VITAL Lab - Virtual Immersive Technologies and Arts for Learning

Rafting Adventures

Note: This module cannot be downloaded via the Internet.
It is available for free on our Second Life Teen Grid Island.
This island is open to the public but is limited to people who are 13 through 17 years old.
If you want a copy of this game to use on your own region on the Second Life Teen Grid. Please have a teenager (13 through 17 years old) visit our island and obtain a copy via the boxed version of the game located under the game sign.
Click here to teleport directly to the Ohio Teen Island where the games are located
Click here to download the Second Life client viewer from Linden Lab
Software Agreement

Grade and Content Area: 8th Grade - Earth Science

Overview

In the Second Life program, students use an avatar to ride a raft down a virtual mountain. Along the way, students are stopped at checkpoints that will show them how agents of erosion and deposition work, and what landforms they can create. Teachers can evaluate what students have learned by comparing the pretest and posttest data.

Lesson Plan

Description of the Science Content of the Module: Agents of erosion and deposition.

When it is most appropriate to use the Module: This module should be used as a way for students to visualize the agents of erosion and deposition, as well as seeing how these agents create different landforms over time.

Game Play: Upon arriving to the lab the students should log onto their computers while you pass out their accounts with username and password(these should be collected after the students log in).

Once the students log in they need to be directed towards the location of the sign for Rafting Adventures. Show them this location on the projector and walk around helping any students that can not find it. Then you should instruct all students to click the button on the sign that says click for HUD. Instruct them to wear it by going into their inventory then right click on the hud that is labeled as “HUD Display” and selecting wear to put it on. After this you should show the students where the raft rezzes at and how to ride it. All other directions should be explained in the HUD for the students to read. You may walk around and assist any students that have trouble during the adventure.

Pre-test and Post Test Questions(doc)	Pre-test and Post Test Questions(pdf)

Education Standards: Grade 8 - Earth Systems

13. Describe how landforms are created through a combination of destructive (e.g., weathering and erosion) and constructive processes (e.g., crustal deformation, volcanic eruptions and deposition of sediment).

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0538588. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.