Are You Game? Integrating the Multi-User Virtual Environment 'Quest Atlantis' into Secondary Science Preservice Teacher Education

Abstract

This paper reports on a project that was undertaken to integrate the 3D Educational Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE) Quest Atlantis into preservice secondary science teacher education in Australia. This virtual environment has considerable potential in educating for citizenship and social justice in relation to science, incorporating a range of socio-scientific issues and explicit social responsibility objectives in an engaging, inquiry-based game based narrative. However, in common with other information technologies, there is some resistance by teachers to adopting MUVEs in schools, which points to the need to introduce preservice teachers to these emerging technologies. Hence in this study, preservice teachers were trained and accredited as QA teachers, undertook a range of QA activities and responded to questions about their perceptions of QA. In general, the preservice teachers were initially sceptical about the value of MUVEs in science education and apprehensive about having to engage with the technology in the unit. After their training and activities in the QA environment they were much more aware of the potential for QA in science teaching, expressed more willingness to implement it in the classroom but residual concerns were expressed relating to a range of issues. These included equity of access to the technology necessary to engage in these powerful and sophisticated learning environments, and the time and technical requirements of implementing them in the classroom.