Remixing real and imaginary in art education with fully immersive virtual reality

This article explores digital material/ism by examining student teachers’ experiences, processes and products with fully immersive virtual reality (VR) as part of visual art education. The students created and painted a virtual world, given the name Gretan puutarha (‘Greta’s Garden’), using the Google application Tilt Brush. They also applied photogrammetry techniques to scan 3D objects from the real world in order to create 3D models for their VR world. Additionally, they imported 2D photographs and drawings along with applied animated effects to construct their VR world digitally, thereby remixing elements from real life and fantasy. The students were asked open-ended questions to find out how they created art virtually and the results were analysed using Burdea’s VR concepts of immersion, interaction and imagination. Digital material was created intersubjectively and intermedially while it was also remixed with real and imaginary. Various webs of meanings were created, both intertextual and rhizomatic in nature.This article explores digital material/ism by examining student teachers’ experiences, processes and products with fully immersive virtual reality (VR) as part of visual art education. The students created and painted a virtual world, given the name Gretan puutarha (‘Greta’s Garden’), using the Google application Tilt Brush. They also applied photogrammetry techniques to scan 3D objects from the real world in order to create 3D models for their VR world. Additionally, they imported 2D photographs and drawings along with applied animated effects to construct their VR world digitally, thereby remixing elements from real life and fantasy. The students were asked open-ended questions to find out how they created art virtually and the results were analysed using Burdea’s VR concepts of immersion, interaction and imagination. Digital material was created intersubjectively and intermedially while it was also remixed with real and imaginary. Various webs of meanings were created, both intertextual and rhizomatic in nature.Peer reviewe

Non-visual Virtual Reality: Considerations for the Pedagogical Design of Embodied Mathematical Experiences for Visually Impaired Children

Digital developments that foreground the sensory body and movement interaction offer new ways of engaging with mathematical ideas. Theories of embodied cognition argue for the important role of sensorimotor interaction in underpinning cognition. For visually impaired children this is particularly promising, since it provides opportunities for grounding mathematical ideas in bodily experience. The use of iVR technologies for visually impaired children is not immediately evident, given the central role of vision in immersive virtual worlds. This paper presents an iterative, design-based case study with visually impaired children to inform the pedagogical design of embodied learning experiences in iVR. Drawing from embodied pedagogy, it explores the process of implementing a classroom-based non-visual VR experience, designed to give visually impaired children an embodied experience of position in terms of Cartesian co-ordinates as they move around a virtual space. Video recordings of interaction combined with feedback from teachers and children contribute to knowledge of iVR learning applications in formal settings by discerning three types of pedagogical practices: creation of a performance space introduction of performative actions and action connected diverse perspectives

Smart glasses for 3D multimodal composition

Extended reality technologies – mixed, augmented, and virtual reality, and future-related technologies – are rapidly expanding in many fields, with underexplored potentials for multimodal composition in digital media environments. This research generates new knowledge about the novel wearable technology – smart glasses – to support elementary students’ multimodal story authoring with 3D virtual objects or holograms. The researchers and teachers implemented learning experiences with upper elementary students from three classrooms to compose and illustrate written narratives before retelling the story with Microsoft HoloLens 2 smart glasses, selecting 3D holograms to illustrate the settings, characters, and events from the 3D Viewer software. The findings analyse how smart glasses supported students’ multimodal composition, and relatedly, the new modal resources available to students wearing smart glasses to compose 3D stories. The findings have significance for educators and researchers to understand and utilise the multimodal affordances of augmented and mixed reality environments for composing and storytelling

Toward future 'mixed reality' learning spaces for STEAM education

Digital technology is becoming more integrated and part of modern society. As this begins to happen, technologies including augmented reality, virtual reality, 3d printing and user supplied mobile devices (collectively referred to as mixed reality) are often being touted as likely to become more a part of the classroom and learning environment. In the discipline areas of STEAM education, experts are expected to be at the forefront of technology and how it might fit into their classroom. This is especially important because increasingly, educators are finding themselves surrounded by new learners that expect to be engaged with participatory, interactive, sensory-rich, experimental activities with greater opportunities for student input and creativity. This paper will explore learner and academic perspectives on mixed reality case studies in 3d spatial design (multimedia and architecture), paramedic science and information technology, through the use of existing data as well as additional one-on-one interviews around the use of mixed reality in the classroom. Results show that mixed reality can provide engagement, critical thinking and problem solving benefits for students in line with this new generation of learners, but also demonstrates that more work needs to be done to refine mixed reality solutions for the classroom

Literacy for digital futures : Mind, body, text

The unprecedented rate of global, technological, and societal change calls for a radical, new understanding of literacy. This book offers a nuanced framework for making sense of literacy by addressing knowledge as contextualised, embodied, multimodal, and digitally mediated. In today’s world of technological breakthroughs, social shifts, and rapid changes to the educational landscape, literacy can no longer be understood through established curriculum and static text structures. To prepare teachers, scholars, and researchers for the digital future, the book is organised around three themes – Mind and Materiality; Body and Senses; and Texts and Digital Semiotics – to shape readers’ understanding of literacy. Opening up new interdisciplinary themes, Mills, Unsworth, and Scholes confront emerging issues for next-generation digital literacy practices. The volume helps new and established researchers rethink dynamic changes in the materiality of texts and their implications for the mind and body, and features recommendations for educational and professional practice

Physical to Virtual: A Model for Future Virtual Classroom Environments

Virtual reality is a technology that has seen unprecedented growth since the turn of the century with increasing applications within business, entertainment, and educational applications. As virtual reality technologies continue to develops and markets expand, the world may see an increased demand for virtual classrooms: virtual environments (VEs) that students may access through immersive virtual reality technologies to receive guided instruction, conduct simulations, or perform tasks typical in a classroom setting. While many studies document how virtual reality is beneficial to educational processes, there is little discussion on how virtual environments should be architecturally designed. Thus one may hypothesize that physical design strategies translated to virtual environments may have similar results. This thesis investigates virtual environments for education by creating several virtual classrooms embedded within a selective digital twin of the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus. The design of the virtual classrooms was influenced by current architectural trends in classroom design while capturing unique abilities present within a virtual context. A physical teaching module was also designed to create a platform for educators within the university to deliver instruction within the virtual campus

Exploring Multi-Sensory Curriculum Development: Grades 3-5 Science In A Virtual Environment

The capstone thesis uses a qualitative research approach to explore the question: What are virtual tools and multi-sensory strategies that can be integrated into curriculum development to support the engagement of learners in science in grades 3-5 in virtual learning environments? The author chose this topic to find and to apply multi-sensory strategies, including technology-rich approaches, in virtual education, and developed a new curriculum unit using current sensory-rich technologies. The goal is to enhance and enrich curriculum, and thereby to increase student engagement in the sciences. Applying these tools in virtual education and using multi-sensory approaches can lead to new possibilities. The possibilities of using virtual and augmented reality tools is examined in relationship to the content area. Topics explored in the review of the literature include Gardner, Dewey, Montessori, Piaget, and virtual education using virtual reality, augmented reality, and programs and applications for virtual and face-to-face classrooms. The limitations and dangers of these tools, as well as their benefits, are discussed. Understanding by Design (UbD) and a constructivist teaching approach, and an integrated approach using these technologies, are used to develop a unit of science curriculum in Ocean Science, refreshed from a successful traditional unit. The author finds the multiple intelligences and the sensory approaches from Gardner and the multi-sensory, constructivist approaches most pivotal. Montessori seems to be the most knowledgeable about the importance of multi-sensory education itself. Integrating technological applications, including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) applications, and examining ongoing research, proves productive. The field of technology in education is an ever-changing and ever-expanding field. The author suggests it may be effective within a school system, district and classroom to develop a technology and curriculum review team to face the many decisions, challenges, and changes technology in the classroom brings. The author concludes that to broaden multi-sensory approaches, used in any form, in any educational environment, will benefit every student. For the developed curriculum, the limitations, implications, and recommendations for future research are discussed

Virtual Reality in Mathematics Education (VRiME):An exploration of the integration and design of virtual reality for mathematics education

This thesis explores the use of Virtual Reality (VR) in mathematics education. Four VR prototypes were designed and developed during the PhD project to teach equations, geometry, and vectors and facilitate collaboration.Paper A investigates asymmetric VR for classroom integration and collaborative learning and presents a new taxonomy of asymmetric interfaces. Paper B proposes how VR could assist students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in learning daily living skills involving basic mathematical concepts. Paper C investigates how VR could enhance social inclusion and mathematics learning for neurodiverse students. Paper D presents a VR prototype for teaching algebra and equation-solving strategies, noting positive student responses and the potential for knowledge transfer. Paper E investigates gesture-based interaction with dynamic geometry in VR for geometry education and presents a new taxonomy of learning environments. Finally, paper F explores the use of VR to visualise and contextualise mathematical concepts to teach software engineering students.The thesis concludes that VR offers promising avenues for transforming mathematics education. It aims to broaden our understanding of VR's educational potential, paving the way for more immersive learning experiences in mathematics education

Pre-service Elementary Teachers\u27 Use of Spatial Diagrams: Investigations of Unbounded Shearing on Solid Figures

Mithala and Balacheff (2019) describe three difficulties with two-dimensional representations of three-dimensional geometrical objects: “it is no longer possible to confuse the representation with the object itself,” visually observed relationships can be misleading, and analysis of the representation requires the use of lower-dimensional theoretical properties. Despite these difficulties, students are routinely expected to learn about three-dimensional figures through interacting with two-dimensional inscriptions. Three-dimensional alternatives include diagrams realized through various spatial inscriptions (e.g., Dimmel & Bock, 2019; Gecu-Parmaksiz & Delialioglu, 2019; Lai, McMahan, Kitagawa & Connolly, 2016; Ng and Sinclair, 2018). Such diagrams are three-dimensional in the sense that they occupy real (e.g., 3D pen drawings) or rendered (e.g., Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality environments) spaces as opposed to being inscribed or displayed on surfaces. Digital spatial diagrams can be grasped and transformed by gestures (e.g., stretching, pinching, spinning), even though they can’t be physically touched (Dimmel & Bock, 2019). Spatial diagrams make it possible to use natural movements of one’s head or body to explore figures from new perspectives (e.g., one can step inside a diagram), as they natively share the three-dimensional space. In this study I ask: How do learners use perspective to make arguments while exploring spatial diagrams? In particular, how do participants use perspectives outside and within geometric figures to make arguments while exploring spatial diagrams? To investigate this question, I designed a large-scale spatial diagram of a pyramid whose apex and base were confined to parallel planes. The diagram was rendered in an apparently unbounded spatial canvas that was accessible via a head-mounted display. The pyramid was roughly 1 meter in height and the parallel planes appeared to extend indefinitely when viewed from within the immersive environment. I created this diagram as a mathematical context for exploring shearing, a “continuous and temporal” measure-preserving transformation of plane and solid figures (Ng & Sinclair, 2015, p.85). I report on pairs of pre-service elementary teachers’ arguments about shearing of pyramids, using Pedemonte and Balacheff’s (2016) ck¢-enriched Toulmin model of argument. Shearing is a mathematical context that is likely novel to pre-service elementary teachers and provides an opportunity to connect transformations of plane and solid figures. Participants used perspectives outside and within the diagram to make arguments about the shearing of pyramids that would not be practicable with rigid three-dimensional models or dynamic two-dimensional representations. The results of this study suggest that the dimensionality of the spatial diagrams supported participants’ arguments about three-dimensional figures without mediation through projection or lower-dimensional components. The findings of this study offer a case that challenges the constraints of two-dimensional representations of three-dimensional figures, while maintaining theoretical constraints in a spatiographically accurate representation