MUVE Over Labs and Lectures

Science Inquiry Learning in a Virtual World with River City

River City October 1878Orientation

"MUVE" around River CityOnline student notebookOnline chat with teammatesDiscover what's happening

River City January 1879Scientist-in-Training

Observations and inferencesImportance of symptomsReflect on dataUpdate the Mayor

Secret Assignment Sample #1:

Now, here's another question. The mayor of River City told me that a new factory may be built in town, and I want to write a story about what that might mean.   

 

A. More people will be able to get jobs. B. There will be more mosquitoes in River City. C. There will be more pollution in the air and water. D. More people will move to River City.

I have four ideas about inferences that I could write about in my story.  Please read these ideas. Which of them is NOT a reasonable inference to make from the news that a new factory may be built in River City?

 A disease is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions. Thus, a disease is something that's wrong with a patient that makes them not healthy.

A symptom is evidence of a disease. Symptoms are what people experience when they have a disease. For example, a stuffy nose is a symptom of a disease.

River City April 1879Junior Scientist

Choose problem to exploreLearn data collectionReflect on dataUpdate the Mayor

Secret Assignment #3

I also saw you and your friends looking at water samples around town with your special microscopes. Dr. Koch at the University says that the water might be contaminated with something called bacteria.   

Bacteria in the water probably come from human and animal waste. For example, horses leave manure (poop) in the streets or the fields. The rain can carry the bacteria from the manure into the water that goes into the wells or the river. Bacteria can also come from human waste, if the waste from outhouses or toilet pipes leak into water that people drink.

Where does bacteria in the drinking water come from, and how did it get in the water? Please provide me with your observations and inferences from River City that will help me explain it in my article.

River City July 1879Assistant Scientist

Scientific methodGather evidenceReflect on dataUpdate the MayorDesign team experiment

These variables must match those listed in the simulation.

•No bog•Winter (changing the season from warm to cold)•Trash has been cleaned up•The effluent/sewer pipe no longer discharges into the river; instead, there is now a sanitation treatment center•All sick people are quarantined •Ditches are added along the side of the road in town to prevent manure/trash runoff during rainstorms•The middle class wells are fixed and wells are put in the tenement home area•Population density around the tenement homes is decreased by building new homes

The Eight Possible Independent Variables

River City Control World 1879Scientist

Choose independent variableWrite hypothesisCollect data in Control World

River City Experimental World 1879Scientist

Collect Experimental World dataAnalyze data from experimentWrite letter to the Mayor

Important Links

River City Websitehttp://rivercity.activeworlds.com/rivercityproject/index.htmlPrimary contact: Rick Noll, CEO ActiveWorlds

Partnership for 21st Century Skills – Sciencehttp://www.21stcenturyskills.org/documents/21stcskillsmap_science.pdf

CT Content Standards and Expected Performanceshttp://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/curriculum/science/science_cmt_handbook.pdf(pages 14 – 17) 

You can’t start young enough…