Mathematical Modeling and Virtual Environments

With the advent of new tools for constructing increasingly popular web-based virtual environments1 such as Second Life , educators face fundamental new questions. What kinds of teaching and learning experiences are possible in web-based mult-user virtual environments (VEs) that are not possible in physical environments (PEs)? How do teaching and learning experiences in VEs relate to teaching and learning experiences in PEs? With the special regard to mathematics education herein, what kinds of mathematics and mathematical applications can be modeled, simulated, and rendered more practically and intuitively in VEs than in PEs? What theories and methodologies might best be brought to bear in researching the teaching and learning of mathematical modeling and applications in virtual environments? This chapter offers background, overviews, inroads into formulating these and other related questions.