Maroon VR: A Room-Scale Physics Laboratory Experience

Understanding physical phenomena is still a challenging task. Three-dimensional interactive simulations are a valuable tool to support understanding. We implemented different physical simulations designed so that students can interact and learn with them. However, student engagement is crucial to su...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Pirker, J., Lesjak, I., Guetl, Christian
Format: Conference Paper
Published: 2017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/59483
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author Pirker, J.
Lesjak, I.
Guetl, Christian
author_facet Pirker, J.
Lesjak, I.
Guetl, Christian
author_sort Pirker, J.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Understanding physical phenomena is still a challenging task. Three-dimensional interactive simulations are a valuable tool to support understanding. We implemented different physical simulations designed so that students can interact and learn with them. However, student engagement is crucial to support the learning process. Virtual reality applications offer a promising way to engage and immerse students in three-dimensional environments and to keep them focused on the learning task. In this paper, we explore interactive virtual reality experiences implemented with HTC Vive as an alternative form of learning tool supporting engagement and to support the ability to concentrate better on the learning tasks. We ran a two-fold user study in which 19 students evaluated the experience looking at engagement, motivation, usability, and learning. First results indicate that such experiences are well suited as a supplement to traditional in-class learning and that they support realistic laboratory setups and simulations in an engaging, interesting, and immersive way and help students to focus more on the learning task compared to traditional applications.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-594832018-04-18T05:47:01Z Maroon VR: A Room-Scale Physics Laboratory Experience Pirker, J. Lesjak, I. Guetl, Christian Understanding physical phenomena is still a challenging task. Three-dimensional interactive simulations are a valuable tool to support understanding. We implemented different physical simulations designed so that students can interact and learn with them. However, student engagement is crucial to support the learning process. Virtual reality applications offer a promising way to engage and immerse students in three-dimensional environments and to keep them focused on the learning task. In this paper, we explore interactive virtual reality experiences implemented with HTC Vive as an alternative form of learning tool supporting engagement and to support the ability to concentrate better on the learning tasks. We ran a two-fold user study in which 19 students evaluated the experience looking at engagement, motivation, usability, and learning. First results indicate that such experiences are well suited as a supplement to traditional in-class learning and that they support realistic laboratory setups and simulations in an engaging, interesting, and immersive way and help students to focus more on the learning task compared to traditional applications. 2017 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/59483 10.1109/ICALT.2017.92 restricted
spellingShingle Pirker, J.
Lesjak, I.
Guetl, Christian
Maroon VR: A Room-Scale Physics Laboratory Experience
title Maroon VR: A Room-Scale Physics Laboratory Experience
title_full Maroon VR: A Room-Scale Physics Laboratory Experience
title_fullStr Maroon VR: A Room-Scale Physics Laboratory Experience
title_full_unstemmed Maroon VR: A Room-Scale Physics Laboratory Experience
title_short Maroon VR: A Room-Scale Physics Laboratory Experience
title_sort maroon vr: a room-scale physics laboratory experience
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/59483