Using Second Life® to Teach Collaboration Skills to Pre-Service and In-Service Special Educators

Second Life®, an online virtual world, is currently used at West Virginia University for simulation activities and role-playing exercises in teacher education programs in special education. The purpose of this chapter is to describe a design experiment in a pilot case study, explain the rationale for using virtual reality, describe how learning activities were developed, implemented, and evaluated, discuss plans for future research and practice, and offer suggestions for using virtual simulations in other teacher education programs.

Taking Elementary Document Camera Use to the Next Dimension

The world’s first stereoscopic 3D document camera, the 3D Ladibug, is quite unique in its ability to facilitate an interactive and constructivist implementation of stereoscopic 3D content in the elementary classroom. By harnessing the 3D Ladibug’s dynamic capabilities, teachers and students are able to enhance lessons with custom-designed learning activities in science, mathematics, literacy, and other curriculum areas. Moreover, through a blend of anaglyph and full-color stereoscopic 3D images, students are able to translate this technology into applications with print media, video editing, and live-action presentations. In the pilot implementation, educators have observed increases in student excitement, engagement, attention span, learning gains, and the ease of instruction using manipulatives with young students. Additionally, the ability to custom create 3D curriculum has made distinct differences in the motivation for students to design working models and products that demonstrate a deeper understanding of concepts. Likewise, teachers were inspired to integrate an increased number of visual aids and hands-on activities into class activities when using this tool. Through its traditional 2D document camera functionalities and added stereoscopic 3D capabilities, the 3D Ladibug Document Camera proved to be a highly effective teaching tool, captivating students and teachers by breathing life into classroom models, manipulatives, and presentations.

Stereoscopic 3D

This chapter summarizes information gathered in the first two phases of research being conducted at Texas Tech University (TTU) Libraries on the feasibility and potential benefits of using stereoscopic 3D content in a classroom or library. The authors share background information gathered during the first phase of the research, including an overview of stereoscopic 3D technology and a review of related research. They then discuss findings and recommendations from the second phase of the research, including detailed coverage of 3D equipment, practical advice for using 3D technology, and results from demonstration and survey sessions conducted with TTU faculty, staff, and students. The authors also share options for accessing and creating stereoscopic 3D content. They end with a discussion of some future directions of stereoscopic 3D.

3D Video Production in Education

Use of video by teachers can make learning more engaging or content easier to understand. Video shown in classrooms can be created by others and adapted by or created by the teacher. Traditionally, video created by teachers can be produced with inexpensive digital cameras and basic editing software. With a renewed commercial interest in Three-Dimensional (3D) video and with video equipment costs declining, the option now exists to have 3D video in classrooms. What is not known is the process to allow for teacher-created video that can take advantage of the 3D format. This case details how an undergraduate teacher candidate created a 3D video using existing production equipment and freely available software. The chapter examines the planning details, course design, and outcomes related to 3D video production. Suggestions to educators for integrating 3D into their schools are also included.

Analyzing the Effects of a 3D Online Virtual Museum in Visitors’ Discourse, Attitudes, Preferences, and Knowledge Acquisition

This chapter presents the results of a study conducted in Mexico in 2011 with a group of undergraduate students. It examines the effectiveness of an online three-dimensional learning environment and its effects in visitors’ discourse, attitudes, preferences, and knowledge acquisition during and after a real museum visit. Primary results show that: a) participants who used the virtual museum previous to the museum visit showed an increase in discourse, enjoyment, and knowledge about the exhibition, and b) using a three dimensional previsualization can enhance and influence the learning experience in educational settings in a positive way.

Using 3D Virtual Reality Technology in Cyber Ethics Education

In this chapter, the authors introduce the e-learning material that they developed using Three-Dimensional Virtual Reality (3D-VR) technology in cyber ethics education. They propose a new instructional method that teaches students to use three types of knowledge in their analyses of moral judgment problems: knowledge of ethical codes, ICT, and rational judgment. They also verify that this method is more effective than the conventional method. In addition, the authors developed e-learning material that provides students with analytical problems and feedback according to their ability to understand ethical codes. Reality and authenticity are key to learning for every student. To inculcate a sense of seriousness toward the problems in e-learning material, the authors devised various dialog methods and built an effective instructional design model, such as the three-way interaction model.

3D Science and Social Studies in Grades 5-6

Technologies available for the classroom range from interactive whiteboards to 3D instruction. Given the state of 3D for classrooms in its use of specialized goggles (Spencer & Lennex, 2011), projectors (TI instruments), and scarcity of published research (Elliot & Mikulas, 2011), its value as a teaching tool is being weighed by educators. In this study, apps for mobile computing (laptops) and Internet tools (iPads) were researched. Both the literature review and the classroom research have shown that students retained content knowledge and possibly improved overall achievement.

Students’ Perceptions of a 3D Virtual Environment Designed for Metacognitive and Self-Regulated Learning in Science

Immersive and 3D virtual environments have the potential to offer more authentic science inquiry learning that allows for metacognitive and self-regulated learning strategies. While metacognition and self-regulated learning are important for science inquiry learning, little research exists on linking these skills with students’ experience in a 3D immersive environment designed to teach science inquiry. The authors conducted two studies to explore how curricula delivered via immersive technologies have the potential to create learning experiences that allow for authentic inquiry learning and enable metacognitive processes and self-regulated learning. In the first study, they examined the relationship between students’ metacognition and their self-identified experience with the curriculum. The authors found a relationship between students’ metacognition and feeling like a scientist and like they were participating in authentic science (conducting an experiment). These findings influenced the design of a treatment that contains embedded metacognitive and self-regulated learning scaffolds. In their second study, the authors examined the causal effect of the treatment on students’ self-identified experience with the curriculum. They found that students who participated in the treatment identified with the role of a scientist and felt like they were doing authentic science.

Earth System Science in Three Dimensions

NASA-Sponsored Project 3D-VIEW [Virtual Interactive Environmental Worlds] is a lower middle school curriculum aimed at using 3D stereo technologies to enhance students’ understanding of science concepts. In Project 3D-VIEW, ten to twelve-year-old students use 3D stereo technologies, including stereophotographs, 3D-animations, 3D illustrations, and 3D interactive tools, to visualize concepts such as plate tectonics, the composition of the atmosphere, biological succession, and erosion. This mixed methods case study provides an overview of the project’s successful use of 3D technologies, as evidenced by student test scores as well as a qualitative analysis of student focus groups and interviews with teachers and administrators. The findings indicate that using 3D technologies within a context of standards and research-based curriculum design can improve student engagement as well as performance on standardized tests.

3D Technology in P12 Education

3D technology has progressed dramatically. The compelling question driving this research was, “Will 3D technology really benefit students?” After much of the research was completed, both in discovering the various technologies available, and the testing of equipment obtained, some new ideas have come about to answer this question. It has become a tool used by many industries, from television to business. Recently, 3D technology has become increasingly popular in the field of education. New 3D education technology has been developed to assist students with learning. With more 3D technology available than ever before, teachers are able to help their students visualize content in new ways. The history of 3D traces from the mid-1800s to the present movie-based and visually based technologies. The visually based technologies utilizing either DLP enabled projectors and/or 3D computer programs have become the most common of graphically enhanced materials for P-12 schools. Teachers have also begun construction of some of their own 3D materials using either movies or still photos. While the technology is relatively recent, the advances to enable uses in the classroom have brought 3D to a viable place in the schools. This chapter provides a brief history of 3D technology, research of a teacher-friendly 3D camera (Aiptek), and a free 3D construction program, Google SketchUp.