ABSTRACT There is a growing interest in virtual immersive environments such as virtual worlds for... more ABSTRACT There is a growing interest in virtual immersive environments such as virtual worlds for gaming, socialization, and also learning purpose. Frequently three major issues are mentioned, when using 3D worlds for educational scenarios: high technical requirements, low user acceptance and missing technical know-how. The last two issues can be decreased using an elaborate user-centric design with focus on the pedagogical objectives to improve the user experience and enhance the usability. This paper discusses design principles for immersive, three-dimensional environments and in-world tools with focus on pedagogical aspects and presents based on these principles an implementation of a virtual world environment for physics education which integrates the pedagogical model TEAL. A first showcase was built in Open Wonderland and evaluated and tested by student groups and domain experts with focus on usability and pedagogical ambitions. The evaluation shows how the implementation of a learning-centric model focusing on the pedagogical main objectives and designed in-line with the usability guidelines can minimize issues such as user acceptance and missing technical know-how.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 2006
We find that the sheath regions between fast interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) and th... more We find that the sheath regions between fast interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) and their preceding shocks are often characterized by plasma depletion and mirror wave structures, analogous to planetary magnetosheaths. A case study of these signatures in the sheath of a magnetic cloud (MC) shows that a plasma depletion layer (PDL) coincides with magnetic field draping around the MC. In the same event, we observe an enhanced thermal anisotropy and plasma beta as well as anticorrelated density and magnetic fluctuations which are signatures of mirror mode waves. We perform a superposed epoch analysis of ACE and Wind plasma and magnetic field data from different classes of ICMEs to illuminate the general properties of these regions. For MCs preceded by shocks, the sheaths have a PDL with an average duration of 6 hours (corresponding to a spatial span of about 0.07 AU) and a proton temperature anisotropy T⊥p/T∥p ≃ 1.2–1.3, and are marginally unstable to the mirror instability. ...
National Association for Research in Science …, 2003
Models are playing an increasing role in science curriculum (Gilbert & Boulter, 2000) and science... more Models are playing an increasing role in science curriculum (Gilbert & Boulter, 2000) and science educators as well as instructors agree that students need to understand the importance of the models that they are taught (Treagust, Harrison, Venville, & Dagher, ...
We consider the concept of field line motion in classical electromagnetism for crossed electromag... more We consider the concept of field line motion in classical electromagnetism for crossed electromagnetic fields and suggest definitions for this motion that are physically meaningful but not unique. Our choice has the attractive feature that the local motion of the field lines is in the direction of the Poynting vector. The animation of the field line motion using our approach reinforces Faraday’s insights into the connection between the shape of the electromagnetic field lines and their dynamical effects. We give examples of these animations, which are available on the Web.
ABSTRACT There is a growing interest in virtual immersive environments such as virtual worlds for... more ABSTRACT There is a growing interest in virtual immersive environments such as virtual worlds for gaming, socialization, and also learning purpose. Frequently three major issues are mentioned, when using 3D worlds for educational scenarios: high technical requirements, low user acceptance and missing technical know-how. The last two issues can be decreased using an elaborate user-centric design with focus on the pedagogical objectives to improve the user experience and enhance the usability. This paper discusses design principles for immersive, three-dimensional environments and in-world tools with focus on pedagogical aspects and presents based on these principles an implementation of a virtual world environment for physics education which integrates the pedagogical model TEAL. A first showcase was built in Open Wonderland and evaluated and tested by student groups and domain experts with focus on usability and pedagogical ambitions. The evaluation shows how the implementation of a learning-centric model focusing on the pedagogical main objectives and designed in-line with the usability guidelines can minimize issues such as user acceptance and missing technical know-how.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 2006
We find that the sheath regions between fast interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) and th... more We find that the sheath regions between fast interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) and their preceding shocks are often characterized by plasma depletion and mirror wave structures, analogous to planetary magnetosheaths. A case study of these signatures in the sheath of a magnetic cloud (MC) shows that a plasma depletion layer (PDL) coincides with magnetic field draping around the MC. In the same event, we observe an enhanced thermal anisotropy and plasma beta as well as anticorrelated density and magnetic fluctuations which are signatures of mirror mode waves. We perform a superposed epoch analysis of ACE and Wind plasma and magnetic field data from different classes of ICMEs to illuminate the general properties of these regions. For MCs preceded by shocks, the sheaths have a PDL with an average duration of 6 hours (corresponding to a spatial span of about 0.07 AU) and a proton temperature anisotropy T⊥p/T∥p ≃ 1.2–1.3, and are marginally unstable to the mirror instability. ...
National Association for Research in Science …, 2003
Models are playing an increasing role in science curriculum (Gilbert & Boulter, 2000) and science... more Models are playing an increasing role in science curriculum (Gilbert & Boulter, 2000) and science educators as well as instructors agree that students need to understand the importance of the models that they are taught (Treagust, Harrison, Venville, & Dagher, ...
We consider the concept of field line motion in classical electromagnetism for crossed electromag... more We consider the concept of field line motion in classical electromagnetism for crossed electromagnetic fields and suggest definitions for this motion that are physically meaningful but not unique. Our choice has the attractive feature that the local motion of the field lines is in the direction of the Poynting vector. The animation of the field line motion using our approach reinforces Faraday’s insights into the connection between the shape of the electromagnetic field lines and their dynamical effects. We give examples of these animations, which are available on the Web.
Uploads
Papers by John W Belcher