On the island Second Nature there is a science build called the Jean-Claude Bradley Center for Open Notebook Science, which is linked with Drexel University.
Dr Jean-Claude Bradley is a chemistry professor and coordinator of e-learning for the College of Arts and Sciences at Drexel University. Along with his highly skilled team (check out the credits sign next to the main door for a full listing), they have built a main island with two smaller bridge-linked ones and a gazebo over water that aims to provide visitors with information bays on chemistry, microbiology, the human genome and a number of other scientific areas.
The displays are interactive and 3D model based. Along with poster board displays, links to websites and notecard grabs covering exhibit models and processes, visitors can engage with the content of the displays in a way not often experienced in a classroom. My favourite in this regard was the Eukaryotic cell, created by SL resident Max Chatnoir, a teacher of genetics at a small private university in Texas.
Visitors can enter this cell and be treated to a feast of Mitochondria, Centrioles, Endoplasmic Reticulum and Lysosomes that surround and float past you. As Max said, “I love that cell. It’s sort of restful just to stand in there with the ATP…”
To find out what ATP actually is, like me you will have to visit and enter the cell.
Just to clarify – Second Nature is not my island. It is owned by Nature and they were kind enough to let us put the cemetery (where my students take quizzes) and the Open Notebook Science building (where some of the research from my group is posted). And I really have to thank Beth Ritter-Guth and Eloise Pasteur for building most of it. Joanna Scott from the Nature blog Nascent just posted a little review of the island as well:
http://blogs.nature.com/wp/nascent/2007/04/seco…
Thanks for the post!
Just to clarify – Second Nature is not my island. It is owned by Nature and they were kind enough to let us put the cemetery (where my students take quizzes) and the Open Notebook Science building (where some of the research from my group is posted). And I really have to thank Beth Ritter-Guth and Eloise Pasteur for building most of it. Joanna Scott from the Nature blog Nascent just posted a little review of the island as well:
http://blogs.nature.com/wp/nascent/2007/04/second_nature_and_the_american.html
Thanks for the post!