Second Life as Real Life???

After reading the articles about Web 2.0, I have been thinking about all of the implications for my classroom. Mainly, I am interested in Second Life or programs like it. I think it could be so valuable in my Human Geography classroom. I imagine my students constructing an understanding of the world around them through creating their own world. They could study culture through creating people who practice different religions, dress in unique ways, speak various languages, or live in a different government. As their world grew they would begin to see first hand the population implications and how resources are limited. Politics and economics would also be very interesting in this context, because the student would be able to set it up and see how it played out. The final area that would be very interesting to study is environmental implications of human actions. It would be great to have students implement different types of pollution or live a certain type of lifestyle and see what happened to the world around them. These are pie in the sky ideas...at least I think they are.

Ultimately, I do not know what is possible. I know programs like this are expensive. So I will overlook that for a second. I wonder how I could assess the learning in my classroom. What constitutes understanding culture, politics, economics, or any other topic in geography? I am hopeful that much more information is to come and that the advances we are making in this area will continue to expand and improve. I do believe this type of activity would greatly increase meaningfulness and help the students connect abstract ideas to their own experiences. In turn, this should increase learning.