By Chua Hian Hou

A NUMBER of Singapore schools have started using virtual worlds like Second Life as learning tools.

It is while taking on roles in these make-believe online worlds that the students get a better grasp of subjects ranging from art and married life to financial literacy.

In the second half of this year, lower secondary students at Ngee Ann Secondary School (NASS), will, for example, critique art pieces found in a gallery that exists only in the world of Second Life.

They will do this using Harvard University's Artful Thinking syllabus, which hones art appreciation skills and fosters creative thinking.

The school will also walk students through the issue of mercy-killing by having them play at being vets and dog owners in a virtual animal clinic.

Such moves by NASS and other schools are encouraged by the Ministry of Education (MOE), which wants schools to 'develop meaningful new ways of using technology for learning and teaching ... that will lead to meaningful learning outcomes'.

An MOE spokesman said the ministry is also planning a study to explore the use of virtual worlds in enhancing learning and teaching.

At Innova Junior College (IJC), students will play at being married couples, single people and divorcees on a future Mars colony troubled by a flagging birth rate and arguing over the costs and benefits of a scheme similar to the baby bonus.

IJC's infocomm technology head Tan Li Wee said that because students have limited life experience, the exercise forces them to 'experience issues from different perspectives'.

She is hoping they will build a better, more mature understanding of issues - and score better General Paper grades while at it.

IJC is also exploring the use of virtual worlds to teach Malay literature, with students playing characters from the books they study.

No statistics are available on the number of schools with such initiatives in place, but others known to have adopted information technology include Beacon Primary and Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

The National Institute of Education's Learning Sciences Lab is, in the meantime, developing multi-player online games on themes like active citizenry and national education.

NASS principal Adrian Lim said virtual worlds are a good fit for today's students, who have grown up with the Internet. A Secondary 2 student in his school, Natasha Emir, who 'visited' the online art gallery this year, agrees.

She said: 'Many students are not that interested in art, but when they hear 'virtual worlds' and 'IT', they become more interested.'

Mr Lim said the good thing about virtual worlds is that they are customisable, which gives the teacher tremendous flexibility in designing scenarios and allows for actions not possible to non-vets in real life, like putting a dog to sleep.

IJC's Ms Tan cited another payoff of using virtual worlds from a teacher's perspective: because of their interactive nature, students become more involved and participate more often in class.

Natasha backed this up, saying she has noticed shyer students opening up more than usual, possibly because they are more comfortable using the virtual world's online messaging system than speaking up.

The 13-year-old said she was no fan of art, but her brush with virtual art has sparked an interest. She has since begun persuading her parents to make family outings out of visits to art galleries - real ones, that is.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.