Second Life as a scientific education medium

CHED 24

Joanna Scott, j.scott@nature.com, Web Publishing, Nature Publishing Group, 4 Crinan Street, London, N1 9XW, United Kingdom
Second Life is a virtual world: a three-dimensional digital environment in which real people, through their avatars, can meet others, build and buy things, and educate or be educated. The population, which has recently passed one million, shows a remarkable degree of creativity and innovation.

Second Life is already widely used for education (for example in architecture, law and psychology). There is also a growing scientific presence, with a spaceflight museum, a planetarium and several climate-related areas. Nature, too, has been exploring uses of Second Life in scientific communication. Our Magical Molecular Model Maker (M4) builds chemical structures using data from PubChem. We are also working on representing cellular morphology using electron tomography data.

This presentation will look at the current state of educational and scientific activity in Second Life. We will describe Nature's experiences and speculate on the future of Second Life and other virtual world in scientific communication.

 

Using Social Networking Tools to Teach Chemistry
8:30 AM-11:55 AM, Sunday, March 25, 2007 McCormick Place North -- Room N230B, Level 2, Oral

Division of Chemical Education

The 233rd ACS National Meeting, Chicago, IL, March 25-29, 2007