Welcome your students to the Future of Virtual Learning

Students working in a science lab, with some using microscopes and others writing on whiteboards in a classroom setting.

“(The students) just love it. They embrace it, spend a lot of time here, and they want to come back and do the labs over and over again. They also help each other in the environment, and that to me is a beautiful thing.”

— Michele Yeargain, Department of Biology, University of Central Florida

People observing a virtual shrinking suit in a high-tech laboratory with computers, control panels, and screens displaying data.

Activities.

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Students explore measurement, including units of length and pH values. The activity takes place at a carnival. Students earn tickets for successfully completing educational mini games and must earn a set number of tickets to complete the activity.
Within a virtual laboratory, students study compound and dissecting microscopes by interacting with large-scale models. Using what they learn, they solve a robbery by collecting, examining, and identifying evidence collected at a crime scene.
Students are tasked with locating and identifying ten different structures inside a typical animal cell. The module takes the form of a treasure hunt. They are assisted by their Heads Up Display, which offers clues and hints as they explore the cell’s interior.
In the virtual lab, students learn about passive transport cells, including osmosis, diffusion, and tonicity. Their avatars sit at a lab bench and are guided through the experiments via a Heads-Up Display.
This module, which also takes place at a virtual lab bench, enables students to experiment with enzymes by measuring the rate of enzyme activity at various pH levels and temperatures.

Cellular respiration is demonstrated inside a cell that students walk around as if they have been miniaturized. They collect various organic compounds, then enter a mitochondrion. To synthesize ATP, they combine the compounds in the matrix.
In this module, students return to the cell to explore the cell cycle and mitosis and learn how these two processes function within an organism. They also explore the process of meiosis and how it functions to produce gametes.
Students visit a desert canyon where an extra-terrestrial race is carrying out agricultural studies while succumbing to a genetic disease. Over two modules, students are introduced to monohybrid/dihybrid crosses, Punnett squares, sex-linked inheritance, and pedigrees, then use what they learn to find a cure for the extraterrestrials’ sickness.
Returning to the giant cell, students discover how DNA is replicated and explore the ways in which genetic information is used to make proteins by interacting with virtual representations of cell components. These modules cover the processes of DNA synthesis, Transcription, and Translation.

As part of a narrative-driven, experiential course for non-science majors, students collect evidence, study techniques and equipment, and use the forensic chemistry they've learned to solve a virtual murder.

Chemistry.

PRICE: $165 per student, per semester

Includes lecture and lab components.

Case Study.

Two male avatars in a laboratory setting, one wearing a lab coat and gloves, seated near lab equipment and glassware.

The virtual world is very cool to work in. (The students) have a really great time, and we sneak a little bit of chemistry in with everything else. We’re still looking at the scientific method, and we hold them to a really high standard, but they have such fun doing it that they don’t even know that they’re being taught.”

— Dr Stephanie Dillon, Director of Freshman Chemistry Laboratories, Florida State University

3D scene in a forest with a police officer.

Activities.

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Students are taken on a tour of the town in which the modules are set. They meet key NPCs and are introduced to the virtual laboratory, where they receive instruction on the basic rules of lab safety, including the use of lab safety equipment.
In the virtual lab, students are familiarized with techniques and equipment commonly used in chemistry laboratories to measure density, mass, volume, and concentration. They use and explore common lab glassware and techniques, such as an analytical balance, centrifuge, microscope, and UV-Vis spectrometer.
Students visit a crime scene in a forest clearing. Here, they collect evidence using safe techniques and the proper storage containers. The speed at which they collect evidence is controlled in order to prevent them from rushing through the process. For example, if they attempt to pour a cast too quickly, the system resets and they must start again.
Students sit in on an autopsy, then conduct experimental analysis on debris found at the crime scene to determine if an accelerant was used to start a fire. Students complete a charcoal extraction followed by GC mass spectrometry to determine the presence and identity of the accelerant. The module teaches them how to prepare chemical solutions and explains the basic principles of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry.
In a police station garage, students use Luminol to swab the victim’s car for blood and collect evidence, which they analyze in the lab. The module introduces them to the proper use of ninhydrin spray and superglue fuming to develop prints on the materials collected. The students are asked to determine the owners of the prints, if possible.

Students screen the blood samples for toxic substances such as barbiturates or heavy metals using liquid-liquid extraction, followed by LC mass spectrometry for analysis. Students are shown typical spectra and asked to identify the blood’s drug content by comparison; they use Reinsch screening to search for heavy metals in the blood.
Students prepare blood samples for later analysis. This delay in completing the process is deliberate, so students understand that not all processes can be completed in one sitting. The module continues with the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy analysis of fibers found on the victim’s clothing and car. The goal is to see if there are matching fibers that provide evidence to place the victim in the trunk of the car.
Students receive samples from a suspect and run DNA analysis to match blood and other samples from the victim at autopsy to the possible suspect, alongside a reference sample from their husband. They prepare both, run a Polymerase Chain Reaction, then initiate a Short Tandem Repeat analysis to match them. Again, the final processing and results are given in a later lab to demonstrate the time demands of real processing.
Students complete the analysis of the blood and DNA samples prepared in prior labs. They are shown slides of the prepared blood samples under a microscope and given instructions on how to determine blood type from coagulation results. The DNA samples previously prepared are now given as STR DNA fingerprints for comparison.
In the final exercise, students use all that they have learned from the laboratory experiments, combined with witness and suspect statements, to determine whether they think there is enough evidence to take the case to the District Attorney.

In our Macro- & Micro-Economics courses, students experience practical examples of economic concepts through inventive virtual experiments that bring them to life and make them easier to understand.

Economics.

PRICE: $95 per student, per semester

Case Study.

Front view of virtual Metamart store with open glass doors, shopping carts, and promotional posters. Features a small cart display outside.

“At the beginning, I was thinking too small. UniVirtual wanted me to expand my possibilities. Once I caught on to that, I asked for all kinds of fun things, and they were very happy to accommodate me. There wasn’t any kind of limitation; there really wasn’t anything I couldn’t do.”

— Dr Joe Calhoun, Director of the Stavros Center for Economic Education, Florida State University

Interior of a virtual restaurant with red and white checkered tablecloths, wooden chairs, red booth seating, and potted plants. Bar area visible in the background with wine glasses and colorful hanging lights.

Activities.

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In this module, students are randomly assigned one of twenty items and asked to rank it on a scale of 0-10, with 10 signifying a high value. They are allowed, but not required, to trade within a small city area. After this, they rank their item again. Then, they can trade throughout an entire city and rank their item a final time.
Students visit a pond where they can fish several rounds under the rules of common ownership. At the end of each round, the fish are counted. If enough remain to reproduce for another round, fishing continues. If not, it is halted. Students then fish several rounds under the rules of private ownership. This module’s activity demonstrates property rights.
On a trading floor, students participate in several rounds as buyers and sellers. As sellers, they are assigned minimum prices to obtain. As buyers, they are assigned maximum prices they can offer. In the group trading at that time, students are assigned different values according to supply and demand schedules. Through their transactions, the market gravitates toward an equilibrium outcome.
In a factory environment, students choose between manufacturing a variety of weapons that have different prices and productive capacities. These weapons can kill zombies to earn income. They participate in several rounds of production to investigate the relationship between marginal product and cost.
As an extension of the supply and demand activity, this module introduces taxes that are imposed on the transactions. This demonstrates the effects of taxes on market equilibrium.
Students contribute to a firework display over various rounds. In each round, their names are displayed on a board for all participants to see. In round 1, the display indicates which students participated but not whether each contributed. In round 2, it shows who contributed, but not how much. In round 3, it shows who contributed and the amount contributed. This module identifies differences in choices as more revealing information is displayed about each student.
To start a business, students are randomly assigned a series of tasks in order to receive approval to begin. The series ranges from a small number of tasks to a large number. A small number means the business can begin earning revenue more quickly. The tasks include visiting offices inside a government regulation building to receive approval for various aspects of the business.
Students select one of the businesses in a town to distribute their new product. They are provided with cost schedules for production. Through a series of selling rounds, they offer different prices to create a demand schedule. Along the way, they find the profit-maximizing price and quantity.

Students are provided with production targets, but the only way to meet them is by trading with foreign producers. They search the globe, looking for countries that have a different comparative advantage than them, in order to find trading partners to meet their targets.
This module takes place in a restaurant. Students are provided with $20 and sent back in time to various years to buy food from the restaurant. They soon discover that $20 bought a lot of food in 1973, but only a small amount in the present day.
Students are charged with purchasing supplies from around the world. They must find the countries with the most attractive foreign exchange rates in order to meet their budget and supply goals.
In a module that explores political vs. market choice, students vote on two shopping carts at a grocery store to meet basic needs. They are then allowed to shop and select the individual items for themselves. The total amount spent and the total subjective value of the items are compared at the end. The value is greater, and the amount spent is less, when students buy items themselves.
To demonstrate the broken window fallacy, students collect sales data from a variety of businesses to gauge the current economic conditions in a city. Then, a building is destroyed. Sales data is collected from those same businesses after the destruction. Students can identify which businesses are helped and which are hurt in the aftermath. The net effect of economic conditions in the city is zero.
Students visit a restaurant to enjoy a meal on two occasions. For the first, they spend their own money. For the second, they can spend someone else’s money. They usually spend more when someone else is paying. This simulates spending through fiscal policy and shows the inefficiencies of spending on behalf of others.
Students attend an auction to bid on items and learn concepts of monetary policy. In each round of bidding, they are given dollars to spend. Prices rise as the number of dollars increases. This illustrates Friedman’s claim that inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.

Non-Science Majors apply scientific methodologies and explore places they couldn't visit in a traditional course.

Environmental Science.

PRICE: $95 per student, per semester

Case Study.