Drawn into Science Through Authentic Virtual Practice

Under what conditions do students engaged with a virtual world come away with enhanced appreciation for science, wonderment about the world, and nascent understanding of science practice? Other researchers have shown that virtual worlds and games can foster such development and highlight design characteristics that elicit engagement, motivation, and learning. Our study examines what contributes to the changed interests and dispositions of learners as they engage with such worlds. Such understanding, analyzed over a diverse array of students learning in a variety of virtual worlds, is a prerequisite for developing design guidelines for drawing in students no matter the resources, interests, and attitudes they bring and help them learn and develop.