The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is exploring the possibility of developing a massively multiplayer online learning game.
The U.S. space agency NASA Learning Technologies (LT) project is currently investigating the development of a massively multiplayer online educational game (MMO) with a view to advancing education in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Persistent immersive synthetic environments in the form of massive multiplayer online gaming and social virtual world, initially popularized as gaming and social settings, are now finding growing interest as education and training venues.
Teaching complex subjects in these 'synthetic environments' is gaining recognition especially with grasping complicated concepts and understanding practical problems.
It has been recognised that MMOs help players develop 'strategic thinking, interpretative analysis, problem solving, plan formulation and execution, team-building and cooperation, and adaptation to rapid change'.
Immersion into the virtual environment will be designed to simulate scientific experiments and engineering tasks as well as experience microgravity.
From: ClanBase