School education is the most important educational period when students create learning mechanisms, construct knowledge and develop basic skills and acquisition methods. The quality and the effectiveness of school education is of strategic importance in all countries and a top priority in the EU agenda. Science school education is of strategic importance for the development, the economy and the society, and science courses are of particular importance in primary and secondary school education and is considered necessary more than ever for students to have a solid background on science and physics courses. However, students find science and physics courses to be the most difficult and challenging and face particular difficulties in properly understanding and comprehending the various topics they consist of. The main aim of the proposed project is to assist students in better studying and learning physics with the utilization of new educational technologies. More specifically, a 3D virtual reality educational environment will be developed possessing innovative educational infrastructure, and offering immersive and efficient learning opportunities, engaging students in various educational activities, learning scenarios and offering students an attractive, entertaining and efficient way to learn various topics of the challenging domain of physics. The teachers could utilize the virtual environment to better explain topics of their courses and assist students to better understand them. The students will have the ability to virtually visit laboratories, perform experiments, explore procedures and examine the ways that they are conducted. The virtual educational environment and the laboratories will be designed in a way that supports students to form appropriate mental models of involved concepts, by visualizing them and allowing interactions with the virtual phenomena and processes. When students learn new abstract concepts it is quite hard without appropriate connection to concrete examples. The 3D virtual reality educational environment and the visualization of procedures aim to help students connect abstract concepts and procedures to concrete experiences and examples. Indeed, one of the most vital and promising affordances of the 3D virtual environment is to provide spatial instruction and students by utilizing the visualization techniques of the procedures, can enhance their spatial cognition.The partnership consists of 6 partners from 5 EU countries with complementary experience and skills that secure the success and the high quality of the results of the project. Project coordinator is the University of Cyprus having expertise in the application of Virtual Reality in Education. CTI will undertake the task of hosting the 3D World, setting up, configuring and maintaining all necessary software and in the design of teaching infrastructure and functionalities in the World. CTI will also lead the piloting activities through the Greek School Network and also prepare the project's Exploitation Plan. UPAT will participate with two teams. The team from the Department of Physics will have the role of providing content relevant to the Physics topics covered by the courses and participate in both designing the learning scenarios and preparing learning material for them. The team of the Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics will implement learning scenarios in the 3D World by preparing scripts for the interactivity with the 3D objects. UPAT will also participate in the initial studies about Gamification and Learning Opportunities in 3D Worlds. CNR will have the important task of leading the studies about suitable pedagogical methods and their application during the design of the courses and also in the specification of the learning scenarios that will be implemented in the world. CNR will also undertake internal evaluation tasks during the project. New Edu will participate in the preparation of the learning scenarios and the adaptation of the learning material for the web platform hosting open learning resources. New Edu will also help preparing the piloting plan. The project will produce outputs that are completely new and innovative in terms of learning methods, courses and youth training approaches in virtual reality environments. The general expected results are the following: O1: Reports on Physics Education in Schools around Europe and the state of the art in 3D Virtual Worlds.O2: Virtual 3D World for Teaching PhysicsO3: Open Learning Resources for TrainersThe project is expected to have great impact on national and European level and modernize and enhance the efficiency and the quality of school physics education by offering innovative educational approaches in 3D virtual reality environment.
Background: Despite the strategic importance of science school education, students find science and physics courses to be the most difficult and challenging and face particular difficulties in properly understanding and comprehending the various topics they consist of. The project aims to assist students in studying physics domain with the utilization of innovative technologies. Specifically, a 3D virtual reality educational environment was developed possessing innovative educational infrastructure, and offering immersive and efficient learning opportunities, engaging students in various educational activities, learning scenarios and offering students an attractive, entertaining and efficient way to learn various topics of the challenging domain of physics. Teachers can utilize the virtual environment to better explain topics of their courses and assist students to better understand them. Students have the ability to virtually visit laboratories, perform experiments, explore procedures and examine the ways that they are conducted. The environment and laboratories are designed in a way that supports students to form appropriate mental models of involved concepts, by visualizing them and allowing interactions with the virtual phenomena and processes. Furthermore, the 3D virtual reality educational environment and the visualization of procedures help students connect abstract concepts and procedures to concrete experiences and examples. Participants: 1) University of Cyprus (coordinator) - Higher education institution (tertiary level) participating through the SEIT Lab, an integral part of the Department of Computer Science. 2) Computer Technology Institute & Press Diophantus - Research Institute focusing on research and development in ICT with particular emphasis is placed on education, such as developing and deploying conventional and digital media in education and lifelong learning. 3) University of Patras (UPAT) - Higher education institution (tertiary level) participating in the through the Departments of Physics and Computer Engineering & Informatics. 4) Istituto per le Tecnologie Didattiche (ITD) - Research Institute of the National Research Council (CNR) of Italy devoted to research in the field of educational technology. 5) European Training Center Association (CTE) - Non-profit association in Romania with the objective to encourage, organize and support lifelong learning activities. 6) New Edu - Non-profit organization in Slovakia with experience in tertiary, vocational and life-long learning education. Main activities: The project produced outputs that were novel and innovative in terms of learning methods, courses and youth training approaches in virtual reality environments. These outputs included: O1: Reports on Physics Education in Schools around Europe and the state of the art in 3D Virtual Worlds. In particular, four reports were produced focusing on the following defined topics: Physics Education in Secondary Education Schools around Europe; Applications of ICT in Physics Education; State of the Art in Virtual Reality and 3D Worlds; Gamification and Learning Opportunities in Virtual Worlds. O2: Virtual 3D World for Teaching Physics. A 3D World dedicated to teaching Physics to students with both synchronous and asynchronous training capabilities was developed. In addition, within this Output, the Trainer's Handbook was produced and translated to all partner languages. Lastly, it also contains the related reports and results from the piloting activities that were conducted in each country. O3: Open Learning Resources for Trainers. A web resource with social/networking capabilities offering free reusable content (technical guides, Physics learning resources, 3D world training scripts) that were produced during the implementation of the project. Impact: The project has already made a great impact at national and European levels, which was particularly evident during the piloting activities and multiplier events that were conducted. Very importantly, the project modernises and enhances the efficiency and the quality of school physics education by offering students and teachers innovative educational approaches in a 3D virtual reality environment. Longer-term benefits: The project is an important step towards modernizing and enhancing the performance and effectiveness of physics education in schools. The material we implemented and the 3D World are expected to be used in school curricula the following years (we have received a lot of interest) and we have taken the necessary steps to allow the extension of the 3D World with more physics topics and even material for other domains. Along with the learning material we have created, we have made available online, scripts and guides that other trainers may find useful to design and implement their own activities, as part of our 3D World or in their own servers. The project results can have a substantial impact on school physics education.