An intrinsically interesting environment to teach kids something.

TheLearning-BasedVirtual World

© 2008 Numedeon, Inc.

CareerExploration in

Whyville

Whyvillians Meet a VIP forDiscussion at the Greek Theatre

WELCOME TO WHYVILLE!The learning-based virtual world

Whyville is hard to describe but easy to show!

Each “cartoon character” is a user logged into Whyville. This place in Whyville is called the Greek Theatre.

Whyvillians are asking questions of Bethany Dillon, a real-life singer & songwriter and “VIP of the Day” in Whyville.

Ion Engine Design

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Whyville.net features activities in math, science, art, journalism, economics, government and entrepreneurship.

In this activity sponsored by NASA, users adjust the plate location and charge in an Ion Engine. If they are successful

in creating an Ion Engine, Whyvillians will increase their “clam” salary that they earn every day they login to

Whyville.

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Whyville combines community with

learning. The Beach is one of the most popular hang-outs in Whyville.

When Whyvillians get tired of the Beach, they

can always summon their Toyota Scion® and take a drive with their

friends. Of course, Scions aren’t free – in Whyville, clams make the world go ‘round.

Whyvillians earn clams through educational

activities and through starting businesses in

Whyville.

Learning-based virtual world for teens and tweens

150,000 unique users a month, 3.3 million served since 1999.

Its own newspaper, economy, government

Educational games in math, science, journalism, art, government and economics

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> 3.4 Million Registered Users

1999 2008

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under 13 13-18 over 18

GirlsBoys2/3rds girls

12 1/2 AA

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Whyville Census - 2007

Page Views: 1 Billion

Visits: 35-40 Million

Monthly Hours Per Unique User: 3.5

Total Hours Spent: 5 Million

Chat Phrases Spoken: 500 Million

Educational games played: 8.5 million

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Whyville’s 400 Monthly Page Views Per User

out-performs…

Disney.com by 276 page viewsAmazon by 269 page views

Google.com by 234 page viewsAOL.com by 197 page views

Ebay by 96 page views

comScore Media Metrix

“ Whyville is our users first life, not their second life.”

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0 clams

80 clams

20 clams

50 clams

100 clams

They progress and stay for a long time

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Make money, Invest money …

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Nutrition in Whyville

Healthy Diet

Not-So-Healthy Diet

“Hotwired Educational Site…Don't you wish thiskind of stuff was around when we were in school?”

587,000 requests to the Dietician.

2007 Metrics

* 8.5 million food items eaten

* 3.5 million cafeteria visits

* 125,000 kids have signed up for Why-Eat

* 45% say they have changed real world behavior*

* Classrooms around the country using Y-eats

MoonbriteHealthy 368 days CloverKat

Healthy 331 days

xxgirl95Healthy 326 days

© numedeon, inc. 2004

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Global Climate Change

Connected to the real world

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Senator OrEoBaBy

“Digital Kids…researchhas shown that kidsengage deeply invirtual environments”

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Getty Museum

100 articles submitted each week

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“This is a story about the big public conversation the nation is not having about education … whether an entire generation of kids will fail to make the grade in the global economy because they can't think their way through abstract problems, work in teams, (and) distinguish good information from bad …” The New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, December 2006

In 2006, The Texas Workforce Commission funded Whyville to

help attract “tweens and teens” to Texas high-tech, high wage careers

in Biotechnology & Advanced Manufacturing.

Here’s what Whyville has done to accomplish that goal …

Whyville Biotech

Do you have WhyPox? First seen in Whyville in 2003, WhyPox strikes yearly

and spreads through the population.

But the Texas Workforce Commission has saved the day. With funding from

the Governor’s Industry Cluster Initiative, Whyvillians will be learning

about immunology and finding a vaccine for WhyPox, all the while earning clams

from Whyville Biotech.

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flu shots

infected

"Flu Shot"

Pandemic Data

Virus seeded Christmas Vacation

Detailed Metrics

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“I’m getting a FLU SHOT”Launched Nov. 22 (6 weeks)

134,000 visits to CDC vaccination station (SL - 123)

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Whyville Biotech

Whyvillians are learning about immunology by working together in a multiplayer game to keeps cells from getting infected by viruses. Later, they make vaccines, conduct

trials, and sell their vaccines to Whyvillians who prefer not to get WhyPox!

WhyvillePlaneworks

People in manufacturing know that manufacturing jobs are high wage and high tech. Whyvillians will know this after running CAD simulators and managing supply chains in

Whyville PlaneWorks. Besides, they will be able to fly the airplanes they build off Whyville Island, or open a flying business and add clams to their Whyville bank account.

WhyvillePlaneworks

Parts in, Assembled Planes out … A Supply Chain!

WhyvillePlaneworks

Building planes to spec …

WhyvilleRobotics

Whyville Robotics

with the Texas Institute for Educational

Robotics (TIER), Northwest Vista

College, San Antonio

WhyvilleRobotics

OUTREACH

OUTREACH

CAREERSIMULATION

Career

Pipelines

CAREERSIMULATION

Career

Pipelines

JOBS

Texas users are referred to the web sites of educational opportunities in the region they live in. We ENGAGE kids in

STEM education and we START THE PIPELINE by showing them where to continue their education.

Schools for biotechnology

Schools for advanced

manufacturing

20,000 Engaged

1,000 Referred

We will engage 20,000 Texas 14 and 15 year olds (and more kids of all ages) and refer 1,000 to the web sites of

educational opportunities in their region, for both Whyville Biotech and Whyville PlaneWorks.

The Whyville Texas Challenge“The first statewide competition in a learning-based virtual world.”

The Whyville Texas Biotech Challenge: A statewide class vs. class competition to win the most clams in Whyville Biotech.

The Whyville Texas PlaneWorks Challenge: A statewide class vs. class competition to win the most clams in Whyville PlaneWorks.

DATA to Date

Total Texas Students• 200+ active classes ALL OVER TEXAS• ~1,000 students• 7,100 have completed activities• 1,600 have clicked through to educational opportunities

Game Statistics• 91,000 completing activities• 5,108 vaccine sales• 6,000 plane contracts won

Adoption in the Classroom – Waco ISD

• Adopted by Donna McKethan, CTE Director• Integrated into 8th grade Career Connections

curriculum• Free, online lesson plans• 58 semester long classes• 1,010 students

© numedeon, inc. 2006

Evaluator Cathleen Galas in Why WhyvilleStudying WhyPox Epidemiology

• a meaningful problem• collaborative • think critically about the spread• gathering data … making

hypotheses• many hours outside school• deep questions, researched

answers• took responsibility for their own

open-ended learning• productive citizens

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Welcome to Whyville’s first live concert! Singer Stacie Orrico was our featured guest for over 3,000 Whyvillians

online in the Greek “Ampitheatre!”

But there’s more here than fun and games. Whyvillians are being polled about the questions being asked of Stacie. Before this question, the prior one was “Stacie, what was your favorite subject in high school?” She said “Science!” Can you find the Whyvillian who also likes science? By the

way, can you find the Whyvillian with WhyPox?

Our partners.

© 2007 Numedeon, Inc.

Where From Here

© 2008 Numedeon, Inc.

• More build-out: Expand activities & make new ones• More competitions: Regional, state, state vs. state• Pipeline development: Integrate; bring in program

recruiters• Classroom integration: Start with Careers classes,

go from there• Outreach & PR: Competition sponsors

An intrinsically interesting environment to teach kids something.

TheLearning-BasedVirtual World

© 2008 Numedeon, Inc.

CareerExploration in

Whyville

Whyville’s kids are engaged in…

• Nutrition education (obesity & type II

diabetes)• Music (and dancing, of course)• Science – from astronomy & physics to

rocket science & marine biology• Global warming• Art• History• Entrepreneurship• Film & tv• Economics• Fashion & design• Work force development (robotics,

advanced manufacturing, biotechnology)

• Mathematics• Hearing loss education• Learning about disabilities –

physical & learning• Infectious disease• Civics & governance• Journalism• Reading• Recycling• Finance & credit• Philanthropy• Automobile engineering• Internet safety• Games

What sets Whyville apart is not what it teaches kids about the world, but how it teaches them.

© 2007 Numedeon, Inc.

There’s room for more!

How the education works.

Healthy Diet

Not-So-Healthy Diet

Pedagogy

• Hands-On• Inquiry Based• Constructivist• Fun!

Hotwired Education Site…Don’t you wish this kind of stuff was around when we were in school?

Whyville’s Grocery Store – 496 Foods

Whyville’s Cafeteria

© 2007 Numedeon, Inc.

How the safety works.

“Report Decision: You are muted for 3 days due to inappropriate behavior.”

Underage “newbies” cannot chat until….– Visit the site a certain number of times– Submit signed parental permission slip– Pass ‘Chat License’ test (100% required)

Whyville Safety

White Paper –

available upon request

Whyville Safety

White Paper –

available upon request

Whyville’s safety orientation is best in class and also offers kids and teenagers a secure environment to socialize and play.

Hey, our teachers like it too.

Whyville is the leading web-based educational community for children…”

Learning Landscapes

Introduce this site to your students for months of science fun! My sixth graders love it! Whyville supports the use of computers by kids the way that scientists use computers: for data collection, data visualization, simulation and modeling, and scientific communication. The site also reflects what we know about learning communities and the kinds of interaction kids seek while learning and having fun.”

Wendy Li, sixth grade teacher

We are including a Whyville experience in the pilot distance education piece of our science elementary methods curriculum. After visiting Whyville, I am convinced that it would be great for pre-service teachers to experience Whyville over the course of several weeks to see what excellence in electronic learning for kids really can be.”

Dr. Maureen McMahon, Dept. Chair, Cal State Long Beach

© 2007 Numedeon, Inc.

Behind Whyville.

Dr. James Bower - Chairman, Founder Professor of Biology at Caltech 1985-2002 Founder and Director of Caltech Pre-College Science Initiative Authored 100+ scientific publications and edited or authored 15+ books Ph.D. in Neurophysiology – University of Wisconsin

Dr. John Nackel – Chief Executive Officer•Global Managing Director of Ernst &Young’s Health Care Consulting business•Managing Director of New Ventures (E&Y’s Venture Capital Fund)•CEO of Sogeti North America •Masters Degrees in Public Health and Industrial Engineering from Univ. of Missouri •Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering at the University of Missouri

Dr. Jennifer Sun - President, Co-founder Founding member of Idealab’s Learning.net Director Educational Development – Electric Schoolhouse Ph.D. in Neuroscience – Caltech

Mark Dinan - Chief Technology Officer, Co-founder B.S. Physics – Caltech

Ann Pickard - Senior Art Director, Co-founder Pasadena Art Center College of Design

Whyville, the place girls love to go for science.