Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Reflective Action – Week 6: NOAA Comes to Second Life

Reading: NOAA Comes to Second Life

Throughout the week I visited Meteroa - what an incredible island and tremendous resource! Have to admit I went on my first balloon ride and submarine ride this week! The demonstrations would certainly be a great addition to our respective science curriculum.

The interactive piece of Second Life is still very new to me. However, I must say I found the balloon ride through the atmosphere, the cruise through the ocean in a submarine, and the virtual tsunami to be quite remarkable. Hopefully I will never be closer to a tsunami than the simulation through Meteroa! Unfortunately, I didn’t get to take a flight through the eye of a hurricane. Not sure why I couldn’t get the plane to start the tour! I will be back!

As I have mentioned before, I have great respect for those who are creating and building islands such as NOAA!

I’m sure there are places on the NOAA Island that I did not visit. However, it is definitely an island I will revisit for additional demonstrations and information to share with colleagues.

As an added note, there are times that I become frustrated when trying to figure out how to find certain areas within an island or how to make simulations work…such as flying a plane into the eye of a hurricane. I have made the decision to take each frustration and turn them into learning experiences. Without a doubt, in working with students and teachers they are going to feel the same frustrations and encounter some of the same roadblocks as I have in learning to navigate and manipulate experiences within Second Life. I just as well encounter them first so I become more effective in working with those within the education community who wish to learn more about using Second Life in their classroom!

I am learning so much and appreciate the time it takes to explore the recommended resources!

Resource: http://www.secondlifeinsider.com/2006/08/18/noaa-comes-to-second-life

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