Second (Online) Lives, Kids, and Education

Marty Snowpaw, (aka this blog's Reluctant Quester) just pointed out an interesting article by Mike Shields.  Entitled, "Nielson Online: Kids Flocking to the Web," Shields summarizes recent Nielson Online findings which reveal that kids are flocking to the Web in droves.  Even more significant is the amount of time they are spending in virtual worlds.   "Kids are living online," says Shields. "Time spent among kids has soared by 63 percent over the past five years, as kids are increasingly drawn to watching videos and playing games---and even more so than adults, visiting virtual worlds."

Here is Marty's response:

"This should be no surprise to any of us.......At the recent Solutions Provider conference hosted by Linden Lab...Enterprise and Education were always linked.  However, they have been primarily focused on Post Secondary efforts that we have all read about on the Linden Blog.  My question?  What about teens and younger users?  
 
We have all seen what a wonderful educational tool Second Life can be,  and that virtual worlds aimed at children can have a huge impact.  It would be a mistake for Linden Lab to turn the page on K-12 education, merge the grids, and just move on.  Education is at a turning point.  It must become more child-centered by using individualized education plans.  There must be project-based learning in which the success or failure of a project is assessed by  its completion not by a two-dimensional, standardized test.
 
How wonderful it would have been to take teens and younger students on the recent Vision Quest hosted by The Virtual Worlds Story Project in celebration of Helen Keller Day (see http://www.rezlibris.com/for details); to have introduced them to and given them their very own Max (the virtual seeing eye dog).  What an engaging, eye-opening, and creative experience it would have been to have kids write their own stories about what it feels like to be blind,  or even what it might be like to be Max.  How wonderful it would have been to have children helping us celebrate Helen Keller's birthday and the development of a tool that helps us appreciate differences and level the playing field.  Wow...

Comments

[Dropshippers]

Nice blog, thanks for the interesting content

[Jonam]

Science learning website for 8-12 aged kids
www.sciencescore.com

Thanks