Whyville`s

Transcription

Whyville`s

The
Learning-Based
Virtual World
Career
Exploration in
Whyville
An intrinsically
interesting
environment to
teach kids
something.
© 2008 Numedeon, Inc.
Whyvillians Meet a VIP for
Discussion at the Greek Theatre
Ion
Engine
Design
© numedeon, inc. 2006
Whyville Beach
Learning-based virtual world for teens and tweens
150,000 unique users a month, 3.3 million served
since 1999.
Its own newspaper, economy, government
Educational games in math, science, journalism,
art, government and economics
numedeon inc.
> 3.4 Million Registered Users
1999
2008
40
35
30
25
Girls
Boys
20
2/3rds girls
15
12 1/2 AA
5
0
under 13
13-18
over 18
10
numedeon inc.
Whyville Census - 2007
¾ Page Views: 1 Billion
¾ Visits: 35-40 Million
¾ Monthly Hours Per Unique User: 3.5
¾ Total Hours Spent: 5 Million
¾ Chat Phrases Spoken: 500 Million
¾ Educational games played: 8.5 million
“ Whyville is our users first life,
not their second life.”
Whyville’s 400 Monthly Page Views
Per User
out-performs…
Disney.com by 276 page views
Amazon by 269 page views
Google.com by 234 page views
AOL.com by 197 page views
Ebay by 96 page views
comScore Media Metrix
They progress and stay for a long time
0 clams
20 clams
50 clams
80 clams
100 clams
Nutrition in Whyville
Healthy Diet
587,000 requests to the Dietician.
Not-So-Healthy Diet
“Hotwired Educational Site…Don't you wish this
kind of stuff was around when we were in school?”
2007 Metrics
Moonbrite
Healthy 368 days
*
*
*
*
*
CloverKat
Healthy 331 days
xxgirl95
Healthy 326 days
8.5 million food items eaten
3.5 million cafeteria visits
125,000 kids have signed up for Why-Eat
45% say they have changed real world behavior*
Classrooms around the country using Y-eats
Connected to the real world
Global Climate Change
“Digital Kids…research
has shown that kids
engage deeply in
virtual environments”
Senator OrEoBaBy
Getty Museum
©©numedeon,
numedeon,inc.
inc.2006
2006
100
articles
submitted
each week
“This is a story about the big public conversation
the nation is not having about education …
whether an entire generation of kids will fail to
make the grade in the global economy because
they can't think their way through abstract
problems, work in teams, (and) distinguish good
information from bad …”
The New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, December 2006
In 2006, The Texas Workforce
Commission funded Whyville to
help attract “tweens and teens” to
Texas high-tech, high wage
careers in Biotechnology &
Advanced Manufacturing.
Here’s what Whyville has done to
accomplish that goal …
Whyville
Biotech
Detailed Metrics
Pandemic Data
6000
5000
4000
flu shots
infected
"Flu Shot"
3000
2000
1000
Virus seeded
Christmas Vacation
0
“I’m getting a FLU SHOT”
Launched Nov. 22 (6 weeks)
(SL - 123)
134,000 visits to CDC vaccination station
Whyville
Biotech
Whyville
Planeworks
Whyville
Planeworks
Whyville
Planeworks
OUTREACH
CAREER Schools for
advanced
SIMULATIONmanufacturing
Career
Pipelines
Schools for
biotechnology
OUTREACH
J
O
B
S
Whyville
Whyville
Robotics
Robotics
with the Texas
Institute for
Educational
Robotics (TIER),
Northwest Vista
College, San
Antonio
Whyville
Robotics
Whyville
Robotics
Alamo Area
Academies
OUTREACH
CAREER
SIMULATION
Joe Wilson
Gene Bowman
Career
Pipelines
OUTREACH
J
O
B
S
20,000 Engaged
1,000 Referred
The Whyville Texas Challenge
“The first statewide competition in a learning-based
virtual world.”
The Whyville Texas Biotech Challenge: A statewide class
vs. class competition to win the most clams in Whyville Biotech.
The Whyville Texas PlaneWorks Challenge: A statewide
class vs. class competition to win the most clams in Whyville
PlaneWorks.
DATA to Date
Total Texas Students
• 200+ active classes ALL OVER TEXAS
• ~1,000 students
• 7,100 have completed activities
• 1,600 have clicked through to educational opportunities
Game Statistics
• 91,000 completing activities
• 5,108 vaccine sales
• 6,000 plane contracts won
Adoption in the Classroom – Waco ISD
• Adopted by Donna McKethan, CTE Director
• Integrated into 8th grade Career Connections
curriculum
• Free, online lesson plans
• 58 semester long classes
• 1,010 students
Evaluator Cathleen Galas in Why Whyville
Studying WhyPox Epidemiology
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
a meaningful problem
collaborative
think critically about the spread
gathering data … making
hypotheses
many hours outside school
deep questions, researched
answers
took responsibility for their own
open-ended learning
productive citizens
Our partners.
Where From Here
• More build-out: Expand activities & make new ones
• More competitions: Regional, state, state vs. state
• Pipeline development: Integrate; bring in program
recruiters
• Classroom integration: Start with Careers classes,
go from there
• Outreach & PR: Competition sponsors
The
Learning-Based
Virtual World
Career
Exploration in
Whyville
An intrinsically
interesting
environment to
teach kids
something.
Whyville’s kids are engaged in…
• Nutrition education (obesity & type II
diabetes)
• Music (and dancing, of course)
• Science – from astronomy & physics to
rocket science & marine biology
• Global warming
• Art
• History
• Entrepreneurship
• Film & tv
• Economics
• Fashion & design
• Work force development (robotics,
advanced manufacturing, biotechnology)
• Mathematics
• Hearing loss education
• Learning about disabilities –
physical & learning
• Infectious disease
• Civics & governance
• Journalism
• Reading
• Recycling
• Finance & credit
• Philanthropy
• Automobile engineering
• Internet safety
• Games
There’s room for more!
What sets Whyville apart is not what it teaches
kids about the world, but how it teaches them.
How the education works.
Pedagogy
Healthy Diet
Not-So-Healthy Diet
• Hands-On
• Inquiry Based
• Constructivist
• Fun!
Whyville’s Grocery Store – 496 Foods
Whyville’s Cafeteria
Hotwired Education Site…Don’t
you wish this kind of stuff was
around when we were in school?
How the safety works.
Underage “newbies” cannot chat until….
– Visit the site a certain number of times
– Submit signed parental permission slip
– Pass ‘Chat License’ test (100% required)
Whyville
Whyville
Safety
Safety
White
WhitePaper
Paper
––
available
availableupon
upon
request
request
“Report Decision: You are
muted for 3 days due to
inappropriate behavior.”
Whyville’s safety orientation is best in class and also offers
kids and teenagers a secure
environment to socialize and play.
Hey, our teachers like it too.
Whyville is the leading web-based educational community for children…”
Learning Landscapes
Introduce this site to your students for months of science fun! My sixth graders
love it! Whyville supports the use of computers by kids the way that scientists
use computers: for data collection, data visualization, simulation and modeling,
and scientific communication. The site also reflects what we know about
learning communities and the kinds of interaction kids seek while learning and
having fun.”
Wendy Li, sixth grade teacher
We are including a Whyville experience in the pilot distance education piece of
our science elementary methods curriculum. After visiting Whyville, I am
convinced that it would be great for pre-service teachers to experience Whyville
over the course of several weeks to see what excellence in electronic learning
for kids really can be.”
Dr. Maureen McMahon, Dept. Chair, Cal State Long Beach
Behind Whyville.
Dr. James Bower - Chairman, Founder
Professor of Biology at Caltech 1985-2002
Founder and Director of Caltech Pre-College Science Initiative
Authored 100+ scientific publications and edited or authored 15+ books
Ph.D. in Neurophysiology – University of Wisconsin

Dr. John Nackel – Chief Executive Officer
•Global Managing Director of Ernst &Young’s Health Care Consulting business
•Managing Director of New Ventures (E&Y’s Venture Capital Fund)
•CEO of Sogeti North America
•Masters Degrees in Public Health and Industrial Engineering from Univ. of Missouri
•Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering at the University of Missouri
Dr. Jennifer Sun - President, Co-founder
Founding member of Idealab’s Learning.net
Director Educational Development – Electric Schoolhouse
Ph.D. in Neuroscience – Caltech

Mark Dinan - Chief Technology Officer, Co-founder

B.S. Physics – Caltech
Ann Pickard - Senior Art Director, Co-founder

Pasadena Art Center College of Design
Whyville, the place girls love
to go for science.