Science and Virtual Reality: The Present and Future of Education through Immersive 3D Worlds

The Atlanta Science Tavern held our first public discussion on Saturday, June 28th at Thinking Man Tavern in Decatur, GA. The topic was "Science and Virtual Reality: The Present and Future of Education through Immersive 3D Worlds".

At issue was the subject of how we can use 3D virtual worlds and video-game technology to help science education. A motivating factor is the decreasing supply of talented and qualified scientists and engineers in the US to fulfill basic needs in industry. Other motivating factors include the loss of critical-thinking, problem-solving, and curiosity among students and workers.

We had a very lively discussion and have recorded most of it to podcast here.

Discussion Points
View the discussion points and some screenshots of science-related places in Second Life in this PDF: Science and Virtual Reality: The Present and Future of Education through Immerseive 3D Worlds

Photos
http://science.meetup.com/102/photos/

Discussion Podcast
Listen to the first part of the discussion here:
Podcast of group discussion part I
Podcast of group discussion part II

Videos Presented During the Discussion






Related Resources
Bill Gates congressional testimony: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/mar08/03-12MSUSInnovationLeadPR.mspx



The Second Life Science Center: http://science-center-group.wikispaces.com/
List of Science Related destinations in SecondLife: http://science-center-group.wikispaces.com/Science-Related+Places