Jim Bower of Whyville.net: A virtual space where kids feel like they're in a small town

Renowned computational biologist and educational innovator Jim Bower describes Whyville as a virtual space in which every child feels like they're in a small town. Human beings are tribal, he says. They operate best in small groups, where there is a strong sense of shared values and a system that enforces those values through some sort of a cooperative measure.

In this video interview, Bower talks with Ideas Project, a new website brought to you by Nokia, about the Internet as an educational tool and how it has simply caught up with the ways people actually function. Ideas Project is an online space that provides a new way to interact with thought leaders and their big ideas about the future of connected communications. For more on this idea from Bower, visit http://www.ideasproject.com.

Founder, chairman and CEO of Numedeon, Inc., producer of Whyville.net, one of the most popular educational websites for children, James Bower is also a pioneering scientific researcher, whose work focuses on the cerebellum in mammals and ground-breaking neural-simulation techniques. His longstanding involvement in science education at all levels has led to the creation of several international bodies to further understanding of computational neuroscience. Dr. Bower has been involved in educational reform since high school. As a professor at CalTech, he founded and directed the Caltech Precollege Science Initiative (CAPSI). A member of numerous advisory groups, including the National Research Council of the National Academy of Science, the National Science Foundation and the Society for Neuroscience, he has published more than 100 scientific articles and has authored several books. Bower received a PhD in neurophysiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Ideas Project, a project of Nokia, brings together the most visionary and influential big thinkers to contemplate the big ideas that matter most to the future of communications. It is also a new kind of conversation platform aimed at uncovering the connections between these big thinkers and their disruptive ideas.

Explore the Ideas Project website at http://www.ideasproject.com, subscribe to its RSS feed, join its Twitter feed, and come back often to learn about great new big ideas as they break.

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[thebffcookie]

You guys should make an iPhone app for it I'd totally buy it

[MissClaireMay]

I LOVE WHYVILLE! <3

[planetlostfreak546]

I LOVE WHYVILLE.NET!!!!!!! THS SO MUCH FOR BULDING IT I ❤❤❤❤ WHYVILLE!!!!!!

[Rimsha09]

Thank you SO much Mr. Bower! Whyville is my favorite site and it is practically the only virtual site I go on and like! Thanks for providing the greatest site in the UNIVERSE!

[ChelseaBugx3]

Thank you so much for providing such an amazing site! <3

I love whyville to death!

[JoeJonas1238]

Whyville<3 its my favorite site to go on.all my friends have accts... my acct is Hailey886 :D ty for making such an awesome site {: