Schome Park has given its students a real chance to study History and Archaeology in new ways which are more engaging and interactive than those used in the classroom. As Second Life® allows people to build, script, and chat amongst other things, the History sessions have been able to build Roman aqueducts. Sizings can be used which can enable students to scale buildings so they can compare the size of these buildings to the height of people. This allows students to relate to how people would have felt seeing these buildings. The study of archaeology is a difficult process as once artefacts and material are disturbed they cannot be replaced, whereas in Schome Park this is possible. During the Archaeology sessions a shipwreck was recreated and ‘excavated’ amongst discussions including Henges and Pompeii. When the two sessions integrated for one meeting a Roman road was created and enabled each layer of the road to be removed allowing students to see how the roads were constructed. This unique way of learning breaks down the barriers of students and teachers. This leads to student run sessions which benefit many people as both children and adults can learn from each other.
I know it's really difficult to fit all the innovative points into the wordcount - but I think it would be useful to point out that students from all over the UK - and across America - were able to learn together. Fox
