Virtual reality has the potential to revolutionize education because it immerses students in their learning, blocking out visual and auditory distractions and letting learners focus intensely on a structured learning experience. The authors describe how using virtual reality headsets helped 5th graders at Gavin Cochran Elementary School in…

Incorporating virtual reality or augmented reality into classroom instruction and activities not only engages students, it provides learning experiences otherwise unavailable, such as virtually walking on the moon or building a 360-degree animation of a Revolutionary War battle. The author gives examples of ways AR and VR can be used in…

Active learning techniques are being use with increasing frequency in the classroom and more time is being dedicated to designing and implementing them. However, the literature still suffers from a lack of rigorous empirical methods to test the effects of simulations. Most of the claimed benefits of utilizing simulations, and other active learning…

The use of business simulation games plays a crucial role in teaching and learning even though it has been used for 60 years since the modern business simulation games started in 1955. Even previous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of business simulation games used in teaching and learning; however, the major concerns that need to be…

Context: Simulations are commonly used in medical education to facilitate instructional and assessment experiences for learners. Standardized patients (SPs) are a form of simulation with actors trained to present conditions that occur in health care. The most important feature in simulation-based education is feedback; one form of group feedback…

Simulation is an effective tool for analyzing probability models as well as for facilitating understanding of concepts in probability and statistics. Unfortunately, implementing a simulation from scratch often requires users to think about programming issues that are not relevant to the simulation itself. We have developed a Python package called…

Unlike the situated learning within traditional clinical placements, mixed-reality simulations support a laboratory learning environment where preservice teachers practice their instruction with low risk to the preservice teachers and human students. Simulation experiences can be used in teacher education programs to prepare candidates for the…

This working group addresses the challenge and opportunity presented by the use of simulations of teaching practice as an educative tool for preservice and practicing teachers. We focus particularly on the development of teachers' skills in enacting the content-intensive work of teaching, including how simulations may be able to cultivate or…

We analyzed 5th grade students' interactions with one computer-based modeling simulation to examine how they defined and prioritized variables in a dynamically simulated environment. Results revealed that exposure to the simulation environment helped students visualize continuous motions, interpret the different quantities present in the model,…

The purpose of this study was to explore students' mathematical practices while working on modeling problems using 3 interactive computer simulations. Three fifth grade students' interactions with computer-based modeling simulation were examined to identify how children defined and prioritized and coordinated variables and parameters in…

Recent articles in the news media have triggered interest in how virtual reality technologies can be applied to academic libraries. Specifically, virtual reality technologies have the potential to be applied to triage reference, reference services, and archives. It is discussed how library users can use virtual reality headsets as well as how…

The purpose of this study is to explore factors that affect exclusively physical, virtual and both a Virtual-Physical (VP) and Physical-Virtual (PV) sequence of manipulatives within Studio Physics environment. In this environment students actively work together to learn through real world experimentation and simulation based activities. Activities…

The emphases of student involvement and meaningful engagement in the learner-centered education model have created a new paradigm in an effort to generate a more engaging learning environment. This study examines the success of using different simulation platforms in creating a market simulation to teach business processes in the accounting…

Meta-analyses often include only a small number of studies ([less than or equal to]5). Estimating between-study heterogeneity is difficult in this situation. An inaccurate estimation of heterogeneity can result in biased effect estimates and too narrow confidence intervals. The beta-binominal model has shown good statistical properties for…

The authors explore how 3D visualizations of historical sites can be used as pedagogical tools to support historical empathy. They provide three visualizations created by a team at Virginia Tech as examples. They discuss virtual environments and how the digital restoration process is applied. They also define historical empathy, explain why it is…