Exploring a Cognitive Basis for Learning Spatial Relationships with Augmented Reality

Augmented reality (AR) is an emergent class of interface that presents compelling possibilities for advancing spatial visualization. We offer a brief overview of AR technology and current research with in the educational realm. AR interfaces appear to provide a unique combination of visual display properties, modes of user manipulation, and interaction with spatial information. Drawing upon aspects of proprioception and sensorimotor function, we discuss how AR may have a unique and powerful link to spatial knowledge acquisition through visuo-motor involvement in the processing of information. We identify key properties of AR interfaces and how they differ from conventional visualization interfaces, followed by a discussion of theoretical perspectives that make a case for learning spatial relationships using first person manipulative AR.Recent research provides evidence that this form of AR holds cognitive advantages for learning when compared with traditional desktop 2D interfaces. We review the visual-physical connections to learning using first person manipulative AR within educational contexts. We then provide some suggestions for building future research in this area and explore its significance in the realm of spatial knowledge acquisition

Grand Canyon as a Universally Accessible Virtual Field Trip for Intro Geoscience Classes Using Geo-Referenced Mobile Game Technology

There is a well-documented and nationally reported trend of declining interest, poor preparedness, and lack of diversity within U.S. students pursuing geoscience and other STEM disciplines. We suggest that a primary contributing factor to this problem is that introductory geoscience courses simply fail to inspire (i.e. they are boring). Our experience leads us to believe that the hands-on, contextualized learning of field excursions are often the most impactful component of lower division geoscience classes. However, field trips are becoming increasingly more difficult to run due to logistics and liability, high-enrollments, decreasing financial and administrative support, and exclusivity of the physically disabled. Recent research suggests that virtual field trips can be used to simulate this contextualized physical learning through the use of mobile devices – technology that exists in most students’ hands already. Our overarching goal is to enhance interest in introductory geoscience courses by providing the kinetic and physical learning experience of field trips through geo-referenced educational mobile games and test the hypothesis that these experiences can be effectively simulated through virtual field trips. We are doing this by developing “serious”ù games for mobile devices that deliver introductory geology material in a fun and interactive manner. Our new teaching strategy will enhance undergraduate student learning in the geosciences, be accessible to students of diverse backgrounds and physical abilities, and be easily incorporated into higher education programs and curricula at institutions globally. Our prototype involves students virtually navigating downstream along a scaled down Colorado River through Grand Canyon – physically moving around their campus quad, football field or other real location, using their smart phone or a tablet. As students reach the next designated location, a photo or video in Grand Canyon appears along with a geological question. The students must answer each question correctly in order to proceed to the next location and accrue points in the game and multiple attempts reduce the number of points earned when the correct answer is found. The questions are either multiple choice or involve touch-screen interaction to identify a specific geologic feature. Initial testing of the prototype game in Historical and Physical geology courses at Utah State University indicate that students enjoy the mobile “exploration”ù nature of the game as well as experiencing photographs of geologic features rather than traditional cartoons. Qualitative evaluation using anonymous surveys was conducted to help determine the usability of the game and the potential effectiveness of this technology-based approach. Students were asked about the degree of fun and difficulty of the game, content learned, and their overall response to features they liked/disliked about it. The results of these early assessments are positive, both in regard to the improvement of students’ understanding of key geology concepts and their enjoyment of learning with the technology in a mobile orienteering manner. This is a positive first step in an innovative teaching tool with the power to overcome the pervasive problem of the boring first year STEM course and make world-class field trips accessible to all

Designing Educational Games for Activity-Goal Alignment

What indeed, can we expect from our newest trend in education, implementing moving pictures and conversations with instruction through simulation games? Lewis Carroll\u27s familiar narratives Alice\u27s Adventures in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass provide helpful imagery for many of the queries, explorations and assumptions we currently make about this latest Wonderland of academia. So what are the goals for the designers and researchers of educational games, or perhaps more importantly, what should be the goals

Assessment of Student Learning Using Augmented Reality Grand Canyon Field Trips for Mobile Smart Devices

In searching for ways to improve undergraduate success in introductory geoscience courses, the importance of experiential learning in engaging students has become clear—and in geoscience, that is encapsulated best by field trips. However, as general education class sizes increase, so do the cost, liability, and difficulty of running a field trip. A solution for economically and conveniently bringing kinesthetic field experiences to a broader audience lies in the integration of technology through mobile-device games, apps, and augmented reality (AR) field trips. We report here an examination of learning gains at five colleges after intervention with augmented reality field trips to Grand Canyon. The AR field trips cover three topics taught in introductory geoscience courses: geologic time, geologic structures, and hydrologic processes. Results involving nearly 1000 students show that overall gains are similar to control groups, with completion of the AR field trips being a predictor of student learning success in some cases. Prior interest in the geosciences, students’ base-level understanding of the material, and whether or not the student is a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) major are strong predictors of improvement in geoscience learning. Gender and ethnicity had no statistical impact on the results, suggesting the AR field trip modules have broad reach across student demographics. Because these modules have been shown elsewhere to increase student interest in learning the geosciences, we advocate their adoption, leading to increases in student learning

Bullying: Teachers’ and Education Professionals’ Knowledge and Needs

The purpose of this study is to analyze teachers\u27 and other education professionals\u27 needs and knowledge when dealing with bullying situations. Data collection was carried out in two different sessions of the Bullying 101 One-Day Institute at Boise State University, and the participants were educational professionals from several elementary and middle schools. Qualitative analysis of session artifacts revealed that participants had a basic understanding of bullying. Some participants were interested in being change agents when it comes to addressing bullying problems. However, they currently lack self-confidence and appropriate resources to overcome their fears and lack of self-efficacy when intervening

The Design and Use of Simulation Computer Games in Education

This book, edited by Brett Shelton and David Wiley, is a view of models and simulations for education and research. Table of Contents 1. In Praise of Epistemology - David Shaffer 2. Six Ideas in Search of a Discipline - Richard Van Eck 3. Building Bridges Between Serious Game Design and Instructional Design - Jamie Kirkley, Sonny Kirkley and Jerry Heneghan 4. Layered Design in an Instructional Simulation - Andrew S. Gibbons and Stefan Sommer 5. Designing Educational Games for Activity-Goal Alignment - Brett E. Shelton 6. The Peripatos Could Not have Looked Like That, and Other Educational Outcomes From Student Game Design - Ryan M. Moeller, Jason L. Cootey, & Ken S. Mcallister 7. The Quest Atlantis Project: A Socially-Responsive Play Space for Learning - Sasha Barab, Tyler Dodge, Hakan Tuzun, Kirk Job-Sluder, Craig Jackson, Ana Arici, Laura Job-Sluder, Robert, Carteaux Jr., Jo Gilbertson and Conan Heiselt 8. Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming as a Constellation of Literacy Practices - Constance Steinkuehler 9. Robust Design Strategies for Scaling Educational Innovations - Brian C. Nelson, Diane Jass Ketelhut, Jody Clarke, Ed Dieterle, Chris Dede and Ben Erlandson 10. Building the Wrong Model: Opportunities for Game Design - Kenneth E. Hay 11. Wherever You Go, There You Are: Place-Based Augmented Reality Games for Learning - Kurt D. Squire, Mingfong Jan, James Matthews, Mark Wagler, John Martin, Ben Devane, Chris Holde

Using Peacemaking Circles to Indigenize Tribal Child Welfare

Historical child welfare policies explicitly aimed to exterminate Indigenous culture and disrupt tribal cohesion. The remnants of these policies form the foundation for the contemporary child welfare system. These policies view the child as an isolated and interchangeable asset, over which parents enjoy property-like rights, and in which the child welfare system is incentivized to “save” children from perceived economic, cultural, and geographic ills through an adversarial process. Extended family, community members, and cultural connections have minimal voice or value. These underpinnings inform federal policies that influence all child welfare systems, including tribal child welfare systems. The result is that tribal child welfare systems perpetuate the individual, rights-centric, adversarial child welfare system that harms Indigenous families. Indigenous children have the right to maintain connections to their Indigenous family, tribal nation, culture, and cultural education. These rights translate into obligations the community owes to the child to ensure that these connections are robust. Tradition-based systems of dispute resolution—frequently called “peacemaking,” among other names, but which we will call “circle processes”—offer a hopeful alternative. Circle processes are rooted in an Indigenous worldview that perceives an issue, particularly a child welfare issue, as evidence of community imbalance that directly impacts the community, and conversely, imparts an obligation on the community to respond. Through the circle, family and community can complete their natural reciprocal relationship. Tribal child welfare has the potential to be a transformative system that promotes community, family, and children’s health and the self-determination and sovereignty of tribes. This Article outlines the ways in which the modern tribal child welfare system has been structured to compartmentalize families and perpetuate historical federal policies of Indian family separation. This Article then suggests that circle processes are a framework for re-Indigenizing the tribal child welfare system to not just improve outcomes (for which it has the potential to do), but to also honor the interconnected, responsibility oriented worldview of Indigenous communities. Ultimately, however, tribes should lead that re-Indigenization process, whether through a circle process framework or otherwise

Technology for Care Networks of Elders

Computer-supported coordinated care uses technology to aid the network of people who support an elder living at home. The authors conducted interviews with people involved in the care of elders to identify their needs and subsequently conducted an in situ evaluation of a technology probe to study how a CSCC system might help satisfy these needs. The authors used these results to identify challenges faced by people caring for elders and offer guidelines for designers of coordinated care technologies