For my resource sharing, I examined multiple versions of VR and AR that could be useful for the math or science classroom. In this post, I will be evaluating them to see how they match up with different affordances that info-vis has to offer.

• Consider the cognitive affordances of the software examined.
  • Edens & Potter (2008) tell us that “an important process of the problem-solving cycle is the translation of the problem into a meaningful representation.” Since these are all VR and AR apps, it is very clear how these types of programs would lend positive cognitive affordances to any teacher or student using them. By being able to interact and see a life-size or immersive representation of the topics being discussed. VR and AR can take a student to places that they physically could not or that wouldn’t be feasible in the classroom like the body or outer space.
• Speculate on how information visualization software (name the software) could be embedded in the design of authentic learning experiences
  • The ability to embed AR and VR into authentic learning experiences would match up with Info-Vis to create experiences that naturally transport students. Exploring a phenomenon and connecting it to the mechanisms is the basis for Model-Based Inquiry (MBI) as told by Xiang & Passmore (2015). Learning about the body or outer space and then having the chance to manipulate the simulations would let students test their own hypotheses against what reality to see how they hold up. “Schematic representations are associated with successful problem solving,” (Edens & Potter, 2008). By manipulating these schematics, students will be able to actively problem solve and take ownership of their learning. All of these working together make for an authentic learning opportunity.
• Suggest active roles for the teacher and the students, as well as a suitable topic. Endeavour to make connections with your future personal practice in this entry.
  • By working with simulations in groups and explicitly communicating with each other to verbalize and denote their predictions and explanations, exercises like these further match the MBI model (Xiang & Passmore, 2015). In my classroom, it would be very easy to follow the T-GEM model to introduce a simple MBI anatomy lesson. A rough outline may look something like this:
    • Generate
      • Ask students to start to think about how they think a germ moves through the body to infect a person and make them feel sick.
      • Make a list of organs and processes in the body that students know.
      • Ask students to make a hypothesis about germs and sicknesses.
    • Evaluate
      • Give the students a place that the germ enters the body and use the VR anatomy website to allow them to travel down the corresponding pathway.
      • How does your hypothesis hold up?
    • Modify
      • Using the simulation, modify your hypothesis. When you think it is a working hypothesis, compare with another group or try a new entry point.
      • Where do germs need to reach to cause different sicknesses?

By doing all of these different explorations with the simulations, something that before was not as easily visualized or experienced is brought to life in a meaningful way that is focused on keeping the learner active and engaged in the learning process. For this reason, Info-Vis, T-GEM, MBI, and VR are all extremely compatible and useful in daily classroom practice.

Resources:

Edelson, D. C. (2001). Learning‐for‐use: A framework for the design of technology‐supported inquiry activities. Journal of Research in Science teaching, 38(3), 355-385.

Edens, K., & Potter, E. (2008). How students “unpack” the structure of a word problem: Graphic representations and problem solving. School Science and Mathematics, 108(5), 184-196.

Xiang, L., & Passmore, C. (2015). A framework for model-based inquiry through agent-based programming. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 24(2-3), 311-329.