SL Video (Science Circle): "Kurt Winkelmann - A Tour of Chemistry Lab Experiments in Second Life"

 

 (click here if the video does not play)

 

 From The Science Circle on July 2019, Kurt Winkelmann giving a tour of a chemistry lab. 

A Kids Toy With A Glow About It

 

 While at the Traveler's Station (the article should be finished tomorrow), I saw this interesting gadget at the book store. You've probably seen those home science labs for kids. But what about getting your little scientist in training his or her own Atomic Energy Lab? Marketed in 1950, this educational toy including it's own cloud chamber for measuring radioactive particles. It would later be listed as among the top ten dangerous toys. The educational lab was discontinued after about a year, not because of safety concerns, but low sales due to the $50 price tag, which with 75 years inflation would be over $600 today. 

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Lab Begins Limted Testing of Browser-Based Viewer

 

For those who've been curious about what Second Life would be like if played on a web browser, now's your chance to find out. Yesterday, Thursday January 2, Linden Lab announced it was starting up tests of a browser-based Second Life viewer, inviting residents to give it a try. 

Starting today, Second Life residents can help us test access to Second Life directly through the browser, with no download or GPU required.  Initial testing will use the standard viewer UI, but in the next phase of work we will dramatically simplify the user interface, with the overall goal of greatly improving the accessibility of Second Life for a larger audience.     

To give it a try, residents need to click on zero.secondlife.com. You should then see a screen that looks like the picture on the left. The Lab stated that there will likely be a wait time to log on this way, and that browser sessions are limited to ten minutes.

 

The Lab would go on to say that starting next week, some new residents signing up "will be randomly selected to experience their first Second Life session through their browser during the sign-up process. " 

The Lab is calling the name of the project Project Zero, "because our goal is to reduce to zero the barriers to getting into Second Life:  the system requirements, the possibility of not being able to install or crashing, and the many barriers present to getting accustomed to the interface."

 

Firestorm and other third-party viewers will not be involved. 

 

To read the announcement in full, Click Here. 

 

Hat Tip: Eric Mondrain, Pantera Polnocy

  

Bixyl Shuftan

Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "Sustainable Energy Science Lab"

"Sustainable Energy Science Lab"

Saturday June 13

10 AM to 11 AM SL time

Solar Sierra and Windy Schor represent EnergyTeachers.org in Second Life, building virtual objects for exploring real-life technologies, and holding meetings and discussions between educators and interested people.

Windy uses the somewhat realistic wind that blows through Second Life regions to develop methods for gathering statistics about wind, and for modeling wind power systems.

Solar builds models of solar cookers, heliostats, daylighting, and photovoltaic systems.

Windy and Solar hope to offer EnergyTeachers.org’s Green Dollhouse Challenge in Second Life. The Green Dollhouse Challenge is an event where a jury of building professionals and educators judge models of sustainable buildings on their merits rather than competitively.

Windy and Solar will offer a tour of our Sustainable Energy Science Lab in Second Life on Etopia Island

We’ll look at ways scripting objects in Second Life models the way light, wind, and water work for us, and how data-visualization exposes the ways experts and the public can analyze these resources and turn understanding into fun and practical technologies from power to cooking to art to architecture.

Tour led by Shawn Reeves

To read more, Click Here. 

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Etopia%20Island/221/57/23

Announcement: This Week At The Science Circle - "Lab Experiments in SL"

"Lab Experiments in SL - Design and Effectiveness of Laboratory Experiments in the Virtual World of Second Life”

March 16 at 10AM SL Time
By Kurt Winkleman

In order to explore the feasibility, challenges, and benefits of replacing real world chemistry lab experiments with a virtual experience, students at a large public university performed experiments in both the real world (RW) and Second Life (SL). Students in either the control group or SL group performed analogous RW and SL versions of two experiments by working in pairs and using the same laboratory manual. The SL group and control group were evaluated the same way as well. Results demonstrate that students learned just as much from the virtual experiments as they do in a real world laboratory based on pre-/post-experiment quizzes and lab report grades. A hands-on lab practicum showed that both groups learned kinesthetic skills to the same extent overall but there were subtle differences in individual skills that each group mastered. Students in the SL group report that the virtual experiments are fun and less stressful than the real world experiments. Teaching assistants provided a useful perspective about implementation and ideas for future virtual lab development plans.

These results are relevant to chemical education in a variety of ways. For on-campus courses, activities in virtual worlds can provide a means to address shortages in budgets and laboratory space. Existing online chemistry courses often lack a high-quality laboratory experience. Virtual worlds enable students to conduct interesting, realistic experiments which may be impractical to perform in a real world setting. Students can work independently or with lab partners, under the supervision of an instructor or autonomously.

For more information, Click Here

The Science Circle (61/127/32)

Cartoon of the Day

By Bixyl Shuftan