Experiential Learning in the Environmental & Natural Sciences:
Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (EL CETL)
Overview
Virtual learning environments are becoming
increasingly sophisticated, and dome technology in
the form of ‘immersive cinema’ is one of the most
rapidly expanding and exciting areas. EL CETL based
at the University of Plymouth, UK has funded the
redevelopment of the university's old planetarium
into an Immersive Vision Theatre (IVT) for use in
teaching, outreach, and pedagogic research.
The IVT is an 8m dome with fixed tiered seating for
40 people. Although originally envisaged as a tool to
help preparation for fieldwork, the theatre is finding
applications in visualising complex data sets
(including the University's eco-footprint) and
invisible processes, the visual and sonic arts,
medicine, neuroscience, and the understanding of
environments that act on scales in time and space
that cannot be observed directly.
Research on Learning
One of the reasons why fieldwork is
believed to be so effective is that it
involves ‘direct experience’ (i.e.
physical interaction) which triggers an
affective response. The dome provides
an ‘indirect experience’ in the sense
that there is no, or limited, physical
interaction, yet it still appears capable
of generating a very strong affective
response. So how does the nature of a
learning experience within an
immersive environment compare to
that of a physical environment?
The location of the IVT courtesy of Google Earth.
From http://www.elumenati.com
Data
Techniques have been developed to acquire images and audio of field
sites.
Technology
The equipment includes an innovative combination of
projectors and a full spatial audio system. The system
has been put together by Global Immersion:
http://www.globalimmersion.com/ and Elumenati:
http://www.elumenati.com/
In addition, the EL CETL is working with SCISS AB to utilise the Uniview
software that combines representations from different, live datasets as
well as other 3D animations. The software includes Digital Universe, the
world's most extensive and accurate 3D atlas of the universe. The
interactive database combines the latest astronomical data provided by
scientists from around the globe. http://www.scalingtheuniverse.com/
The Milky Way - our home galaxy. Digital Universe (AMNH)
The CETL is working with a number of departments in the University to develop content for the IVT ,
for example:
Biological Sciences:
Computational Neuroscience:
Computer Music Research:
Digital Art and Technology:
Digital Art and Technology:
Digital Art and Technology:
Engineering:
Geography:
Models of insects and human heart. Used for visualisation and movies.
Visualisation of the activity of the input units of a neural network modelling a fly's perception
Various sonic art projects
Visualisation of resource usage on campus
Capturing data from biofeedback sensors fitted to each seat for artistic and scientific visualisations.
Generative sonic art piece based on planet movements
Visualisation from research and undergraduate output from coastal engineering department
Live, bi-directional video from rainforest in Borneo.
Geography, Envl. Sciences:
Geology :
Medical School:
Neuroscience:
Oceanography:
Structural Engineering:
Visualisation of GIS datasets from Western Ireland and Tamar Valley
Assets from USA research and field trips
Realisation of 3D models
Visualisation of the human brain.
Library of imagery of local weather systems
Visualisation to explore clustering results in genetic algorithms
Ideas for Geoscience Applications
Demonstrations of the immersive experience were run at the Denver Museum of
Natural Sciences during the 2007 Fall GSA meeting . Here are some of the ideas the
participants came up for geoscience applications:
• Ocean floor topography
• Going through a geological map to the subsurface (make map translucent)
• Convection models / hidden Earth
• Temporal changes e.g. glacial advances / retreats
• Plate tectonic models
• Weather – development of storms
• Zoom in and out from microscopic to universal scales
• Journey to the centre of the Earth incorporating 3D seismic data
• Fieldwork preparation –show them how rock units connect
• Folding / tilting / erosion models to illustrate landscape evolution
• Add real time fires / winds (download up-to-date satellite imagery)
• Select a plane anywhere on the globe and see a cross-section all the way through
• Illustrate e.g. sea level rise dynamically
• Help students to visualise the geology extending below the surface
• Journey through an orogenic belt
• Visualising 2D to 3D transitions e.g. stereo nets
A 130 yr old geological visualisation. Ramsay, 1878.
Development of the IVT and engagement with
immersive technology has enabled the
Experiential Learning CETL to become part of a
global dome community, and in March 2008
the CETL will host the 3rd European Workshop
and Conference in Immersive Cinema:
http://elcetl.org/conference/
Experiential Learning in the Environmental & Natural Sciences:
Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (EL CETL)
http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/cetl/el
Presented by Helen King, Higher Education
Consultant, on behalf of the EL CETL
helen@helenkingconsultancy.co.uk