The following paragraphs come from an article entitled, "Going Colonial." Click on the link to read the full text.

"When Crompound Elementary School teachers Rebecca Carcova, Patricia Canini, and Judy Pietruska—the school's information technology specialist, library media specialist, and art teacher, respectively—sat down to develop an enrichment project for fourth-grade students, it didn't take them long to come up with a star-spangled winner.

The Colonial era is a big part of fourth-grade social studies curriculum," says Carcova, "and we wanted to pick an area that would help students in their testing." Fourth-grade is a big testing year in New York state, the teacher explains. Study of the Colonial period offered ample opportunity for research, hands-on investigation, creative expression, and learning. In addition, students would use technology as a tool for both research and presentation. "

What would this type of learning experience look like in Second Life? For those of you who are unfamiliar with Second Life, it allows users to explore and CREATE virtual worlds. I am all for the way in which these teachers used technology to support their students' learning as well as their tangible product, I just feel like the technology exists to design/share/experience learning at a whole new level. Unfortunately, Second Life isn't geared towards students or the school environment. But, what if something existed? Hmmm...

The image above comes from MIT's education arcade and a colonial game they were/are developing.