Immersive Virtual Reality Field Trips Facilitate Learning About Climate Change - PubMed (original) (raw)
Immersive Virtual Reality Field Trips Facilitate Learning About Climate Change
David M Markowitz et al. Front Psychol. 2018.
Abstract
Across four studies, two controlled lab experiments and two field studies, we tested the efficacy of immersive Virtual Reality (VR) as an education medium for teaching the consequences of climate change, particularly ocean acidification. Over 270 participants from four different learning settings experienced an immersive underwater world designed to show the process and effects of rising sea water acidity. In all of our investigations, after experiencing immersive VR people demonstrated knowledge gains or inquisitiveness about climate science and in some cases, displayed more positive attitudes toward the environment after comparing pre- and post-test assessments. The analyses also revealed a potential post-hoc mechanism for the learning effects, as the more that people explored the spatial learning environment, the more they demonstrated a change in knowledge about ocean acidification. This work is unique by showing distinct learning gains or an interest in learning across a variety of participants (high school, college students, adults), measures (learning gain scores, tracking data about movement in the virtual world, qualitative responses from classroom teachers), and content (multiple versions varying in length and content about climate change were tested). Our findings explicate the opportunity to use immersive VR for environmental education and to drive information-seeking about important social issues such as climate change.
Keywords: climate change education; education; immersive virtual reality; learning; ocean acidification.
Figures
Figure 1
Procedure for Study 1. The measures recruited from each participant are represented under each stage of the study. OA, Ocean Acidification; NEP, New Ecological Paradigm.
Figure 2
This photo was taken during an actual VR learning session at a private high school. The school students pictured, and their parents, signed a release for their photos to be used in association with this study.
Figure 3
(A) The participant wears an Oculus Development Kit 2 (DK2) VR display. (B) The participant holds a mouse in-hand, using the left mouse button to interact with objects in the virtual environment. (C) The participant embodies a piece of coral on the virtual rocky reef. When the participant looks down at their virtual body, they see the purple coral stock. When the participant looks to the left and right, they see their purple coral arms. (D) The participant attempts to collect calcium bicarbonate ions. By clicking the left mouse button, the participant can extend their coral polyp arm out in front of them in order to collect the ions that float by in the water. Note, the external Rift infrared sensor was used, providing six degrees-of-freedom of tracking.
Figure 4
A participant experiencing the virtual environment. (A) The participant wears an Oculus Development Kit 2 (DK2) VR display, whose internal accelerometer and gyroscope track 3-degrees of orientation for the user's head. (B) The Oculus near infrared (IR) camera tracks IR sensors embedded in the DK2 headset to allow for translational tracking. The IR camera combined with the DK2's accelerometer allows for 6 degrees of freedom tracked on the user's head. (C) In the Scuba Diver condition, the user embodies a scuba diver to visit the virtual rocky reef. (D) In the Coral Condition, the user embodies a piece of coral that lives on the rocky reef.
Figure 5
(A) The researcher uses a wooden dowel to tap the participant gently in the abdomen. This haptic feedback corresponds with a simultaneous bumping action that occurs in the virtual environment. (B) A fish approaches the participant's virtual body and bumps it repeatedly. The fish's bumping action coincides with the researcher's gentle tapping action in the real world.
Figure 6
(A) The participant begins the experience by listening to an introductory narration and watching short tutorials that describe how he will interact with objects in the underwater environment. (B) The participant engages in a “species count.” He refers to the dive slate attached to his virtual left wrist to see which species are on the list, how many he has found already, and how much time is left. The participant is given 2 min to find species in the first healthy underwater zone. (C) The participant is transported to an unhealthy zone with higher levels of acidity. He is given another 2 min to conduct a species count in this area.
Figure 7
(A) In the Gestures condition, the participant is outfitted with Worldviz PPT-E infrared sensors attached to her wrists, to allow her to swim through the virtual ocean. The participant moves her arms in a breast-stroke-like motion to swim forward through the environment and turns her head to change direction. (B) In the Joystick condition, the participant uses a Wiimote controller to swim through the environment. She presses the arrow keys on the Wiimote controller to control the direction in which she swims and can turn her head to change directions.
Figure 8
(A) The participant is shown an example of the type of species she will be looking for before she begins her species count on the virtual reef, using her arms to swim. (B) The participant is shown an example of the type of species she will be looking for before she begins her species count on the virtual reef, using the Wiimote controller to move throughout the environment.
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