Presentaci

1
Teaching students to build historical buildings
in virtual reality
A didactic strategy for learning History of Art
in secondary education
Eloi Biosca 2009
2
Virtual reality is one of the most innovative
amongst existing technologies, and it has greater
potential to transform learning.
3
In a subject like History, and more specifically
History of Architecture, the fact that students
can in real time freely move around historical
spaces and scenes virtually reconstructed by
computer is undeniably advantageous.
4
However, what would happen if the students could
become the actual designers of virtual
architectural monuments object of study.
5
What difficulties would the students encounter
with the virtual reality software?
6
What dynamics would be established inside the
classroom between the students and the teacher?
7
Would their level of content learning improve?
8
The following research was developed in a
secondary school classroom at IES Eugeni dOrs in
Vilafranca del Penedès, Catalonia, Spain. The
work was carried out over three whole school
years, from 2004 to 2007, and was integrated in
the organizational structure of the school as an
optional three-month subject. The total number
of students involved was 133, and the educational
level chosen was which corresponds to 13-year-old
students.
9
The main objective of the study was to observe
the nature and the dynamics of the learning
process in the classroom when a methodology with
the student as designers of historical monuments
is put into practice.
10
Firstly, in order to build a virtual world it is
necessary to learn and master the workings of an
appropriate software. In this case the software
chosen was Superscape 3DWebmaster
11
Also, it is necessary a drag-and-drop warehouse
of three-dimensional pieces for each of the
buildings and styles, which the student can
select, move and modify in order to construct the
building.
12
At the same time, a specific tutorial was
designed, adapted to the ability of the students
and the objectives of their fieldwork, in order
for them to learn how to operate the module.
13
The tutorial consisted in a guide which led the
students step by step through the process of
construction of a small Romanesque chapel, during
which the students became familiar with the
softwares basic menus and commands.
14
One of the students works was the reconstruction
of a Romanesque church in ruins, in which from
the existing remains the student had to restore
in situ to its original appearance.
15
Working on a ruin forces students to identify
elements still standing, replace the half
destroyed part with complete ones and add the
missing pieces.
16
This is a sample of the results
17
Other buildings constructed were
18
A Catalan Gothic style church
19
The Roman Temple in Barcelona
20
A French Gothic style church
21
Aya Sofya in Instanbul
22
Conclusions
23
What is learnt and how? 1. The objective is
not to learn exhaustive structured content
delivered by the teacher, but rather for the
students to acquire that knowledge through
carrying out the task of building a virtual
historic monument. 2. The work performance
was considerable, averaging 3.5 virtual buildings
a term, corresponding to between 6 and 8 hours
of work each building. 3. The architectural
quality of the buildings was also very
satisfactory in 89 of the projects, and the
average mark of all the building was also quite
high, with a 7.2 out of 10.
24
What type of students benefit the most? 1.
Among students who usually got good marks in
other subjects, the academic results obtained in
virtual construction were also high, averaging
slightly higher (0.5 points difference in favour
of the latter) however, among students of
medium, poor or deficient average performance,
the marks obtained in virtual construction showed
an even bigger difference as compared to their
other subjects (1.5 points higher). Therefore,
bearing in mind that the average and poor
performance students are those most benefited by
this methodology, and taking into consideration
that one of the challenges of pedagogy is
precisely that of improving global performance
and helping weaker student achieve higher marks
without bringing down the level of requirement,
we can conclude that the evaluation of the field
work is very positive. 2. On the other hand,
regarding gender issues, the only clear
differences are related only to initial
motivation. That is, although this experience was
part of an optional subject, more interest was
detected among boys, who made up 68 of the
students enrolled, than among girls, 32. This
greater initial interest is related to the boys
particular curiosity for virtual reality and
greater predisposition towards the more technical
and graphical side of working with computers. All
in all, regarding academic performance, the
conclusions do not observe a significant
difference between the boys and girls results.
25
Virtual Reality is a great motivating factor 1.
Among the factors to be taken into account,
previous and initial motivation must be
emphasized, since among the students enrolled,
78 confessed to having enrolled due to their
interest in virtual reality technology, the
content object of study and the methodology
employed. 2. This interest led to a relaxed
and pleasant atmosphere in class, where order or
discipline problems were rare, and a
collaborative and mutual-help attitude and a
favourable set of mind predisposed the students
towards learning.
26
What is the ideal teaching method for working
with Virtual Reality? 1. As the student is the
actual constructor of the historical building
object of study, the most suitable environment in
which to carry out the activities is within a
methodology of autonomous, collaborative and
active learning. 2. The advantages of the
method are the following - The learning
started from scratch. - As a software
programme is a tool, learning to use it is an
ongoing process. - The learning process caused
instant and immediate satisfaction. - The
activities tended to push the student to his or
her own limit of ability. - Work autonomy. Each
group was allowed to work at their own pace,
without constant instructions from the
teacher.  
27

• Is it possible to turn a complex Virtual Reality
  development programme into a learning tool at the
  disposal of a secondary school?
• 1. The possibility of operating the
  development software gave the students the same
  degree of freedom and creativity that
  professionals enjoy when they design their
  virtual products.
• 2. Although the students initially found
  it hard to operate due to lack of experience and
  to insecurity, in the later stages this initial
  difficulty disappeared, replaced by a high level
  of understanding and familiarity with the use of
  the software.

28

• Was it possible to find a suitable assessment
  system?
• As the learning process is based on the
  construction of different historical buildings in
  Virtual Reality, the assessment of the knowledge
  acquired and the competences that the students
  have developed is based on two factors
• 1. On one hand the assessment is based on
  observing the way that the students work and
  administer the information. considering the way
  the students administered the resources at
  their disposal, the reflection and reasoning
  process involved, and the interaction and
  participation within the group.
• 2. On the other, the architectural assessment
  of the resulting virtual buildings, considering
  the number of buildings produced, the accuracy in
  architectural style and the level of
  architectural quality were taken into account.
•  

29
What challenges does the teacher face in his
work? 1. The teacher is no longer the main
transmitter of knowledge, but rather a guide, a
problem-solver that assesses, leaving the student
s ample room for creativity and autonomy. 2. At
the same time, if we introduce into this
framework the operation of Virtual Reality
Development software, the teacher must take on
the added challenge of understanding the
technology in depth and showing mastery in its
practical use. 3. Regarding this point we feel
it necessary to mention the need to research new
types of software which would enable the
construction of virtual buildings, with the same
level of performance but more accessible and
user-friendly, which would not require the users
to have specific technical training.
30
The students response The satisfaction with
this type of experience is practically unanimous
among students, with very few exceptions. The
most highly valued aspects of the methodology are
the following 1. Practical learning being able
to virtually experience the construction of a
building and the need to place all its parts
correctly following a logical architectural
order, allows the students to remember the names
of the elements and to understand space and
architecture better. 2. Collaborative and
autonomous work the fact that the students were
working without being constantly directed by the
teacher forces the students to accept
responsibility in their work and allows them to
plan according to their own preferences, with
their own priorities and pace.   3. Learning is
related to fun the expression its fun appears
often in the interviews in all kinds of contexts
and as a general response. It is a general and
vague term but for the students also implies
important values, since it relates to the
satisfaction felt in experiencing the high degree
of interaction of virtual reality and with the
intensity and the nature of the stimuli they have
received.
31
Who does Virtual Reality appeal to?
Spectacular

Entertainment Beauty
Realism
Creativity
Interaction Protagonism
Speed Satisfaction
Stimulation

Game
32
IES Eugeni dOrs Vilafranca del
Penedès (Catalonia Spain) 2004 to 2007