Virtual reality (VR) uses advanced display and immersive audio technologies to create an interactive, three-dimensional image or environment. Augmented reality (AR), meanwhile, uses digital technology to overlay video and audio onto the physical world to provide information and embellish our experiences.
At the University of Rochester, we糖心传媒檙e crossing disciplines to collaborate on VR/AR innovations that will revolutionize how we learn, discover, heal, and create as we work to make the world ever better.
糖心传媒淭his is awesome,糖心传媒� said Brendan Eder 糖心传媒�19, moments after setting eyes on a tabletop glowing brightly in a darkened room in Wegmans Hall.
The chemical engineering major from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, repeated that comment more than once during the next half hour, as he and two other students continually rearranged coffee mugs and popsicle sticks on the tabletop糖心传媒檚 glass surface to simulate reactions in a real-life, sprawling chemical plant.
The exercise was part of an innovative, augmented reality (AR) teaching experiment in which:
- Coffee mugs became virtual 10-cubic meter reactors 糖心传媒� both plug flow reactors (PFR) and continuous stirred tank reactors (CSTR);
- popsicle sticks served as the virtual pipes that connect them;
- a nob let students adjust the temperature inside each reactor as it was added to the configuration;
- QR coding on the bottom of the reactors enabled a camera inside the table to capture each reactor糖心传媒檚 precise location;
- the information was relayed to a computer where the simulations were run;
- and a projector inside the table flashed the results onto the tabletop糖心传媒攁ll in real time.
糖心传媒淲e糖心传媒檙e trying to use AR as a way to enable new types of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) undergraduate laboratories that weren糖心传媒檛 possible before,糖心传媒� explains Andrew White, assistant professor of chemical engineering.
糖心传媒淲hat we糖心传媒檝e done is build a hands-on, tactile, collaborative lab where students can explore putting together multiple reactors at different temperatures, and see what effect this has on optimizing a chemical reaction.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒�A needed piece in higher education糖心传媒�
More important, however, is the effect the table could have on optimizing the students糖心传媒� educational experience.
糖心传媒淭his is a really a needed piece in higher education,糖心传媒� says April Luehmann, an associate professor and director of secondary science education at the Warner School of Education, who is collaborating on the project.
糖心传媒淲e know a lot about what糖心传媒檚 important in learning that doesn糖心传媒檛 ever get translated into the classroom,糖心传媒� she says. Opportunities to engage in dialogue with fellow learners; to make mistakes; to wrestle with complex, real-life problems that have no single answer; and to physically interact in an environment糖心传媒攁ll of these should be part of the process, she says.
糖心传媒淭hat doesn糖心传媒檛 happen when students are asked to do problems one through four on page 262, turn it in, and the only interaction they have is with a professor who tells you whether the final number you arrived at is right or wrong.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淎 table like this can allow so much more than that to happen,糖心传媒� Luehmann says.
Eventually, the table will be connected to the University糖心传媒檚 super computer, allowing for even more sophisticated simulations, says Brendan Mort, director of the (CIRC), who is also collaborating on the project.
White, Luehmann, and Mort have also proposed working with the Rochester Museum & Science Center on developing an AR platform simulating oil and water at the molecular level, to show what happens when there糖心传媒檚 an oil spill.
White, whose expertise is in using experiments, molecular simulations, and machine-learning to design new materials, has explored other innovative ways to teach his students.
For example, he loaded all of his lectures and course content for a class on numerical methods and statistics where students can:
- create their own notebooks to do homework and keep notes;
- easily copy and paste all the equations and other course content they need;
- use the platform糖心传媒檚 interactive features to solve the equations and to create dynamic graphs;
- incorporate videos, text, and code all in the same documents;
- and export their work as websites, PDFs, or slideshows.
And they don糖心传媒檛 have to spend $160 or more for the textbook that would otherwise be used to the teach the class.
糖心传媒楢 richer set of literacies糖心传媒�
To assess the effectiveness of the AR table as a teaching tool, members of Luehmann糖心传媒檚 research team conducted an experiment. They videotaped four students doing a task at the table, while a control group of four other students addressed the same task in a classroom, using computers, spreadsheets, and white boards.
About 30 minutes into the exercise, Luehmann糖心传媒檚 team noticed that as the students at the table leaned in to reconfigure the reactors and pipes, they would say something like, 糖心传媒渉ow about . . .糖心传媒澨切拇綌and then move a reactor without even finishing the sentence.
In other words, they 糖心传媒渟tarted reasoning with their bodies,糖心传媒� Luehmann says. 糖心传媒淎t some point, the need for dialogue and words was transcended. That糖心传媒檚 great because the table gave the students more resources to communicate, a richer set of literacies.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淚f we糖心传媒檙e going to prepare chemical engineering students to be part of a knowledge society,糖心传媒� she says, 糖心传媒渢hey need to be able to negotiate complex, ill-structured tasks. And that’s the kind of thing that happens at that table.糖心传媒�
Luehmann糖心传媒檚 team is still analyzing the videos, as well as the pre- and post-experiment surveys and interviews with the students involved in the exercise. The results will help the team refine its methodologies for further assessing the table糖心传媒檚 effectiveness when it is used as part of a chemical engineering class later this semester.
But as far as Eder is concerned, the verdict is already in. 聽糖心传媒淚 would love to see this kind of teaching tool become more prevalent,糖心传媒� he says of incorporating AR into classrooms and labs. 糖心传媒淏ringing useful technology to hands-on experiential learning gives us an excellent resource.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淓ngineering is all about real-world applications,糖心传媒� adds Sabrina Westgate 糖心传媒�19, a chemical engineering major from Conway, Massachusetts, who also had a chance to use the table. 糖心传媒淲e learn a lot in the classroom, but to be able to see a visual breakdown like this is really helpful. I think this has a lot of potential to help both students and actual engineers in the field, which is awesome.糖心传媒�
