Usability and Learning in Educational Virtual Realities

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Abstract
Designing ScienceSpace, a series of virtual realities for teaching difficult science concepts and skills, has implications for designing sensorily immersive educational virtual realities. Through the design and evaluation of the worlds in ScienceSpace we are gaining insights into the general utility of sensorial immersion, as well as virtual reality's potential and limitations for enhancing learning. This paper focuses on the learner-centered design and evaluation of NewtonWorld, one of the virtual worlds in ScienceSpace. NewtonWorld is a sensorily immersive virtual learning environment in which students can challenge their intuitions about Newton's laws and the conservation of energy and momentum through game-like inquiry activities. We discuss how usability and learning issues have shaped the design and refinement of NewtonWorld. Additionally, we discuss implications of our work for designing sensorily immersive virtual reality interfaces that are usable and facilitate learning.

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