Virtual reality allows the user to be transported to a state in which s/he can experience something beyond the realms of her classroom, office, or home. Swim around the bottom of the ocean, fight in the Civil War, create pottery, fly a plane, go to Disneyland! All this can be available electronically. How will students learn to operate in virtual worlds and not lose touch with reality? What experiences can be made available to students through technology that otherwise could not be explored in the classroom?

Simulations are a precursor to virtual reality. While true virtual reality involves using a headset that blocks out the "real world," simulations allow the user to remain in his/her environment while using the computer to explore various experiences.

• Virtual Earthquake
  • http://vcourseware4.calstatela.edu/ - Rumble up an earthquake!
• Eye Simulation
  • http://cim.ucdavis.edu/Eyes/eyesim.htm - A simulation of eye motion and "the effects of disabling one or more of the 12 eyes muscles and one or more of the 6 cranial nerves that control eye motion." It requires downloading Macromedia's Shockwave.
• Chemical Kinetics Simulation
  • http://www.chem.uci.edu/instruction/applets/simulation.html - View random molecules moving and colliding. Control the initial concentrations and the reaction rate constants. Includes explanation of the chemical reactions. Uses Java applets.
• Interactive Frog Dissection
  • http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/frog/ - Sponsored by the University of Virginia, this site has won many awards for it's use in high school biology classrooms.
  • http://herbertasbury.com/frogguts/ - an easy-to use frog dissection site.
• Statistics Links
  • http://noppa5.pc.helsinki.fi/links.html - This site offers a host of links to various simulations and tools for learning statistics.
• The Interactive Fly
  • http://sdb.bio.purdue.edu/fly/aimain/1aahome.htm - The interactive fly -- genetics in fruit fly reproduction.

Web Resources in Virtual Reality

• www.hitl.washington.edu/projects/knowledge_base/onthenet.html
• http://www.activeworlds.com/
• http://www.links2go.com/topic/Virtual_Reality

Students can learn to design their own simulations on various topics. IDE’s Simulation Design Rubric below can provide a guideline. Simulations can be designed in HyperStudio, PowerPoint, MicroWorlds, Stella, and Web-authoring software.


Simulation Design Task and Rubric:

Design a computer simulation that explores a curriculum topic. The simulation should present the user with a scenario and then allow the user to enter commands that will cause various alternative actions to occur. You will need to create appropriate responses to each command, including commands you don't recognize. Click here to see the Rubric.