by Stan Trevena, the Director of Technology for Modesto City Schools in California (USA), The Pacific Rim Exchange has created a learning environment consisting of several islands on Teen Second Life. The aim of the project is to create a virtual exchange program between students from Modesto schools and those from Kyoto Gakuen High School in Japan. During the program students interact prior to real life exchanges, sharing their interests and their cultures, getting to know each other, and maybe learn a little of their host country’s language before their exchange.

In August of 2008 the Pacific Rim Exchange project merged with the Australian based Skoolaborate project. Skoolaborate is the single largest ’school based’ global cultural exchange project on the Teen Grid of Second Life.

To find out more visit the PacifcRim Exchange blog or view images from the project on Flickr.

Ramapo Islands

Ramapo Islands on the Teen Grid is funded by Ramapo Central School District, and was developed by Peggy Sheehy at Suffern Middle School - a public school which serves grades 6-8 in Rockland County in the US.

The Ramapo Islands project is designed to engage students in virtual learning across the curriculum, with a focus on developing constructivist learning in the virtual world. Students and teachers from Suffern Middle School have embraced Second Life as a tool across the curriculum, with projects in Math, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, World Languages, Health & Physical Education, and the Arts all happening on Ramapo's Islands on the Teen Grid.

Teachers from the Ramapo project have developed a broad range of classroom strategies and projects in Second Life including:

• Bringing Realistic Fiction to (Second) Life
• Flea Market Math!
• The Tech Club
• Foreign Language Island

For further information visit the Ramapo Island Blog, read notes on a presentation by Peggy Sheehy at Tech Ticker, read Case Study: Teen Second Life at Suffern Intermediate School with Peggy Sheehy by Steve Collis, listen to a Podcast with Peggy Sheehy from RezED, check out images from the Ramapo project on Flickr, or watch a video about Ramapo Island via Youtube.