A VIRTUAL WORLD FOR THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF NATURAL SCIENCES

Virtual worlds can support the teaching and learning of natural sciences (such as chemistry, biology and physics) by simulating various phenomena that occur on a microscopic scale and are usually difficult for students to understand. They can also support teaching and learning through the representation of processes and experiments that occur in the macroscopic dimension, but which can be risky in execution, costly, difficult to observe, among other simulation possibilities. In this context, this paper aims to present a virtual world created in the OpenSim environment, where virtual labs were built for the learning of Natural Sciences, of elementary school students. Three virtual laboratories were created, one in each region in the OpenSim virtual world. In these laboratories, different subjects related to the study of the Sciences of Nature were contemplated. In each of the three laboratories, there are simulations and multimedia resources available for interaction (videos, texts, presentations, images, questions, and links) that complement the activities developed in the classroom. The contents selected and addressed in the three laboratories of the virtual world make up the annual curriculum of Natural Sciences of the sixth year of elementary school in a Brazilian public school. Students of this series used the virtual world and the evaluation was carried out through usability evaluation questionnaires, through which it was possible to know the acceptance and contribution of the virtual world to the learning of the Natural Sciences.