Newsgroups: bit.listserv.erl-l
Date:         Fri, 6 Nov 1992 23:36:00 CST
From:         Gary Shank <P30GDS1@NIU.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: Ed. Research: All Played Out? (82 lines)

I've received some interesting replies to my editorial.  I got this
fascinating note in response to a different project  and I thought
i would post it here as an example of non-schooling and education,
although it does depend on technology (non-schooling need not be
technological).  comments?  gary shank

From: "Barry Kort" <barry@MICHAEL.AI.MIT.EDU>
Subject: Computer Networks and Informal Science Education
To: p30gds1
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 15:52:04 EST
Mailer: Elm [revision: 64.9]

Hi Gary,

> Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 03:32:00 CDT
> From: Gary Shank <P30GDS1@NIU.BITNET>
> Subject: informal science learning
> Sender: Science Awareness and Promotion Discussion <SAIS-L@UNBVM1.BITNET>
> Resent-from: Sally Laughon <LAUGHON@VTVM1.BITNET>

> In an effort to address the recent call for using sais-l to a
> greater degree, I would like to go to the listmembers to ask for
> help.  I am in the process of putting together a research program on
> the psychology of informal science programs, particularly as it
> concerns the ways that informal science fosters different types of
> learning.  Would anyone be willing to share their experiences with
> informal science learning settings, any research, ideas, etc?
> thanks in advance      gary shank   p30gds1@niu
> p30gds1@mvs.cso.niu.edu

Here is an item on this topic from my archives...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

From: Barry Kort <barry@michael.ai.mit.EDU>
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 91 15:00 EDT
From: KIDSNET MAILING LIST <KIDSNET@vms.cis.pitt.edu>
Subject: Re: Electronic Coursework
To: kids-l@vms.cis.pitt.edu

Richard Naylor asks...

> Does anyone have or know of experiences with distance education
> using E-Mail, or of electronic submission of material?

For almost two years, I corresponded by E-Mail with a disadvantged
youngster in Atlanta.  Here is what I wrote about my experience in
a recently published paper entitled "Computer Networks and Informal
Science Education":

    Electronic Mail

        Electronic mail dramatically enhances the ability of people to
    communicate quickly and efficiently without the delay and overhead
    of surface mail.  Modern E-Mail systems support the inclusion of
    non-text computer documents such as binary data files along with
    the regular text message.  The ability to quote portions of an
    incoming message in a reply makes multiple parallel ongoing dialogues
    practical, since the discussants need not memorize the current context
    of each dialogue in progress.

        . . .

        While one might expect electronic mail to be used primarily by
    academics and professionals, this author has, for over a year, exchanged
    E-Mail with a 7-year old boy in Atlanta.  With an average of 2 letters
    per week, the transcripts of my correspondence with Abram now fill a
    1-inch binder.  The format of the exchange is a Socratic Dialogue, with
    the intent of engaging Abram in exploration of scientific material.
    Abram's literacy and communication skills have improved dramatically
    while his scholarship, attitude toward school, and self-confidence have
    progressed from problematic to exemplary.  That computer networks can
    enable a professional scientist to reach into the home and life of an
    American child is a testament to the largely untapped potential of
    network technology.


Since that experience, I have turned to more exciting and powerful ways
of engaging in distance education over computer networks.  Here is another
excerpt from the same paper...

    Virtual Realities, Virtual Communities, and CyberNets

        Through computer modeling it becomes possible to build virtual
    worlds in which the user interacts with and experiences a synthetic
    environment.  On the high-tech end of the spectrum are virtual realities
    which embed a single user in a realistic 3-D visual scene in which one
    can move about and manipulate objects.  On the low end are the interactive
    text adventures in which a single user explores a make-believe world and
    puzzles through various obstacles and challenges to reach a goal.
    Network technology has begun to transform such single player worlds into
    multi-player virtual realities in which the user encounters and interacts
    with the other players as well as with the animate and inanimate contents
    of the cybernetic world.  At present, the network versions of these
    synthetic worlds is limited to text-based interactions only.  Graphics
    and sound are perhaps a few years away, awaiting the development and
    deployment of high-speed network window systems.

        Known as MUDs (Multi-User Dimensions) or MUSEs (Multi-User
    Simulation Environments), these virtual realities offer a rich
    environment for synergy, community, collaboration, and exploratory
    discovery.  At present there are several dozen publicly accessible
    multi-user text-based virtual realities running on Internet hosts
    around the country and in Europe.  Players connect to the host
    computer using conventional Internet protocols and versatile client
    programs.  Players adopt a character and personality of their choosing,
    and enter into the synthetic world, consisting of a web of connected
    rooms and movable props.  Everything (rooms, movable objects, connecting
    passageways, and players) has a description (typically a few lines of
    text) which are displayed when a player looks at it.  Actions such as
    picking up or dropping an object, and exiting to an adjacent room also
    generate a short message appropriate to the action.  Everything in the
    system is owned by a player (typically the player who created it), and
    the owner of a room, object, or exit has the privilege of specifying its
    name and the associated messages when a player encounters or interacts
    with it.

        Players can create new rooms and new objects, and construct
    imaginative interconnected regions for others to explore.  In the more
    powerful MUSE systems, inanimate objects can be given elaborate behaviors
    which are triggered upon activation by the actions of other players or
    objects.  Animated objects can become arbitrarily complex automata such
    as vehicles, dispensing machines, androids, or information appliances.
    In some systems there are player characters whose moves are controlled by
    an AI (Artificial Intelligence) program running on a remote computer.
    Such robot players have already become sufficiently lifelike in their
    behavior that it is at times difficult to tell the human players from the
    robot players. The most advanced robot player is Julia, created by Dr.
    Fuzzy (Dr. Michael Mauldin of Carnegie Mellon).  Julia's conversational
    ability surpasses that of many human players and her personality is not
    without charm.

        The educational potential of multi-player programmable virtual
    realities is now being explored by a few professional educators who
    are investigating the genre.  Like other technological innovations of
    the information age, virtual realities appeal to many human needs:
    social communication, entertainment, information, and education.  At
    MIT's AI Lab, a system called MicroMuse chartered itself in November,
    1990, as the PBS of CyberNet, featuring explorations, adventures, and
    puzzles with redeeming social, cultural, and educational content.  The
    MicroMuse Science Center offers an Exploratorium and Mathematica Exhibit
    complete with interactive exhibits drawn from experience with Science
    Museums around the country.  The Mission to Mars includes an elaborate
    tour of the red planet with accurate descriptions rivaling those found
    in National Geographic.  Elsewhere on MicroMuse, one can find an
    outstanding adventure based on the children's classic Narnia; a
    recreation of the Wizard of Oz adventure built by a gifted 8-year
    old; a challenging Logic Quest; and a living model of the science
    fiction genre "The DragonRiders of Pern" by author Anne McCaffrey.

        For younger players, text-based virtual realities foster literacy
    skills: reading, writing, and composition, and technical skills such as
    keyboarding and spelling.  For adolescent players, social interaction
    skills, interpersonal skills, and personality development emerge as
    primary activities.  College students who are not computer science
    majors enjoy the opportunity to gain some computer literacy and try
    their hand at creating their own contributions to the cyberspace worlds,
    usually with the helpful guidance of friendly players with more experience.
    The more ingenious and inventive players design and build elaborate and
    powerful artifacts such as electronic newspapers, voice-mail recorders,
    and self-activated transit systems.


    Educational Potential

        The educational potential of network-based virtual realities is
    largely unexplored, unappreciated and undeveloped.  The nature of the
    medium favors informal science education, since students voluntarily
    connect to these systems between classes and during their leisure time.
    Text-based virtual realities foster obvious skill-building in keyboarding,
    composition, and social interaction skills.  But there is far greater
    potential for improving computer literacy, cognitive skills and scientific
    awareness through conscientiously crafted content geared toward informal
    science education.

        Borrowing on techniques used in the design of interactive science
    museum exhibits, educational television, and interactive computer games,
    one can envision a virtual Science Expedition with highly imaginative and
    interactive adventures not constrained by space, time, or materials.  The
    possibilities of modeling such diverse adventures as interplanetary travel,
    volcano exploration, or fantastic voyages through the bloodstream are
    suggestive of projects worth considering.  Students, too, enjoy the
    opportunity to build microworlds of their own, typically copying real-world
    cityscapes and science-fiction themes.  With a little guidance from a
    faculty advisor, a student group can be organized to build a microworld
    model from physics, chemistry, geology, biology, or mathematics.

        While many students already have discovered MUDs and MUSEs on
    their own, schools could foster educationally beneficial access through
    extra-curricular activity groups such as computer clubs and science clubs.
    The enriched atmosphere of network-based microworlds generates a national
    (and even international) virtual community that broadens the horizons of
    students who may never have travelled beyond the borders of their home
    state.  Deaf and handicapped students find opportunities for unimpaired
    interactions within the computer-mediated virtual worlds.  The interaction
    across age groups also stimulates the informal learning process as social
    communication blends into technical discussion and teaching.


    Conclusion

        Network-based virtual realities are now coming of age, largely
    populated by students seeking an enriched environment for exploration,
    discovery, and creative expression.  Virtual communities emerge with
    imaginative interactive adventures and puzzles.  The science content of
    such worlds can profitably be enriched by the active participation of the
    education community.

        For adult educators and researchers, text-based virtual realities offer
    an opportunity to enter a synthetic society either as observers of the
    sociology (and sociopathy) of a predominantly adolescent culture, or as
    mission-oriented contributors to the informal education and enrichment of
    the young people populating the ethereal world of Cyberion City.

==============================================================================

If you would like to explore MicroMuse, you may connect as follows from
your local host computer:

        telnet michael.ai.mit.edu               [18.43.0.177]
        login: guest                            [no password required]
        tt                                      [TinyTalk client program]

        connect guest                           [Connect to MicroMuse]

        news                                    [general news command]
        help                                    [online help command]

        /quit                                   [quit MicroMuse]
        exit                                    [exit telnet session]

Once connected to MicroMuse, you will be able to wander around, visit
with other players, and engage in a variety of interactions within the
Virtual Community.  Visitors who wish to become regular participants may
create player characters for themselves and carve themselves a role
within the MicroMuse world.

See you online!

Barry Kort (aka 'Moulton')
Consulting Scientist
Educational Technology Research
BBN Labs
Cambridge, MA
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU