Welcome to Weber School District's Underwater Observatory simulation. This two-region sim is designed to introduce students to marine biology. It is appropriate for grades 4-12, though younger students may need some extra guidance to complete the missions.
ABSTRACT
In this sim, students become undersea explorers. They pilot a submarine (which works as an attachable vehicle) to an underwater lab, which contains a classroom, observation rooms, and information and pictures about marine life. Students put on a deep sea diving suit and walk around on the ocean floor. They participate in a scavenger hunt to photograph and identify different biological specimens. Following this, they create their own posters which are then added to the virtual world for the benefit of future visitors.
THE CLASSROOM
The classroom is set up with 25 desks, a podium, and a whiteboard. You may use this room for orientation before sending students out to explore the ocean floor.
MISSION: SCAVENGER HUNT
The scavenger hunt gives students the chance to explore the ocean floor and take photographs of the cool things they see, using the viewer's screenshot tool. For younger students, you can help them identify the sea life by providing photos of the scavenger hunt items on the whiteboard. For older students, you may encourage them to do a little extra research on the types of marine wildlife they must find. Some simple Google searches should suffice.
The scavenger hunt items are as follows:
To complete the mission, each student (or group) must use the screenshot tool and take a snapshot of every item. Make sure your students name each screenshot to identify the name of the object, and the individual or group submitting it. When they're finished, students should send the snapshots to your avatar.
EXTRAS
Everything on the list is contained in the same region as the underwater observatory. The eastern border of the region is left open for another underwater region if desired, but this can be closed up by building a steep cliff. Encouraging self-motivated exploration is important to learning in the virtual world.
MISSION: MARINE WILDLIFE EXHIBITS
This mission provides ways for students to develop and expand the sim while assessing their knowledge. Have your students create posters (in Photoshop, Word, or another program) about different marine life. Assign each student, or group of students, a specific aquatic lifeform. Their mission is to write a short paper about their assigned creature, and find a graphic on the web representing it. It should not exceed one page, since these will be imported into the sim and positioned in the classroom, resulting in posters similar to the ones visible on the walls of the classroom now. The classroom can be used for virtual oral student presentations (though it might be more interesting to hold classroom discussions and presentations outside on the ocean floor) -- each student stands in front of the class' avatars and reports on their creature, and shares their poster.
There is also an extra ground-level room on the other side of the complex that can be used as an exhibit hall for student work. Informative notecards or signs can even be placed out on the ocean floor around pockets of the indicated marine life or geological phenomena. If your students are so inclined, they can even choose an unrepresented fish, write up a short blurb on it, and find a suitable texture on the web and upload it to the sim. For older students who are feeling adventurous, they may even create their own new fishes that swim around in the ocean by uploading appropriate textures. The eastern edge of the region has been left open for access to a "sandbox region," in which students can experiment and create their own scripted, swimming fish using the viewer building tools.
The cardinal rule of WeberSim is, "Leave it better than you found it!" Always find ways to improve the sim or create new learning experiences.