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Ari Hollander Dr. William Winn
Construction
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Global Change is a virtual environment developed at the Human Interface Technology Laboratory to help educate high school and middle school students about global warming. This topic involves extremely complex, difficult to visualize mathematics and numerous interdependent environmental variables occurring on all scales from molecular to global. Global Change allows children to gain firsthand experience making measurements and performing experiments that would simply be impossible in the real world.
The environment is based on a topographical map of the Seattle Area. This familiar setting helps to make centuries of environmental changes that would normally be abstract and hard to grasp, “real” and tangible. Students are able to “fly ” through this environment perform experiments and test hypotheses.
- Measure the temperature of the air and water using a virtual thermometer.
- Measure the ratio of oxygen to carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere using a “gas meter ”.
- Measure the annual rainfall using a rain gauge.
- Travel into the future using a “Time Portal ” and observe how these variables evolve.
- Observe the corresponding rise and fall of sea-level over many centuries.
- Change the present numbers of vehicles, trees, and factories, and see how this may effect the future.
- Modify the mathematical models used to model all of these changes.
Global Change is currently being extended to include multiple networked participants such that long-term patients at Children’s Hospital can interact with students in mainstream schools.
More information on the development of Global Change (formerly known as “Global Warming World ”) is available at:
http://www.hitl.washington.edu/projects/learning_center/pf.
