| Project | Learning Science through Multisensory Immersion via Virtual Reality |
| Contact | Chris Dede George Mason University |
| cdede@gmu.edu | |
| URL | http://www.virtual.gmu.edu |
| Project description | Imagine launching and catching balls in an environment with neither gravity nor friction. Imagine creating and altering electrostatic fields, releasing charged particles to be propelled through those fields. Imagine manipulating atoms and observing the forces created when molecules bond. Then, as a giant step further, imagine being able to directly experience these phenomena by becoming a part of them ìinsideî a virtual world: being a ball as it bounces, riding on a test charge as it moves through an electrostatic field, becoming an atom as it bonds. These are the kinds of learning activities enabled in the virtual worlds of ScienceSpace. Our NSF-funded research suggests that such immersive, multisensory experiences enhance studentsí abilities to conceptualize and integrate complex, abstract scientific ideas. Many groups are developing sophisticated instructional designs with well-understood, conventional technologies, such as today¹s personal computing and telecommunications devices. In contrast, our work explores the strengths and limits for learning of a very powerful emerging technology, virtual reality (VR). However, Project ScienceSpace does not focus solely on developing educational worlds using an interface that enables multisensory immersion. In addition, our studies are exploring new ideas about the nature of learning based on the unique capabilities for research that virtual reality provides. ScienceSpace worlds enable extraordinary educational experiences that help learners challenge their intuitions and construct new understandings of science. Our evaluations are designed to examine various aspects of this learning experience, process, and outcomes. Sophisticated experimentation along these dimensions is critical to determining the educational potential of three-dimensional, sensorily immersive virtual environments, a medium that the entertainment industry will place 'under the Christmas tree' within the next decade. |