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This article focuses on the role of embodiment in learning spatial phenomena in virtual reality in the context of geospatial education. We conducted an empirical study on the geovisualization of global earthquake locations in immersive VR and desktop VR. We asked students to visualize cross-sections of the geometry of earthquake locations in subduction zones and answer pre- and post-experience questions. The degree of the sense of embodiment in immersive VR versus desktop VR was researched. We defined the sense of embodiment based on two embodied affordances: (1) embodied relative reference frame and (2) bodily engagement. We found that immersive VR has a significantly higher sense of embodiment than desktop VR. Additionally, students showed a significantly higher level of reflective thinking in immersive VR. In terms of learning performance, students significantly gained knowledge in both conditions when comparing their pre- and post-knowledge. However, we could not find any significant difference between immersive and desktop VR. The lower level of embodiment in desktop VR seemed sufficient to improve students’ grades. These results encourage more research studies on the effect of the sense of embodiment on learning in the geospatial and earth sciences. This article focuses on the role of embodiment in learning spatial phenomena in virtual reality in the context of geospatial education. We conducted an empirical study on the geovisualization of global earthquake locations in immersive VR and desktop VR. We asked students to visualize cross-sections of the geometry of earthquake locations in subduction zones and answer pre- and post-experience questions. The degree of the sense of embodiment in immersive VR versus desktop VR was researched. We defined the sense of embodiment based on two embodied affordances: (1) embodied relative reference frame and (2) bodily engagement. We found that immersive VR has a significantly higher sense of embodiment than desktop VR. Additionally, students showed a significantly higher level of reflective thinking in immersive VR. In terms of learning performance, students significantly gained knowledge in both conditions when comparing their pre- and post-knowledge. However, we could not find any significant difference between immersive and desktop VR. The lower level of embodiment in desktop VR seemed sufficient to improve students’ grades. These results encourage more research studies on the effect of the sense of embodiment on learning in the geospatial and earth sciences.

Virtual and immersive virtual reality, VR and iVR, provide flexible and engaging learning opportunities, such as virtual field trips (VFTs). Despite its growing popularity for education, understanding how iVR compared to non-immersive media influences learning is still challenged by mixed empirical results and a lack of longitudinal research. This study addresses these issues through an experiment in which undergraduate geoscience students attended two temporally separated VFT sessions through desktop virtual reality (dVR) or iVR, with their learning experience and outcomes measured after each session. Our results show higher levels of enjoyment and satisfaction as well as a stronger sense of spatial presence in iVR students in both VFTs compared to dVR students, but no improvement in learning outcomes in iVR compared to dVR. More importantly, we found that there exists a critical interaction between VR condition and repeated participation in VFTs indicating that longitudinal exposure to VFTs improves knowledge performance more when learning in iVR than through dVR. These results suggest that repeated use of iVR may be beneficial in sustaining students’ emotional engagement and compensating the initial deficiency in their objective learning outcomes compared to other less immersive technologies.

Reference frames provide structure for spatial cognition and support spatial knowledge development across different scales. This study sheds light on the relationship between geographic scale, defined as the spatial extent visually accessible from a single viewpoint, and the preferential use of different reference frames (egocentric vs. allocentric) for environmental learning. Participants learned target locations by teleporting through a virtual maze. Leveraging the flexibility and potential of immersive technologies, we manipulated geographic scale using two perspectives, a ground-level view and a pseudo-aerial view, to examine how reference frame proclivity (determined by an established test) affects spatial learning at each scale. The results of a pointing task show that participants who preferred an allocentric reference frame benefited from the pseudo-aerial perspective, whereas participants who preferred an egocentric reference frame made more efficient use of the ground perspective. A fine-grained behavioral and cognitive analysis provides concrete explanations for differences in task performance and offers evidence for the existence of egocentric survey representations. The results are essential for understanding how immersive technologies change spatial learning.

Accessibility and inclusivity in field geology have become increasingly important issues to address in geoscience education and have long been set aside due to the tradition of field geology and the laborious task of making it inclusive to all. Although a popular saying among geologists is “the best geologists see the most rocks”, field trips cost money, time, and are only accessible to those who are physically able to stay outside for extended periods. With the availability of 3D block diagrams, an onslaught of virtual learning environments is becoming increasingly viable. Strike and dip is at the core of any field geologist's education and career; learning and practicing these skills is fundamental to making geologic maps and understanding the regional geology of an area. In this paper, we present the Strike and Dip virtual tool (SaD) with the objective of teaching the principles of strike and dip for geologic mapping to introductory geology students. We embedded the SaD tool into an introductory geology course and recruited 147 students to participate in the study. Participants completed two maps using the SaD tool and reported on their experiences through a questionnaire. Students generally perceived the SaD tool positively. Furthermore, some individual differences among students proved to be important contributing factors to their experiences and subjective assessments of learning. When controlling for participants' past experience with similar software, our results indicate that students highly familiar with navigating geographical software perceived the virtual environment of the tool to be significantly more realistic and easier to use compared with those with lower levels of familiarity. Our results are corroborated by a qualitative assessment of participants' feedback to two open-ended questions, highlighting both the overall effectiveness of the SaD tool and the effect of geographical software familiarity on measures of experience and learning.

Empirical research that draws a framework on how the theory of MI could be incorporated in (learning) games is non-existent. Furthermore, the theory of MI fits well into the concept of individualization, as it distinguishes between individuals in terms of their abilities. In light of this, the chapter reports on the first evidence-based set of mappings between this theory and fundamental constructs of games known as mechanics. These mappings can be utilized by designers in the individualization paradigm of player-centered game design as guidelines on what mechanics to include in their design when targeting an audience with specific MI profiles. Such individualization can potentially positively affect the game experience of players while establishing the proper frame for affecting learning. As such, these mappings, available in form of a recommendation tool, act as guidelines on how to design (learning) games while considering the intelligences of the target audience.

Virtual field trips are transforming education in biology and other place-based disciplines–and not just since Covid-19 has imposed social distancing constraints. Efficient methods for content creation, combined with affordable immersive technology, provide the opportunity to integrate immersive experiences into ever-larger classes. However, many aspects of how immersive experiences can enrich and improve learning in place-based education are still not well understood. We present an empirical study, conducted in a large undergraduate ecology class, comparing students, that experienced an immersive virtual version of a field trip to a biological preserve as preparation for a later actual field trip to the site, with a control group that visited the real site but without having had the virtual experience. Within the virtual experience group, we also varied the quality of the headset. The VR field trip was well received for raising spatial awareness and also motivation and interest. Students ranked it higher than any traditional means with regard to achieving a high level of preparedness for the actual field trip. In contrast, no statistically significant evidence was found for differences in perceived learning outcome and enjoyment of the actual field trip.

To incorporate immersive technologies as part of the educational curriculum, this article is an endeavor to investigate the role of two affordances that are crucial in designing embodied interactive virtual learning environments (VLEs) to enhance students’ learning experience and performance: 1) the sense of presence as a subjective affordance of the VR system, and 2) bodily engagement as an embodied affordance and the associated sense of agency that is created through interaction techniques with three-dimensional learning objects. To investigate the impact of different design choices for interaction, and how they would affect the associated sense of agency, learning experience and performance, we designed two VLEs in the context of penetrative thinking in a critical 3D task in geosciences education: understanding the cross-sections of earthquakes’ depth and geometry in subduction zones around the world. Both VLEs were web-based desktop VR applications containing 3D data that participants ran remotely on their own computers using a normal screen. In the drag and scroll condition, we facilitated bodily engagement with the 3D data through object manipulation, object manipulation. In the first-person condition, we provided the ability for the user to move in space. In other words, we compared moving the objects or moving the user in space as the interaction modalities. We found that students had a better learning experience in the drag and scroll condition, but we could not find a significant difference in the sense of presence between the two conditions. Regarding learning performance, we found a positive correlation between the sense of agency and knowledge gain in both conditions. In terms of students with low prior knowledge of the field, exposure to the VR experience in both conditions significantly improved their knowledge gain. In the matter of individual differences, we investigated the knowledge gain of students with a low penetrative thinking ability. We found that they benefited from the type of bodily engagement in the first-person condition and had a significantly higher knowledge gain than the other condition. Our results encourage in-depth studies of embodied learning in VR to design more effective embodied virtual learning environments.

Fast-tracked by need for field trip alternatives during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Strike and Dip (SaD) tool uses structure from motion 3D models of rocks in a virtual environment to facilitate teaching students how to measure the orientation of rock faces, necessary for the completion of geologic maps. Spatial reasoning is a difficult skill to master for geology students, although a significant component of their studies involves visualising 3D structures from 2D representations, in particular, maps. More time and experience is necessary for students to practice their spatial reasoning skills, but this is a logistical challenge. The SaD tool provides an interface that resolves these logistics of practice time and field site access. Geology is often first characterised as a field science, but recent and increasing efforts to make a more inclusive environment have shown a demand to establish a comprehensive alternative to fieldwork/trips. The SaD tool is malleable, and while providing an inclusive way to teach core components, it is also capable of an array of field experiences for almost every sub-field within the geosciences. In this pilot study, introductory geoscience students were assigned a geologic mapping lab using the SaD tool. Results overall were positive in regard to the usefulness of the tool and provide us with three main directions for next steps in research and development.

We report on the results of a study in the context of place-based immersive VR (iVR) geoscience education that compares the experiences and learning of 45 students after going through an immersive virtual field trip, using either a lower-sensing but scalable Oculus Quest or a higher-sensing but tethered HTC Vive Pro. Our results suggest that with content design considerations, standalone HMDs can be a viable replacement for high-end ones in large-scale educational studies. Furthermore, our results also suggest that the spatial ability of students can be a determining factor for their experiences and learning.

With the emergence of different types of Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs), researchers and educators must make informed decisions on what HMDs best support their needs. When performing experiments with relatively large populations, these decisions are largely affected by the sensing-scaling tradeoff between high-end tethered HMDs and lower-end standalone systems. Higher sensing affords a richer experience, but it is also associated with higher costs in terms of the HMD itself and the need for VR-ready computers. These limitations often impede instructors from using high-end HMDs in an efficient way with larger populations. We report on the results of a study in the context of place-based immersive VR (iVR) Geoscience education that compares the experiences and learning of 45 students after going through an immersive virtual field trip, using either a lower-sensing but scalable Oculus Quest or a higher-sensing but tethered HTC Vive Pro. Our results indicate that students who used the Quest reported significantly higher levels of satisfaction but also more simulator sickness (although still a very low number on average) compared to those who used an HTC Vive Pro. Our findings suggest that with content design considerations, standalone HMDs can be a viable replacement for high-end systems in large-scale studies. Furthermore, our results also suggest that in the context of place-based iVR education, the spatial abilities of students (i.e., sense-of-direction) can be a determining factor in their experiences and learning, and therefore an important topic of study for designing effective place-based iVR experiences.

Place-based and fieldwork learning play a key role in higher education in environmental sciences and other geospatial disciplines. We report on a study in which we evaluated a web-based virtual tour application for teaching natural resource management in fire-prone western forests in two undergraduate classes. The virtual tour uses 360°-image-based virtual scenes and pre-recorded audio commentary by a domain expert to lead participants through the Stanislaus-Tuolumne Experimental Forest where forest treatments were implemented to reduce fire hazard. We present results from assessing students' overall perception of the virtual tour, their views towards its application in undergraduate education, and their feedback for improving the design of future virtual tours. Furthermore, we discuss the collected data from the perspective of gender differences and differences in familiarity with the topic of the tour.

It has been extensively argued that individualizing a serious game to the characteristics of its players is a major contributing factor to its effectiveness. To realize this individualization, the identification of player aspects that can be used as input is essential. Despite its importance, research works that review and highlight the most widely used player aspects for the individualization of serious games are lacking. This article presents a systematic literature review (SLR) on this topic and provides an overview of the empirical evidence from the literature on the effect of individualization on players’ experiences, learning, or other outcomes. The results of this SLR show that aspects of players related to performance (e.g., in-game and task skill measures) are among the most frequently researched ones for individualization, while aspects pertaining to physiological states (e.g., attention, stress) or personal traits (e.g., learning style, intelligence) are less studied. This SLR will help researchers and practitioners in making informed decisions regarding what aspects of players have yielded successful individualization in a serious game. The paper also points to aspects and subjects on which research is lacking such as user data from extended reality headsets, Geo-location data, and data fusion.

In this paper, we take a first step in exploring the effect of xR devices on the experiences of users in the context of human-agent interactions. We report on the design and heuristic evaluation of an embodied conversational agent integrated into either a Virtual or Mixed Reality environment. Our evaluation with four experts show that Virtual Reality may elicit a better experience from users, while Mixed Reality may evoke a better sense of social presence due to natural user embodiment and spatial references to physical objects in the real environment.

Background Investigating the relationship between the human body and its spatial environment is a critical component in understanding the process of acquiring spatial knowledge. However, few empirical evaluations have looked at how the visual accessibility of an environment affects spatial learning. To address this gap, this paper focuses on geographic scale, defined as the spatial extent visually accessible from a single viewpoint. We present two experiments in which we manipulated geographic scale using two perspectives, a ground level and an elevated view, in order to better understand the scale effect on spatial learning. Learning outcomes were measured using estimates of direction and self-reports of mental workload. Results In contrast to our hypothesis, we found few differences in spatial learning when comparing different perspectives. However, our analysis of pointing errors shows a significant interaction effect between the scale and spatial ability: The elevated perspective reduced the differences in pointing errors between low and high spatial ability participants in contrast to when participants learned the environment at ground level alone. Bimodal pointing distributions indicate that participants made systematic errors, for example, forgetting turns or segments. Modeling these errors revealed a unified alternative representation of the environment and further suggests that low spatial ability participants benefited more from the elevated perspective in terms of spatial learning compared to high spatial ability participants. Conclusions We conclude that an increased geographic scale, which was accessible through an elevated perspective in this study, can help bridge the performance gap in spatial learning between low and high spatial ability participants.

In this paper, we explore how the embodiment and gender of a virtual instructor can affect social presence, spatial presence, perceived learning effectiveness, and performance of students in virtual field trips. A pilot study with 22 students was conducted in the spring of 2020 in a geoscience course at The Pennsylvania State University. Our results show that both gender and embodiment of a virtual instructor can affect the social and learning experiences of students. A female virtual instructor elicited higher levels of social presence, spatial presence, and perceived learning effectiveness compared to a male virtual instructor; and an embodied virtual instructor elicited a higher feeling of spatial presence compared to a disembodied virtual instructor.

Investigating the relationship between the human body and its environment is essential to understand the process of acquiring spatial knowledge. However, few empirical evaluations have looked at how the visual accessibility of an environment affects spatial learning through direct experiences. To address this gap, this paper extends research on geographic scale (ground vs. pseudo-aerial perspectives) by incorporating active exploration in a human study. Results indicate that only low spatial ability participants benefit from the pseudo-aerial perspective in terms of spatial learning. In contrast, high spatial ability participants make more efficient use of the normal ground perspective.