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Why Whyville ?. Lea Ann Turner University of Houston-Clear Lake August 3, 2008. What Is WhyVille ?. Whyville is a virtual world for kids between the ages of 8-15.
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Why Whyville? Lea Ann Turner University of Houston-Clear Lake August 3, 2008
What Is WhyVille? • Whyville is a virtual world for kids between the ages of 8-15. • Whyville is a Casual Immersive World, so while there is not set agenda for kids to follow, everything within the world is based upon learning. • Whyville has an big emphasis on socially acceptable behavior. • Whyville allows kids to socially network with other kids from all over the world. • Whyville has an economy system based on clams. Kids must work to earn the clams.
Things to Know About Whyville • Money system based upon clams. • Monitors phrases for safety. Population 3,827,504 (As of August 2, 2008)Population3,834,711 (As of August 3, 2008) • Sponsored by several science, math, and workforce organizations as well as a few corporate sponsors like Scion. • Whyville city workers are adults who help keep Whyville safe. Username: tisdtx Password: wildcat
Is Whyville Safe? • Adults on WhyvilleWhile the vast majority of Whyville's citizens are from age 8 to 15, we also have citizens who are parents, teachers, even grandparents. Adults are welcome in our town as long as they are honest about their age and follow all of Whyville's rules.
Users must pass a 12 Question Safety Test before they are allowed to chat.
What If Someone is not Nice • Silence and VaporizeWhile you should use the 911 report tool to alert City Workers to citizens who are behaving dangerously to themselves or to others, Silence and Vaporize are two very handy tools when someone is being annoying or just plain rude. Double-click on the person's face and choose Silence (to stop hearing this person) or Vaporize (to stop seeing this person) from the drop-down menu.
Whyville has Scheduled events • Trivia at the Greek Theater • Math Expressions at the Greek Theater at 6:00 • Letter Squash at 6 P.M. at the Greek Theater • Scion Solutions Game at 3:00 P.M. • Meet the City Workers at the “Club Why” chat room at 3:30 P.M. • Spectroscopy Tips and Tricks, 3:30 at the GT • Ashoka Youth Venture 4:30 at the Greek Theater
Whyville teaches kids about economics • Jobs • Money • Salary Ledgers • Banking • Record Keeping • Spending
Whyville is sponsored by the State Workforce Commission and helps kids learn about jobs and resources in fields such as Biotechnology and Advanced Manufacturing.
The site links students to resources in their area about the careers they study.
Design and Build Houses Buildings Planes
Learning in Whyville • Science • Art • Language Arts • History • Journalism • Government • Civics • Health
Skatergame • You must take a stick figure body and move the parts to be able to spin. A spin meter keeps up with the amount of spin that position will give. A certain level of spin earns a color trophy and clams. It has instructional “manuals” online to teach the mechanics of spinning. It doesn’t tell how to do it with the character, you have to apply the learning. All of the learning gives a short snippet of instruction and a hands on practice section.
Learn About Art