Teen Grid Ideas for the content areas

I have been giving the year-two Second Life plan for our four districts some thought lately and many educators have been asking me for ideas for the use of the Teen Grid with students.

T.H.E. Journal just published a brief article about this topic, covering the Ramapo Island project.

I decided share my initial ideas and to search for some traditional types of classroom activities that might transfer easily to the Teen Grid content-specific islands we will be developing for the 08-09 school year. Since the Teen Grid age is 13-17, these ideas target the grade 8 through 12 grade levels and are intended to be formative assessments to demonstrate the acquisition of content knowledge. Hopefully this brief list of ideas will provide you with a springboard to the development of your own creative lessons and units. Please add any ideas you think of to the comment section!

Science

• 3-d models of everything from working volacanoes, to trebuchets, to scientific experiments


• In-life Invention Convention or Science Fair


• Reproduction of the rainforest environment or any environmental environment

Math

• Use of the Math Playground materials from Eduisland 2 for teaching "SL Logo"


• Use of the building shapes in-life to create geometric shapes (i.e. icosahedron, etc.)


• 3-D formula study guides (i.e. area, perimeter, etc.)


• Demonstration of the mathematics concenpts of ratios, fractions, angles, etc.


• Famous mathematician "presentations"


• Any interactive lesson utilizing manipulatives


• Golden Ratio (Fibonacci number) lesson (as demo'ed in the Operations Research office on Eduisland 2)


• Conduct a Google phrase search on "math manipulative lessons" to find more
  

Social Studies

• Role-playing simulations of town, state, or local government proceedings, including creation of the buildings, etc.


• Simulation role-playing of historic events such as the Mayflower Landing, Ellis Island immigration, etc.


• Use of the American Memory Collection materials (such as America Dreams) with appropriate assessments completed within SL (Webquests often include role-playing and role-taking so take a look at a lot of them)


• Conduct a Google phrase search on "social studies simulations" to find additional material

English Language Arts and World Languages

• I love the idea of bookclubs being held in SL, which many of the public libraries in-world do, whether held during school or at alternate times


• Author visits, from real-life authors or role-playing RL authors


• Honing the presentation and communication skills of students within SL by moving some of the traditional classroom presentations into the engaging SL arena


• Re-creation of spaces from literature or geographic areas of the world (i.e. olde Salem Village, the Louvre


• Streaming of student-created movies, PSAs, etc. into SL

Drama and Music

• Acting out of scenes from plays and books is a natural use of Second Life (Angel Learning Isle's Educators Tool Gallery in SL has a free box of clothes for "classroom productions" that includes some useful period costuming items but take the time to examine the contents and get rid of some things)


• Building the period sets for these productions in-life


• The purchase of a media center in SL (I use the DCE Media Center) would allow streaming of student-produced movies (in mov format) and audio productions (in mp3 format) so one could host a media festival (I am planning on doing this on Lighthouse Learning Island this fall, so join the "K-12 Eduators" group in SL if you would like to know when it is happening)
  

Family and Consumer Science

• Creation of objects in SL with notecards and links to URLs about all aspects of family and consumer science from hand-washing to the food pyramid to babysitting tips and tricks


• Theme-based food creation with links to recipes online for healthy foods and snacks

Physical Education and Health

• Wellness activity demonstrations in-life


• Creation of content that demonstrates rules of games and physical education activities


• A health-link for teens area with notecards and outside links to supporting sites
  

Computer Education

• I used to love the giant computer at the Computer Museum in Boston, which allowed you to walk on its giant keyboard, peer inside at its parts, and rolling the giant trackball. I could see this being reproduced again and again in SL as technology changes


• Creation of in-life tutorials via notecards for applications, technology literacy skills, and SL skills and processes
  

Library and Information Literacy

• The aspects of copyrighted materials and adherence to intellectual property use within SL is an important component of teaching the Teen Grid users
  

Visual Arts

• The creation of an art gallery is easy to do in SL. With changing exhibits, visitors would come back again and again.


• Creation of 3-d models in-life would also be something that could be explored


• Students could also create original artwork and 3-d models for others to use in decorating their on-line spaces
  
  

Please add some additional ideas that you think will work well in SL to support teaching and learning in the comments!

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SL Teen Grid
Kathy Schrock
Lighthouse Learning Island