Immersive Learning Ka Chun Yu Denver Museum of Nature & Science 2001 Colorado Blvd. Denver, CO Worldviews Network Institute Wednesday, March 16, 2011 Why digital planetaria for astronomy education? Physical systems cannot be experienced directly Mental model construction required Erroneous mental models are hard to change (constructivist theory, A Private Universe [1987]) Underlying principles also difficult to learn Computer visualizations & simulations recommended (Parker & Heywood 1998) Benefits of Virtual Environments Ability to change frames of reference Exocentric and egocentric views (global and local information) Show a wide range of scales Show time varying Show dynamic phenomena Virtual Environments in education: (Dede et al. 1996, Salzman et al. 1998, Dede et al. 1999) Increases student engagement Increased student motivation Multiple frames of reference Immersive vs. Non-immersive: Better task performance (Bowman & Raja 2004, Raja et al. 2004) Building cognitive mental maps (Pausch et al. 1997) Greater learning gains (Sahami & Yu, in preparation) Physically Large, Wide FOV Displays: Better female performance (Tan 2004, Tan, Czerwinski, & Robertson 2006) Importance of Informal Science Education: 5% of lifetime spent in schools Figure 2 of Falk & Dierking 2010, American Scientist, 98, p. 488 Affective role of museums and science centers: Inspiration Excitement Engagement Use this to increase stewardship behavior (following zoos and aquariums) Role of Informal Learning Earth Visualization Topologies o Tabletops o Spheres o Domes Key Findings: Visitors felt they learned new information. The sphere supports understanding complex processes and phenomena. Visitors feel seeing information on the sphere is more realistic and provides more perspective. Facilitation correlates with learning. I was amazed at the beauty of what was shown on the Sphere. (22.3%) I felt a sense of the vastness of Earth. (17.9%) I felt a need to take better care of Earth. (17.1%) I felt a sense of how small Earth is compared to the greater universe. (12.9%) I felt a sense of the sacred in regards to Earth. (7.2%) I was thinking about how this planet is my home. (6.4%) Affective Visitor Ranked Outcomes Conservation ** Digital Earth Lectures at DMNS Some findings from visitor interviews o Immersion and size of visuals had impact o Majority of visitors had increased interest. o Interviews showed visitors remembered specific details long (up to 6 months) after the event. o Majority of visitors tried to learn more. Impact of Visuals and Immersive Display the incredible view spectacular view of the earth size of images the feeling of being surrounded by the Earths grandeur full overhead view. Full immersion Feeling as if flying ability to move in space and time zooming in from outer space Ability to show macro & micro geography Global perspective of geography Seeing geography as it is instead of flat as on maps. Have you done anything to learn more? Yes, I came home and looked over all the National Geographic atlases earth science books encyclopedias Online, [Google]... Im interested in active ones [volcanoes] in Hawaii and the possibility of the super volcano in Yellowstone, Wyoming. Im just fascinated by Yellowstone. I didnt know that there was the possibility of volcanoes there. Im a Google Earth fanatic... revisited those places from different perspectives on Google Earth. Had conversations with other friends to let them know about the show... invited people to the shows Comparing Planetarium Experience to Google Earth I think that having someone narrate a path [is] certainly helpful. If youre just zooming around in Google Earth, you dont know exactly what youre looking at. Ive played with Google Earth once or twice. But the fact that it was in the planetarium, it was a larger screen, you could understand it better. And instead of trying to manipulate it yourself, somebody else was manipulating it, and knew what they were doing, it was a lot more helpful. Constructing Narratives in Uniview: The Visualization Narrative Matrix Ka Chun Yu Denver Museum of Nature & Science 2001 Colorado Blvd. Denver, CO Worldviews Network Institute Thursday, March 17, 2011 Uniview Objects How do we use these datasets to tell ecological stories? Extragalactic Galactic Solar System Earth Visualization Narrative Matrix https://sites.google.com/site/worldviewsnetwork/wvn-narratives Visualization Narrative Matrix Populating the matrix... Cosmic story well represented Global and regional narratives a work in progress Goal: Collaboratively grow the Network knowledge- base