Methodology for assessment of cognitive skills in virtual environments

The client briefing of the proposed building design is usually in the form of drawingsand artistic impressions being presented to the client. However, very few clients areable to read a technical drawing and the artist impressions are limited and do not aidthe client to visualise all aspects of the proposed building. During the client briefingprocess the client needs to have the experiential quality described, to be able to fullyunderstand the design of the proposed building. Generally, humans perceive anddirectly experience architectural space by building qualities like texture, form, colour,light, scale, movement. A full-scale model of the proposed building would fullyafford the experimental qualities. In reality it would be impractical and not costeffective. However, VR technology allows the creation of an inclusion of space inuser's mind, through a minimum of means, but achieves a maximum impact, andaffords all the experiential qualities offered by a physical model.A virtual model with a high degree of detail which can be explored by the designerand his clients will therefore be of significant help. However, to give clients the bestpossible impression of the proposed design it is important to understand howdimensions of those designed spaces are perceived. Therefore, a study was carried outfocusing on fundamental investigations into the perception of basic architecturaldimensions in order to assess the potential usefulness of VR technology inarchitecture and the client briefing process. In two experiments, subjects were required to estimate egocentric and exocentricdimensions in Virtual Environments and Real World Setting (RWS). The influence ofstimuli orientation was also investigated. In estimating all dimensions a magnitudeestimation procedure was employed using a modified free-modulus technique. Allparticipants were pre-tested. Psychometric and visual tests were used for choosing anexperimental group with a fair degree of homogenity. Two independent subject groupswere used. In addition to dimension estimations recall of simple layout and feeling ofspace were investigated when evaluating the virtual interface.The general null hypothesis assumed that people perceive space in VE as well as inthe real world. It has been shown that the results are statistically significant andtherefore one was able to reject the general hypothesis. Overall participantsunderestimated the dimensions in both experiments by approximately 20%. Resultsand limitations of the study are discussed. The results of the experiments wouldindicate that VR technology can be used for simulations of architectural spacesbecause despite underestimations of dimensions it still performed relatively well ifone compares it with results of experiments in the Real World Settings

Peer coaching: To what extent can it support the development of professional attributes required to be a teacher?

Students on a science PGCE course were introduced to peer coaching. This article describes the structures developed to enhance student teachers’ professional attributes and then reports the results. The students were given questionnaires to ascertain to what extent they felt they had developed their professional attributes as a result of being involved in peer coaching. The questionnaire design provided both qualitative and quantitative data. The evidence indicates that the peer coaching procedures had a positive impact on student teachers’ professional development. Data was analysed and has been used to draw conclusions to inform peer coaching in an education setting