Science in Virtual Reality: Examples from the EUROVERSITY Network

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1 Science in Virtual Reality: Examples from the EUROVERSITY Network Luisa Panichi, Miriam Reiner, Cristina Stefanelli, Michela Tramonti University of Hull (UK); Technion Insitute of Technolgy (Israel); FOR.COM Interuniversity Consortium; Università degli Studi Guglielmo Marconi (Italy) The EUROVERSITY network is co-funded under Key Activity (ICT) of the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) of the EACEA and pools together resources on education in virtual worlds and virtual reality from different subjects and across all LLP sectorial programmes. The network puts into place transfer strategies so that knowledge is made available to other educators. This paper presents examples of how virtual reality and virtual worlds are used in science education. The first example is the embodied physics project carried out at Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, within the EU 6th Framework PRESENCCIA project. Researchers explored the role of multisensory virtual reality (VR) in coping with learner misconceptions in physics. A highly immersive, multisensory learning environment for catching a ball was created. While interacting with the environment, participants were connected to an EEG 64 channel Biossemi system. Results show that in action the brain identifies the correct physics, even if verbal expressions are incorrect. The second example the TALETE (Teaching maths through innovative LEarning approach and contents) project, a multilateral project under the LLP targeting primary and secondary school learners. Results from international surveys of school students performance in mathematics show that students in many European countries do not perform satisfactorily. TALETE addresses mathematics instruction in some of the underperforming EU countries. The project looks at the use of virtual reality for the teaching of geometry. The third set of examples come from the AVATAR (Added Value of Teaching in a Virtual World) project, a European co-funded project under the LLP Comenius. AVATAR introduced secondary school teachers to virtual worlds for education through a moderated online course, the culmination of which was project work involving pupils in activities in a virtual world. The project also collected case studies completed by teachers for virtual world activities with students in Mathematics, Chemistry, Ecology, Science and Astrophysics. 1. Introduction Virtual worlds such as Second Life [1], Active worlds [2] and Opensim [3], to name but a few, are increasingly attracting users from educational and professional contexts. Recent surveys of virtual worlds include an analysis of different features which educators and decision makers in the field of education may want to consider when selecting one world over an other [4] [5]. Some of the features of 3D environments which are of particular interest for education include activity sharing among users such as building together, travelling together, joint performances and sharing of online educational events in a highly immersive environment. Here students can communicate via text chat, voice chat and aesthetically through their avatars and user-generated content. 3D environments are particularly appreciated by the educational community for the heightened sense of presence and immersiveness compared to 2D environments [6]. In this sense, virtual worlds constitute a valuable platform for distance education and a complement to existing 2D online educational platforms, in particular where

2 learners are required to co-build or co-act with other students. In addition to this, virtual worlds are also used as an extension of face-to-face classroom activities. In science, for example, 3D environments are used for the simulation of laboratory experiments which are either too dangerous or too expensive to be carried out face-to-face [7]. In the digital humanities these environments are used for the representation and co-reconstruction of historical buildings and artefacts by students and historians [8]. In the teaching of literature and cultural studies, they are used as a medium for cultural re-enactments and representations [9] including performance [10]. In geometry, they are used to help learners grasp basic understandings of spatial relations [11] and, in physics, to help learners understand basic concepts through visualisation activities and movement [12]. To sum up, virtual worlds in general are distance learning platforms that allow for telecollaboration, synchronous and multimodal communication. The 3D rendering of the environment allows for joint building, design and simulations, thus making them highly immersive contexts with significant potential for learner engagement, participation, cognitive development, sharing of experience and last but not least, transformation of knowledge. 2. The Euroversity Network The EUROVERSITY Network was put together as an exploitation activity which stemmed from the AVALON project and runs from 1 st December 2011 [13] [14]. There was a general awareness among the AVALON project partner consortium in 2010 that parallel developments and understandings about the use of virtual worlds were being developed across Europe in different subject areas in education and that there was a need to start pooling expertise and materials. The network is a 3 year multilateral and transversal network co-funded under Key Activity 3 (ICT) of the LLP of the EACEA. The partnership includes 18 partners from 10 EU countries and 1 partner from a Third Country (Israel). The specific aims of the network are to: collect examples of good practice in teaching and learning in virtual worlds from different subjects and national and local contexts (including, for example, the projects listed in the section above); facilitate the transfer of core knowledge to new contexts; provide a framework for the creation of a pan-european virtual-world university. In reaching the aims of the network, EUROVERSITY expects to: increase the number of experts in virtual world education; create a policy of long-term sustainability of the network and its outcomes; design a model of the transfer of knowledge to new contexts; engage new partners in the delivery of the network outcomes and in the endorsement of a shared vision. The Euroversity vision is to: become a European and international point of reference for virtual world education; create strategic formal alliances with major educational bodies for the delivery of education in virtual world platforms; make virtual worlds a more commonly used platform in both distance and face-to-face education;

3 provide official validation via certification of teaching and learning that takes place in virtual worlds so that education in virtual worlds may receive recognition in terms of Higher Education credits. 2.1 Physics learning in virtual reality A wide range of papers published over more than three decades establish that students naïve concepts, constructed even before the first learning session in physics, hold major misconceptions which become an obstacle in physics learning [15]. The source of these misconceptions is linked to sensory interaction with the physical environment. Bodily interaction with the environment results in creating sensory memories, including visual, auditory or haptic (touch), which are sometimes incorrect and interfere with formal physics learning. If so, we ask whether embodied experience in the virtual environment may generate new sensory memories, and have a corrective effect. Virtual Reality learning environments allow full control of the experienced sensory cues and a heightened sense of presence [16]. At the Technion TouchLab [17], we designed an immersive, multisensory learning environment (participants can see, hear and touch an object), in which subjects had to catch a ball that moved either according to correct physics, or according to misconcepts which were expressed by the participants prior to the experiment. While interacting with the environment, participants were connected to an EEG 64 channel Biossemi system. Results show that (a) all students predicted the path correctly and were able to catch the ball. Note that even those students who expressed a misconception verbally prior to the test, predicted correctly the path of the ball, and hence were able to catch it. (b) EEG results indicate two signals (negative after 400 sec, and positive after 600sec), when participants interacted with the incorrect virtual world, and which are known to be correlated with viewing a non natural phenomena. These results suggest a gap between implicit knowledge and explicit. When acting the brain identifies incorrect physics, even if verbal expressions are incorrect. We further suggest that the roots of these superficial verbal misconcepts is in the social interaction. 2.2 Mathematics and Geometry in virtual worlds for primary and secondary school: The TALETE project. The globalised labour world requires knowledge based on solid basic skills such as mathematics literacy. In the development of literacy skills, the teaching strategies and practices become primary for educational growth during all the school years. An alarming picture of the current situation is provided by PISA and TIMSS international surveys. PISA aims at assessing the performances of 15 years-old students in reading, math and science every three years. TIMSS aims at assessing mathematics and science knowledge of fourth-grade and eighth-grade students. These surveys allow participating nations to compare student educational performances. Each Ministry of Education shares and agrees on the educational objectives and results that are at the basis of these surveys. All the Ministries of Education and stakeholders pay attention to the development of the mathematics skills and their assessment through the national exams at the end of the compulsory education cycle. In this context, the project TALETE - Teaching maths through innovative LEarning approach and contents - aims at improving the quality and efficiency of education and training as follows: identifying and developing teaching and learning methods in the field of mathematics with a focus on geometry; improving the quality of learning in order to support the development of students basic and transversal competences;

4 improving the attractiveness and efficiency of ISCED levels 2 and 3 through 3D virtual worlds; supporting high quality teaching and teacher training; supporting schools to establish partnerships and improving teachers and pupils skills in the interest of European integration. The project is addressed to students and teachers as follows: the aim for students is to improve mathematical literacy skills in an attempt to contrast the lack of interest among students for science; the aim for teachers is to provide innovative contents strictly connected with national school curricula in mathematics, and to improve the quality of teaching by making it more flexible and fun thus reducing the number of low-performing students. The topics to be used for the development of the TALETE pedagogical tools will be defined on the basis of PISA, TIMSS and national surveys. Each assessment schedule used in these surveys refers to a specific educational objective already taught to the students during the school year. On the basis of these surveys, schedules which best represent the concept of mathematization will be identified. On the basis of the selected schedules, the TALETE training path will be defined and developed. The teachers trained will be involved in the experimentation phase with their students and will develop the learning objects in order to support, in a more attractive way, the educational objectives of exercises and routine problems found in textbooks, and to accustom students to utilize acquired knowledge during the less structured lesson. These pedagogical tools will allow target groups to approach maths learning in a creative and concrete way [18]. 2.3 Science in virtual worlds in secondary school education: the AVATAR project. AVATAR (Added Value of teaching in a virtual world) is a two year European Multilateral project under the Lifelong learning programme , Sub programme Comenius [19]. AVATAR multiactors include seven organizations from six EU countries: (Coordinator) Consorzio FOR.COM (Italy), FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences (Austria), Burgas Free University (Bulgaria), University of Southern Denmark (Denmark), Universidad Nacional de Educaciòn a Distancia (Spain), University of Hertfordshire Higher Education Corporation (UK) and SOPHia In Action Consulting (Italy). The project is inspired by the lack of ICT use in schools throughout Europe despite the possible educational benefits and social learning opportunities they promote. The primary aim is to enhance the quality of teaching and education in secondary schools through an innovative virtual world learning environment. The unique qualities of Virtual learning impart opportunities for collaborative learning and co-creation that can help teachers and students modernize education. The main project phases are: Research on virtual worlds used in education and analysis of v-learning best practices through desk and field research at EU and national levels; Technological design and production of the e-learning and v-learning platform and contents of the AVATAR training course aimed at teaching secondary school teachers to use virtual worlds in education; Experimentation of the AVATAR training course delivered in English to approximately 120 secondary school teachers from 6 EU countries during the period January 17th - May 17th During the course, teachers were also supported to develop a project activity - a virtual world course or lesson - and to try it out with their students.

5 [1] [2] [3] References [4] Comparative study of 3D environments, Avalon Learning Project [5] Analysis report on the most effective virtual world for teachers (Last accessed on December 11, 2011) /avatar/images/files/Deliverable 10_FINAL_ Most Effective V-Platform for Teachers.pdf [6] de Freitas, S., Rebolledo-Mendez, G., Liarokapis, F., Magoulas, G., Poulovassilis, A. (2010). Learning as immersive experiences: Using the four-dimensional framework for designing and evaluating immersive learning experiences in a virtual world. British Journal of Educational Technology, Vol 41(1), pp [7] Swift project. Last accessed on 11/12/2011 at [8] Bani, M., Genovesi, F., Ciregia, E., Piscioneri, F., Rapisarda, B., Salvatori, E. and Simi, M. (2009). Learning by creating historical buildings. In J. Molka-Danielsen and M. Deutschmann (eds) Learning and Teaching in the Virtual World of Second Life, Tapir Academic Press, Norway, pp [9] Carter, B. (2009) Enhancing virtual environments. In J. Molka-Danielsen and M. Deutschmann (eds) Learning and Teaching in the Virtual World of Second Life, Tapir Academic Press, Norway, pp [10] Sant, T. (2009) Performance in Second Life: some possibilities for learning and teaching. In J. Molka-Danielsen and M. Deutschmann (eds) Learning and Teaching in the Virtual World of Second Life, Tapir Academic Press, Norway, pp [11] TALETE project. Last accessed on 1 January 2012 at [12] Gilbert, J.K., Reiner, M. and Nakhleh, M. (Eds) (2008) Visualisation: Theory and Practice in Science Education. Dordrecht: Springer. [13] [14] [15] McCloskey, M. (1983) Intuitive Physics. Scientific American, 248(4), [16] PRECENCCIA project. Last accessed on 1 January 2012 at [17] [18] TALETE project. Last accessed on 1 January 2012 at [19] AVATAR project. Last accessed on 1 January 2012 at