Integrating Virtual Reality in a Computer-Based Laboratory

“在基于计算机的实验室中集成虚拟现实”正在执行一项计划，为Quinebaug Valley社区技术学院的社区学院理科生提供最先进的工具来分析科学数据。三种现有技术正在单一设施中实施：1)传统的基于计算机的多用途科学实验室，2)分析来自互联网的真实世界数据的工具，以及3)从多个角度查看数据的虚拟现实技术。这个综合实验室利用计算机化的学生实验站和多个传感设备，一个特别强大的UNIX工作站，以及各种数据分析软件工具。这个实验室从几个方面增强了学生对科学的理解。a)学生能够对自己的实验进行更彻底的分析。b)通过虚拟现实，学生可以从多个角度观看“虚拟实验”。4)学生们能够利用大量的现实世界的数据，这些数据可以在互联网上随时获得，从而更好地了解科学是什么。这个项目没有一个方面是特别新颖的。创新之处在于把现有的工具放在一个实验室里，作为本科生科学研究的一个模型。

"Integrating Virtual Reality in a Computer-Based Laboratory" is carrying out a plan to provide community college science students at Quinebaug Valley Community-Technical College with state of the art tools for analyzing scientific data. Three existing technologies are being implemented in a single facility: 1) a traditional computer-based multi-purpose science laboratory, 2) tools for analyzing real-world data from the internet, and 3) virtual reality technology for viewing data from multiple perspectives. This integrated lab utilizes computerized student experiment stations with multiple sensing devices, an especially robust UNIX workstation, and a variety of data analysis software tools. The lab enhances students' understanding of science in several ways. a) Students are able to perform more thorough analysis of their own experiment. b) Through virtual reality, students are able to view "virtual experiments" from multiple perspectives. 4) Students are able to utilize huge amounts of real-world data which are readily available on the internet, thus gaining a better sense of what science is all about. No one aspect of this project is particularly novel. The innovation comes in putting together existing tools in a laboratory which can serve as a model for undergraduate science.