Transcript Document
MUVE Over
Labs and
Lectures
Science Inquiry
Learning in a Virtual
World with River City
River City
October 1878
Orientation
"MUVE" around River City
Online student notebook
Online chat with teammates
Discover what's happening
River City
January 1879
Scientist-in-Training
Observations and inferences
Importance of symptoms
Reflect on data
Update the Mayor
Secret Assignment Sample #1:
Now, here's another question. The mayor of River City
told me that a new factory may be built
in town, and I want to write a story about what that
might mean.
I have four ideas about inferences that I could write
about in my story. Please read these ideas.
Which of them is NOT a reasonable inference to make
from the news that a new factory may be
built in River City?
A. More people will be able to get jobs.
B. There will be more mosquitoes in River City.
C. There will be more pollution in the air and water.
D. More people will move to River City.
A disease is an abnormal condition of an organism that
impairs bodily functions. Thus, a disease is something that's
wrong with a patient that makes them not healthy.
A symptom is evidence of a disease. Symptoms are what
people experience when they have a disease. For
example, a stuffy nose is a symptom of a disease.
River City
April 1879
Junior Scientist
Choose problem to explore
Learn data collection
Reflect on data
Update the Mayor
Secret Assignment #3
I also saw you and your friends looking at water samples
around town with your special microscopes. Dr. Koch at the
University says that the water might be contaminated with
something called bacteria.
Where does bacteria in the drinking water come from, and
how did it get in the water? Please provide me with your
observations and inferences from River City that will help
me explain it in my article.
Bacteria in the water probably come from human and animal waste.
For example, horses leave manure (poop) in the streets or the fields.
The rain can carry the bacteria from the manure into the water that
goes into the wells or the river. Bacteria can also come from human
waste, if the waste from outhouses or toilet pipes leak into water that
people drink.
River City
July 1879
Assistant Scientist
Scientific method
Gather evidence
Reflect on data
Update the Mayor
Design team experiment
The Eight Possible Independent Variables
These variables must match those listed in the simulation.
•No bog
•Winter (changing the season from warm to cold)
•Trash has been cleaned up
•The effluent/sewer pipe no longer discharges into the river;
instead, there is now a sanitation treatment center
•All sick people are quarantined
•Ditches are added along the side of the road in town to
prevent manure/trash runoff during rainstorms
•The middle class wells are fixed and wells are put in the
tenement home area
•Population density around the tenement homes is
decreased by building new homes
River City
Control World 1879
Scientist
Choose independent variable
Write hypothesis
Collect data in Control World
River City
Experimental World 1879
Scientist
Collect Experimental World data
Analyze data from experiment
Write letter to the Mayor
Important Links
River City Website
http://rivercity.activeworlds.com/rivercityproject/index.html
Primary contact: Rick Noll, CEO ActiveWorlds
Partnership for 21st Century Skills – Science
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/documents/21stcskillsmap_scienc
e.pdf
CT Content Standards and Expected Performances
http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/curriculum/science/science_c
mt_handbook.pdf
(pages 14 – 17)
You can’t start young enough…