The goal of this project is to study the effectiveness of virtual environments for helping students understand complex processes. Our research is examining the advantages and disadvantages of "immersing" students in computer-generated environments using virtual reality technology. There are two thrusts to this research. First, we will examine the effects of varying various properties of immersive environments on student comprehension. Second, we will compare how much students learn in immersive environments with what they learn in non-immersive "desktop" environments.

PRISM databases and models provide us with the information we want the students to learn about the Puget Sound environment. Working with the Center for Environmental Visualization and the Human Interface Technology Laboratory, we construct two- and three-dimensional visualizations of data, build interfaces that allow students to interact with the visualizations and to move through the environments, design tasks that will lead them to build knowledge of what is happening in the environment, and assess their understanding in a variety of ways.

Our research is built around two scenarios. The first requires students to develop an understanding of how water moves in Puget Sound so that they can decide where to place a sewage treatment plant that has the least environmental impact. The environment is based on data produced from the model of water circulation in Puget Sound and from data gathered by the Research Vessel Thompson. The second scenario, not complete at the time of writing (October 1999), requires students develop an understanding of the complex factors that contribute to flooding. The environments is constructed from data provided by the DHSVM hydrology model and allows the students considerable freedom to alter environmental parameters.

We expect the results of this work to have two important consequences. It will identify when it is cost-effective to use virtual reality in science classes. It will also show how direct interaction with computer simulations of environmental processes, in all their complexity, can help change students' naïve conceptions about the world into more scientifically correct ones.