SECOND LIFE – A TECHNOLOGICAL SIMULATION FOR BRINGING GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS TO EVERY CLASSROOM

This presentation focuses on Second Life, an immersive learning software program of a Virtual World Technology that allows students to actively communicate with people from different places and different cultures, with the assistance of simultaneous translation services. Second Life is a perfect match for building concepts of social justice and human rights, using three dimensional modeling for scenes, locations, clothing, and cultural artifacts. Social studies teachers, with their students, can create scenarios in endless venues, focusing on concepts of social justice and human rights, while “meeting” students from other cultures and countries for discussions, hearing ideas in the participants’ languages, and reading the translations. Every student is involved in simulations and role-playing where there is culturally responsive teaching, simulated “field” experiences in “geographic regions”, and development of thinking skills through hands-on “laboratory” activities for conceptualizing and discussing social justice and human rights.