OPEN'S Media Coverage
Virtual Parks Project: Linking Youth, Heritage, and Communities without Borders
Many have heard about Yellowstone National Park and the Great Wall of China, and some have heard about less well-known world heritage sites like Mesa Verde National Park. But for most young people these are not places through which they find their history or shape their sense of self in context with their environment. It is generally not part of their worldview. In contrast, videogames have become one of the most significant forms of media for the enculturation of youth and adults alike. The OPEN Virtual Parks Project: Linking Youth, Heritage and Communities without Borders leverages 3D multi-user (online “gaming”) technologies to have students and their families virtually explore the rich histories and beautiful natural environments of our National Parks. Through such engaging learning environments we hope more people will develop a greater appreciation of our shared global heritage.
It is the focus of the Virtual Parks Project to leverage and utilize the already highly successful 3D multi-user (online “gaming”) technology and international education program, Quest Atlantis (QA), developed by OPEN’s partner, Indiana University School of Education. Through our Virtual Parks Project, initially integrated within Quest Atlantis, we will develop and test an exciting and powerful series of virtual learning applications (3D worlds) that represent significant real-world locations and offer curriculum and game-based adventures for 4-8th-grade (9-14 year olds) teachers.
These initial pilot programs include Mesa Verde National Park and World Heritage Site, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and World Heritage Site, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Marine Sanctuary (with the support of the Cousteau Ocean Futures Society), Monte Alban in Mexico, Machu Picchu in Peru, and more. Each adventure or mission will be designed to connect to specific state, provincial and/or national academic standards and disciplinary content, but will be wrapped up in a game-based scenario or compelling narrative that will help young students better understand and value both our cultural and natural heritage.
Virtual Mesa Verde – Spruce Tree House™ - An Online Virtual Learning Environment of Mesa Verde National Park and World Heritage Site
Students enter just outside the visitor center and museum and are greeted by a park ranger who welcomes them to the park and sends them off on their first mission to identify and learn of the native plants that the early inhabitants, the Ancestral Pueblo, used to their advantage in surviving and thriving in the high desert in 1200 A.D. After meeting with modern descendents of the Ancestral Pueblo, students will learn how they constructed some of the most famous, long-lasting and beautiful Native American dwellings and villages in what is now called North America. And if students can interpret their tribal creation and migration stories (heard in both English and Hopi languages), curious hard-working Questers will get to time travel to 1265 A.D., and meet their great ancestors, building the Spruce Tree House Cliff dwelling.
Spruce Tree house is the third largest and most accessible example of Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwell houses. It was built between 1211 and 1278 A.D. in what is now southwest Colorado in the United States. For more informational on the Spruce Tree House, visit: www.nps.gov/meve/cliff_dwellings/spruce_tree_house_home.htm
With further funding we intend to invite Yosemite National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Salem Maritime and their sister parks in China and Chile; Jau Nacional Park - Amazonia, National Park of Iguacu, and Fernando de Noronha Nacional Park in Brazil; Monte Alban and Paquime in Mexico; Machu Picchu in Peru; Caracol in Belize and other National Parks and World Heritage Sites in the U.S. and internationally. Each education adventure or mission within our Virtual Parks series will be designed to connect to specific state, provincial and/or national academic standards and disciplinary content, but will be wrapped up in a game-based scenario or compelling narrative that will help young students better understand and value both our cultural and natural heritage.
Saving the Black Rhino™
Mkomazi Young Rhino - Badger's Afternoon Siesta
Photo by George Newman of OPEN
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In Black Rhino students enter and explore a 3D animated simulation of a real-life African Game Reserve called Mkomazi, which is located in North East Tanzania. Through the subject areas of standards-based science, social studies, and language arts, students will learn the issues and sometime conflicting perspectives surrounding the survival of the Black Rhino. While exploring this 3D virtual environment, students will engage in scientific inquiry, critical thinking and decision-making, while exploring African cultures, peoples, the remaining wildlife and habitats, and the sustainable alternative energy sources that help run the Mkomazi Reserve.
OPEN'S SECOND HONORARY
TERRIFIC TECH TEACHER FEATURE
Nicole Grace-Hummer
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