Whyville a Virtual Learning World for Children: 10 Years Old and Going Strong

Panel:  4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Reception: 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.

Location:  6011 Donald Bren Hall
Free and open to the public

RSVP requested by October 14, 2009, to venita@ics.uci.edu

Sponsored and moderated by Pierre Baldi, Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics

Speaker:
Dr. James M. Bower
Principle Founder: Whyville.net, Chief Visionary Officer, Numedeon inc.
Professor of Computational Biology, Universiry of Texas Health Science Center - San Antonio

Panelists:
Cristina Lopes
Bren School of ICS, UC Irvine

Liane Brouillette
Department of Education , UC Irvine

Abstract:
Whyville.net, now 10 years old, was one of the first virtual worlds for children and one of the few with a specific emphasis on collaboration and learning. Designed based on 17 years of research on the use of computers and computer networks for science education at the Caltech Precollege Science Initiative (CAPSI), Whyville is approaching six million registered users who, on average, visit the site for more than 30 minutes per log in. With collaborators ranging from Toyota to the Getty Museum, and The Chicago Field Museum to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Whyville is an increasingly complex and engaging world for tweens.  Whyville recently announced a major new partnership with Dell Computer. Bower will describe the origins of Whyville, present metrics on its use, and discuss lessons learned over 10 years of managing a large virtual space full of children. 

About the Speaker:
James M. Bower, Ph.D. is the founder, Chairman, and CVO of Numedeon Inc., which in 1999 launched Whyville.net as a tween learning environment. Bower is a computational neurobiologist at the Research Imaging Center of the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio (www.bower-lab.org) and has served on education and technology advisory committees for the National Academy of Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health.