The Edusim is an educational 3D interactive virtual environment platform (Metaverse) built on Croquet with resource packs being developed for the K-12 classroom by the Greenbush Education Service Center.

The goal of the Edusim project is to provide a safe 3D interactive environment for classroom activities (interactive white boards, modeling, machinima, and MORE).

The Edusim on an interactive whiteboard surface is an extremely powerful way to engage your students. Students can connect to the interactive whiteboard from the Edusim running on their desktop computers, or by connecting several interactive whiteboards together using the Edusim and the school network to create a collaborative 3D interactive environment where students from multiple classrooms can connect and collaborate virtually!

Here’s an example…

The Virtual Microscope is a NASA-funded project that provides simulated scientific instrumentation for students and researchers worldwide as part of NASA’s Virtual Laboratory initiative. This site serves as home base for the Imaging Technology Group’s contributions to that project—namely virtual microscopes and the multi-dimensional, high-resolution image datasets they view. Currently we provide 90 samples totaling over 62 gigapixels of image data. The Virtual Microscope, which is available for free download supports functionality from electron, light, and scanning probe microscopes, datasets for these instruments, training materials to learn more about microscopy, and other related tools.

Download it at http://virtual.itg.uiuc.edu/