Abstract
The development of interactive, participatory, multisensory environments that combine the physical with the virtual comes as a natural continuation to the computer game industrys constant race for more exciting user experiences. Specialized theme parks and various other leisure and entertainment centers worldwide are embracing the interactive promise that games have made users expect. This is not a trend limited to the entertainment domain; non-formal learning environments for children are also following this path, backed up by a theoretical notion of play as a core activity in a childs development. In this article we explore a central thread in learning, play, as well as an essential characteristic of virtual reality environments: interactivity. A critical review of examples of immersive virtual reality worlds created for children, with particular attention given to the role and nature of interactivity, is attempted. Interactivity is examined in relation to learning, play, narrative, and to characteristics inherent in virtual reality, such as immersion, presence, and the creation of illusion.
- ADAMS, M. AND MOUSSOURI, T. 2002. The interactive experience: Linking research and practice. In Proceedings of International Conference on Interactive Learning in Museums of Art and Design (London, 2002). Victoria and Albert Museum.Google Scholar
- AMTHOR, G. R. 1992. Multimedia In education: An introduction. Int. Business Mag. (1992).Google Scholar
- ANSTEY, J., PAPE, D., AND SANDIN, D. 2000. Building a VR narrative. In Proceedings of the SPIE Conference on Stereoscopic Displays and Virtual Reality Systems VII (The Engineering Reality of Virtual Reality 2000). Vol. 3957.Google Scholar
- ANSTEY, J. 1998. Are you waving or drowning?: Art, Interaction, Manipulation and Complexity. Leonardo Electronic Almanac 6, 11 (1998).Google Scholar
- BARKER, P. 1994. Designing interactive learning. In Design and Production of Multimedia and Simulation-based Learning Material. T. de Jong and L. Sarti, eds. Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht.Google Scholar
- BOBICK, A., INTILLE, S., DAVIS, J., BAIRD, F., PINHANEZ, C., CAMPBELL, L., IVANOV, Y., SCHUTTE, A., AND WILSON, A. 1999. The KidsRoom: A perceptually-based interactive immersive story environment. Presence 8, 4 (1999), 367-391. Google ScholarDigital Library
- DEVRIES, R. AND KOHLBERG, L. 1987. Programs of Early Education: The Constructivist View. Longman, New York.Google Scholar
- DEWEY, J. 1966. Democracy and Education. Free Press, New York.Google Scholar
- GAITATZES, A., CHRISTOPOULOS, D., VOULGARI, A., AND ROUSSOU, M. 2000. Hellenic cultural heritage through immersive virtual archaeology. In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia (Japan, 2000).Google Scholar
- JOHNSON, A., MOHER, T., OHLSSON, S., AND GILLINGHAM, M. 1999. Bridging strategies for VR-based learning. In Proceedings of CHI '99 (Pittsburgh, PA, 1999). Google ScholarDigital Library
- JOHNSON, A., MOHER, T., OHLSSON, S., AND LEIGH, J. 2001. Exploring multiple representations in elementary school science education. In Proceedings of the IEEE VR (2001), 201-208. Google ScholarDigital Library
- JONASSEN, D. 2000. Learning as Activity. AECT.Google Scholar
- KAFAI, Y. 1999. Children as designers, testers, and evaluators of educational software. In The Design of Children's Technology. A. Druin, ed. Morgan Kaufmann. Google ScholarDigital Library
- KAFAI, Y. 1995. Minds in Play: Computer Game Design as a Context for Children's Learning. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Google ScholarDigital Library
- LAUREL, B. 1993. Computers as Theatre. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA. Google ScholarDigital Library
- MALONE, T. W. AND LEPPER, M. R. 1987. Making learning fun: A taxonomy of intrinsic motivations for learning. In Aptitude, Learning, and Instruction: Cognitive and Affective Process Analyses. R. Snow and M. Farr, eds. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.Google Scholar
- MURRAY, J. H. 1997. Hamlet on the Holodeck. Free Press.Google Scholar
- NARDI, B.A. 1996. Context and Consciousness: Activity Theory and Human-Computer Interaction. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Google ScholarDigital Library
- PAPERT, S. 1980. Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas. Basic Books, New York. Google ScholarDigital Library
- PARK, C., KO, H., KIM, I-J., AHN, S.C., KWON, Y-M., AND KIM, H-G. 2002. The making of Kyongju VR theatre. In Proceedings of IEEE VR 2002 Conference, 249-251. Google ScholarDigital Library
- PASCOE, D. 1997. Peter Greenaway: Museums and Moving Images. Reaktion Books, London.Google Scholar
- PAUSCH, R., SNODDY, J., TAYLOR, R., WATSON, S., AND HASELTINE, E. 1998. Disney's Aladdin: First steps toward storytelling in virtual reality. In Digital Illusion: Entertaining the Future with High Technology. C. Dodsworth, Jr., ed. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 357-372. Google ScholarDigital Library
- PIAGET, J. 1973. To Understand is to Invent: The Future of Education. Grossman, New York.Google Scholar
- ROKEBY, D. 1998. The construction of experience: Interface as content. In Digital Illusion: Entertaining the Future with High Technology. C. Dodsworth, Jr., ed. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 27-47. Google ScholarDigital Library
- ROUSSOS, M. AND BIZRI, H.M. 1998. Mitologies: Medieval labyrinth narratives in virtual reality. In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Virtual Worlds (Paris, 1998), 373-383.Google ScholarCross Ref
- ROUSSOS, M., JOHNSON, A., MOHER, T., LEIGH, J., VASILAKIS, C., AND BARNES, C. 1999. Learning and building together in an immersive virtual world. Presence J. 8, 3 (1999), 247-263. Google ScholarDigital Library
- ROUSSOS, M., JOHNSON, A., LEIGH, J., VASILAKIS, C., BARNES, C., AND MOHER, T. 1997. NICE: Combining constructionism, narrative, and collaboration in a virtual learning environment. ACM Trans. Comput. Graph. SIGGRAPH (1997), 62-63. Google ScholarDigital Library
- RYAN, M. 2000. Narrative as Virtual Reality. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Google ScholarDigital Library
- SCHELL, J. 2003. Understanding entertainment: story and gameplay are one. In The Human-Computer Interaction Handbook. J. A. Jacko and A. Sears, eds. Lawrence Erlbaum, Ch. 43. Google ScholarDigital Library
- SCHELL, J. AND SHOCHET, J. 2001. Designing interactive theme park rides. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications. (July-Aug. 2001), 11-13. Google ScholarDigital Library
- SIDERIS, A. AND ROUSSOU, M. 2001. Making a new world out of an old one: In search of a common language for archaeological immersive VR representation. In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia (VSMM, 2002), 31-42.Google Scholar
- SIMS, R. 1997. Interactivity: A forgotten art? Instructional Technology Research Online, http://intro.base.org/docs/interact/.Google Scholar
- SHERMAN, W. AND CRAIG, A. 2003. Understanding Virtual Reality: Interface Application and Design. Morgan Kaufmann. Google ScholarDigital Library
- STEUER, J. 1992. Defining virtual reality: Dimensions determining telepresence. J. Commun. 42, 2 (1992), 73- 93.Google ScholarCross Ref
- TALIN. 1998. Real interactivity in interactive entertainment. In Digital Illusion: Entertaining the Future with High Technology. C. Dodsworth, Jr., ed. Addison-Wesley, Reading, PA, 151-159. Google ScholarDigital Library
Index Terms
- Learning by doing and learning through play: an exploration of interactivity in virtual environments for children
Recommendations
Augmenting play and learning in the primary classroom
IDC '13: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Interaction Design and ChildrenIn this article we present the design and study of Save the wild, a system designed to support augmented play and learning for children. Save the wild is an augmented reality (AR) based system with which children can interact by creating origami paper ...
Engaging theatre audiences before the play: the design of playful interactive storytelling experiences
Inputs-Outputs '13: Proceedings of the 2013 Inputs-Outputs Conference: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Engagement in HCI and PerformanceIn this paper I present Mobile Stories, a design-led project that explored ways of playfully motivating and engaging theatre audiences in their journey before the premiere of a theatrical play. The project used the art of storytelling and mobile ...
Learn and play with interactive TV
Interactive TVDespite the criticism concerning the value of TV content, research reveals several worthwhile aspects -- one of them is the opportunity to learn. In this article we explore the characteristics of interactive TV applications that facilitate education and ...
Comments