Avatars Go Into Schools (and Beyond Them, Too) - NYTimes.com
By WINNIE HU
Published: May 6, 2010
ELIZABETH, N.J. — Even as work crews and scientists mobilized over a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, high school students in this city were hard at work cleaning up another spill — in the virtual world.
Christian Lopez using an avatar program in Elizabeth, N.J. Teachers say the use of virtual worlds encourages problem-solving, allowing classroom knowledge to be used in real-life situations..
Students like Christian Lopez jumped into an elaborate video game, called Spill, in which they assumed on-screen identities known as avatars to run cleanup efforts for the mayor of New City. The game, devised to help students sharpen their business acumen and skills, was rolled out in more than 750 schools across the country as part of a business contest in March and April.
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