Interactive Virtual Environments for Science and Engineering Education

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Interdisciplinary (99)This project is developing modules within an immersive virtual environment (VE) in order to examine whether or not such environments provide an effective venue for education. The environment being developed is based upon four principles. First, a high level of interactivity is necessary to allow students opportunities for active learning. Second, VE technology is used as a supplement to other methods of learning. Third, the environment contains many types of information and presents links between them. Finally, the 3D visualization realistically portrays information that is abstract or normally not visible in the physical world. The modules being developed are in structural engineering, computer networks, and computer graphics and we are integrating them into the curriculum in order to evaluate their effectiveness. The results of this work include a set of well-tested educational VE applications, guidelines for designing educational VEs, and principles for deciding when a VE is an appropriate choice for an educational goal and it is intended to provide a real and substantial improvement to the learning environments of many students as well as innovative VE research.