The Virtual Island Project is part of a large international endeavor, the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative. The purpose of the Virtual Island is to make cultural material available for K-12 classes in a online format. In order to capture the imagination of students, we create a situation where each team is faced with a critical problem. Finding themselves in a helicopter with limited fuel, they must quickly discover their longitude in order to land. Longitude has been one of the most difficult aspects of sailing ships over the centuries. The students can read about the problem of explorers such as Columbus who never knew where they were because it was impossible to determine longitude. However, they are given the steps to solve this question and when the equation is successfully completed, the helicopter lands safely. The site of the landing is on an "island" and from the longitude and latitude coordinates, it can be determined that the location is just off the east coast of Korea. Once on the ground, the screen then reveals a landscape that contains hills and mounds. The task of the student is to find out something about the culture and society of the "island." One of the mounds turns out to be an ancient burial site. In order to open up the mound, it is necessary to learn something about archeological research and methods of excavation. Using a virtual "shovel," the mound can be explored. If the digging is done in an inappropriate manner, it will be impossible to find the central chamber. Under the earthen mound are rocks that block the passage and protect the coffin. When the correct measures are used, the tomb can be entered and the screen displays the "treasures" that were buried. This leads the student to the next assignment which involves the identification of the objects and the dating of them. In order to accomplish this challenging feat, it is necessary to look at the online database which contains a "timeline" for Korean history. A number of choices are presented for searching strategies--dates, type of objects (crowns, pottery, jewelry, etc.). By doing searches that retrieve all examples of "crowns" for the centuries "fourth-sixth", for example, a number of images of real artifacts appear in small pictures across the screen. With the online Virtual Island database software, each image can be selected to appear next to the object found in the virtual "tomb." The images have text that indicates the time, place, and purpose of the artifact. Through visual identification of similar objects in the database, the found object from the "tomb" can be identified by this comparison. After identification with a dated artifact, the "crown" can be given an approximate date. In the tasks described above, the student learns several things:
(1) How to calculate latitude and longitude and to learn something of the importance of knowing the exact coordinates on the surface of the earth.
(2) The discovery of an ancient human construction requires skill to retrieve and study the site. Students have to have a sense of archeological techniques that permit the exploration of a discovery without losing valuable information.
(3) Having extracted manufactured objects from the "tomb" the database leads the user on to information that will allow comparisons. By finding similar types of crowns or pots, students can create new data based on these matches with dated and identified objects from other sites. Through these activities, students move from a spatial discovery to a cultural one, learning that time and place must be established as we study the elements of material objects from the past. After learning about the objects from the "tomb," the class members will be able to construct their own interpretation about the patterns of life that are represented in the discovered artifacts. History, religion, cultural, geography, archeology, and art history are all combined in this part of the Virtual Island Project. The power of the internet and electronic databases, allows students to call up quickly the needed information and visual aids.

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