Virtual Environments for Education
Brian M. Slator, Computer Science

Geology Explorer

To play the game, students are transported to the planet's surface and acquire a standard set of field instruments. Students are issued an "electronic log book" to record their findings and, most importantly, are assigned a sequence of exploratory goals. These goals are intended to motivate the students to view their surroundings with a critical eye, as a geologist would. Goals are assigned from a principled set, in order to leverage the role-based elements of the game. The students make their field observations, conduct small experiments, take note of the environment, and generally act like geologists as they work towards their goals. The Geology Explorer prototype can be visited at http://www.cs.ndsu.nodak.edu/~slator/html/PLANET/

Virtual Cell

The Virtual Cell (VCell) is an interactive, 3-dimensional visualization of a bio-environment. VCell has been prototyped using the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML), and is to be available via the Internet. To the student, the Virtual Cell looks like an enormous navigable space populated with 3D organelles. In this environment, experimental goals in the form of question-based assignments promote deductive reasoning and diagnostic problem-solving in an authentic visualized context. A prototype is currently being tested in Biology 150.

The initial point of entry for the Virtual Cell is a VRML-based laboratory. Here the learner encounters a scientific mentor and receives a specific assignment. In this laboratory, the student performs simple experiments and learns the basic physical and chemical features of the cell and its components. More notably, our laboratory procedures are crafted such that they necessitate a voyage into the Virtual Cell where experimental Science meets virtual reality. The Virtual Cell prototype can be visited at http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/mcclean/vc/

Dollar Bay

Dollar Bay is a multi-playered, networked game that teaches basic marketing and micro-economic concepts. Players are immersed in a simulated environment where they are expected to save a failing retail outlet. The tools of the retail trade, (hiring, advertising, ordering, pricing), are made available, and the underlying simulation is crafted to respond to game play in plausible ways. Throughout the course of a game, players have the opportunity to consult real world entrepreneurs, advertising executives and economists for guidance as they attempt to build up the net worth and market presence of their simulated businesses. Dollar Bay can be visited at http://oit.cs.ndsu.nodak.edu/~vender/dollarbay.html