Saturday, October 23, 2010

Students Build The Parthenon in Opensim

(Can't get the blip.tv embed to work, but here's the link to video.)
 For the last couple weeks I've been working with 8th/9th grade students in their geometry class as they build a life-size replica of The Parthenon atop the Athens Acropolis. It's been a fantastic experience watching students collaborate on such a project. One thing I argued for in planning this project with the math teachers was to give the students part or all of a class to edit their default avatars. They spent the first class making avatars as ugly and as beautiful as they could (this is an all girls school) and I think the investment paid off in their apparent engagement in the project. It's hard learning to use the building tools but they are doing a great job and very proud of it.



1 comment :

Lucy Barrow said...

Hi Erik,
I agree with you entirely re the importance of giving students the opportunity to edit their own avatars, no matter what the project might be.
How on earth can you build the Parthenon looking like "Avatar Ruth"? :)
This is what makes immersive environments so wonderful, you can offer students a complete experience that is as close to the real thing as taking them back in time and letting them be part of building the real Parthenon.
Lucy :)