Awesome work. How are you measuring the impact of the project?

Welcome! The Institute for Earth Observations is located at the Palmyra Cove Nature Park … a 250 acre conservation area along the Delaware River. Between park visitors and school groups we see about 20,000 people per year. Our intent is to give students an outdoor experience consisting of exposure to the outdoor environment, make observations and measurements (using GLOBE Protocols) and then in our Environmental STEM Center investigate what that looks from space using environmental satellites. The objective of GLOBE Mission Earth in it broadest sense to infuse NASA resources into the GLOBE Program. Our part of this initiative is to train new GLOBE teachers, and develop and train teachers and students on the use of these emerging technologies. In our Innovation Lab we are giving students a first look at VR technology and the opportunity to explore the planet (and beyond). We are looking at the potential uses of VR/AR in labs within the K-20 community.

Mercy thank you for your comment! With the teachers that we train for GLOBE we can follow up with them as they implement some oft the content in their classrooms. We also  share our work with the GLOBE community through webinars and presentations. Perhaps our best assessment  is looking at how many students conduct research and publish in venues such as the GLOBE Student Research Symposiums (SRS) and/or the GLOBE International Virtual Science Symposium.

Thanks Mercy. We are an informal science center and about 100 schools a year participate in the education program. Something we look for is how frequently a particular program is repeated by a visiting school. Each year we see more and more schools participating in the virtual reality lab. A portion of those schools repeat the VR program, while others are new comers.

Hi John,

I liked that you involved both VR and AR technologies and that you are bringing this directly to students who don't ordinarily have the experience. 

Since you are out there bringing this to all kinds of students, I am wondering if there's anything beyond "taking the experience to them" you've learned about engaging students with backgrounds that aren't well-represented in NASA's current workforce? Has anything in your work with under-represented groups challenged you and what could we all learn from your experience?

Thanks for what you do!

jeremy

 

Having students who otherwise would only read about them or see them on TV experience advanced technologies is a good goal for informal education.  However, is there evidence the use of VR and AR changes the way students and their teachers look at ecological issues?  

What a great video highlighting all of your work! So proud to be associated with you guys. Experiencing the VR lunar lander was seriously the coolest thing ever. Keep up the great work! Sara

John and Team,

This is a wonderful video displaying the capabilities of mixed realities. It really showcases a combination of science, technology, and participant excitement and enthusiasm. Hopefully, what you are doing here can be observed and duplicated at other informal education venues and in schools worldwide. Working with the GLOBE Program is such an amazing outlet to getting the technology to the education masses. Even though there may be a language barrier across the seas, science and technology are a universal language for learning, creating, exploring. Kudos!

Nice video and awesome use of technology!  Do you adapt the content presented based on age/grade level? 

Yes, for school visitations we construct programing that meets the needs of the age group and the requests of the visiting teachers. You can check out our website www.palmyracove.org, for a look at the activities that we offer. The VR/AR programs are standard expereinces. USOAR, Apollo 11, the Lunar Learning Expedition were developed in house by my co-presenter Peter Dorofy, as well as the AR program, HoloGLOBE. Several of our summer college interns developed a program introducing the park, and we have a couple of "canned" programs that we offer. So, depending on the groups grade level and interests, we plan their day. We have had kids from about 5 years old, to senior citizens (90+) engage in the VR experiences … all love it! Thanks for commenting!

Thanks Andrea. Yes we do adapt the content. The AR and VR apps we either develop ourselves or adopt from another publisher work best for ages 8+. The majority of the students that visit our center are 3rd-6th grade. We design lessons and activities for the HoloGLOBE app that best fit that grade range. Lunar Learning Expeditions was designed for older audiences 12+. The first iteration was meant to give individuals a VR experience of being on the Moon without the hassle of having to learn and navigate in VR. We have had younger children try out these experiences, the limitation is usually hardware related. A head mounted display will sometimes be just too big for a child. We also make sure that any VR experience is less than 5 minutes. Virtual Reality is still new and the effects of VR on young developing minds continues to be studied. We prefer to design our own VR apps when possible that fit our specific target audience rather than using other VR solutions marketed towards a broader audience.

Eh, the funnest road trip ever in that RV! And great to explore both AR and VR.  Will email y'all regarding the AR app development.  Very excited to see AR being developed that would allow us to leverage the phones that HS students already a lot of time on.  This addresses both access issues and with a curriculum that is phone based, would make the phone an asset in the classroom!  Thanks for doing and sharing this work.