Interactive Science Lab

From VITAL Lab Public Wiki

The Interactive Science Lab lets middle school students conduct science experiments through Second Life without the hassles of doing them in real life. Along with Second Life being fun for the students to experience, each experiment has a game with a scoring system that helps keep the students entertained while learning. Upon arrival to the lab, the students walk around to find a lab station to sit at and they then receive a Heads-Up-Display (HUD) for controlling the experiments. The HUD is used to control the experiments, display directions, and to provide multiple choice questions to evaluate what the students have learned. Currently the students can choose on the HUD to conduct a Sugar and Water Solubility Experiment or The Redi Experiment. Both of these experiments are a lot easier to have the students do in Second Life rather than real life. The Interactive Science Lab gives the students a way to learn which can be more engaging and fun since it is in a virtual world. The students have so far enjoyed the science lab experience that I have provided them with in Second Life and the features that it provides over other digital curriculum.

There is a short machinima about all the Interactive Science Lab Experiments on YouTube.

To view it, follow this link: Interactive Science Lab

Sugar Water Solubility Experiment

In the Sugar and Water Solubility Experiment the student’s score in the game depends on how well they conduct the experiment and this helps teach the concepts of the scientific method as they play. In part of the experiment the students get to pour a bag of sugar which uses its location to factor how much sugar is put in a measuring cup. The students need to consistently use the same amount of sugar in each cup for good results in their experiment and in turn a better score in the game.

There is a short machinima about the Sugar and Water Solubility Experiment on YouTube.

To view it, follow this link: Sugar and Water Solubility Experiment

Redi Experiment

The Redi Experiment is the experiment that Francesco Redi used to disprove spontaneous generation by having flies lay eggs to form maggots on meat in open containers and not in the closed containers. This module walks the students through the steps of the redi experiment and explains the thought process that Redi used in conducting this experiment to disprove spontaneous generation. This experiment is a lot more fun to have the students do in Second Life since I doubt any teachers would like to do this in real life.

There is a short machinima about the Redi Experiment on YouTube.

To view it, follow this link: Redi Experiment

In the redi experiment there are three jars with meat in with them: One of them sealed, one covered with a netting, and one left open. The Flies will fly around and lay eggs on the netting and the meat in the container that is open and then maggots will form. Once the maggots form the students then get to play a game by cleaning up the maggots by left clicking on them to make them disappear. After the students see this experiment happening they will then answer follow up questions through second life.

Fruit Fly Genetics

Fruit fly genetics is used to teach kids about heredity using fruit flies to do it. In this experiment the students get to choose the colors they want to use for the dominant and recessive phenotypes of the fruit flies for the eyes and body. Then the students go through the process of mating the flies to produce new offspring. Then the students will knock the flies out and place them in a dividing tray in order to count the traits that were passed on to the offspring. Once the students are done counting they will then get to see a graph of the real results which they will record on a worksheet. Once the students inspect the offspring's body, eyes, and wing types they will be able to choose whether to do their posttest or to do another generation of flies from the offspring they have.

There is a short machinima about Fruit Fly Genetics on YouTube.

To view it, follow this link: Fruit Fly Genetics

This game also gives the students a high score by using the results the students obtained from counting the flies traits. The students are timed during the counting process and their accuracy of counting the flies is used to determine their score.