Virtual workshop for creative teaching of STEM courses

Abstract

A virtual workshop for creative teaching was successfully carried out in Second Life (SL) with elementary school teachers (teachers of young children). Creative teaching is important for engaging and motivating students (of all ages) to pursue academic studies, especially in the areas of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). Countries need a supply of qualified STEM graduates to compete globally, creatively solve challenging problems, and provide the scientists, engineers, etc. of the future. The participants had no previous experience with SL, so they enjoyed the workshop very much and liked the creative setting (virtual classroom) and opportunity to make and operate their own avatars. This paper describes five creative teaching techniques, the teachers' brainstorming session, and lesson ideas for turning students onto learning.