This paper considers the relationship between new technologies and educational objectives, in particular the way in which Virtual Environments (VEs) might prove to be an educational resource for education both in the museum and the classroom. Two related issues are focused on. The first is thenotion of educational 'practice' and how it relates to educational 'goals', and the second is the value of particular methods for understanding and capturing such practice. This is illustrated by studies carried out in classroom and museum settings. The paper concludes that user participation and observation are closely interwoven and need to be seen as such when designing educational resources.
