Episode 065 - Swati Pandita And Jack Madden

Astronomy PhD student, Jack Madden and communication PhD student, Swati Pandita, talk about the results of their VR study they conducted, using VR to teach students how the phases of the moon work. They split students into three conditions: a VR simulation letting them explore the Earth-Moon-Sun system; a computer simulation of the same topic; and an old-fashioned physical simulation, involving a light bulb on a stick. Their findings? No difference in learning across the three conditions. They share what they learned through their study about virtual reality and how it might help students build mental models, and they make some predictions for the potential of VR in education. They also provide perhaps the most discipline-specific answers we’ve ever had to our closing question about analog educational technology. Links • Swati Pandita’s website: http://swati.info/ • Swati on Twitter, @notheory15: https://twitter.com/notheory15 • Jack Madden’s website: http://hosting.astro.cornell.edu/~jmadden/ • Virtual Embodiment Lab at Cornell: https://virtualembodimentlab.com/ • Stowell, J. R., & Nelson, J. M. (2007). Benefits of electronic audience response systems on student participation, learning, and emotion. Teaching of Psychology, 34(4), 253-258. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00986280701700391 • Leading Lines Ep. 48 – Max Seidman: http://leadinglinespod.com/episodes/episode-48max-seidman/