EcoMUVE is a curriculum that was developed at the Harvard Graduate School of Education that uses immersive virtual environments to teach middle school students about ecosystems and causal patterns. EcoMUVE was developed with funding from the Institute of Educational Science (IES), U.S. Department of Education. The goal of the EcoMUVE project is to help students develop a deeper understanding of ecosystems and causal patterns with a curriculum that uses Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVEs). MUVEs are 3-D virtual worlds that have a look and feel similar to videogames. They are accessed via computers and, in our case, recreate authentic ecological settings within which students explore and collect information. Students work individually at their computers and collaborate in teams within the virtual world. The immersive interface allows students to learn science by exploring and solving problems in realistic environments. EcoMUVE includes two modules, Pond and Forest; each module is a two-week inquiry-based ecosystems curriculum built around a virtual ecosystem.
