Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
3D spatial intuition. We summarize the goals of
our experience as follows.
With respect to the students of Inorganic
Chemistry we pursue the following goals:
We want to compile a database of 3D mod-
els of chemical structures.
We want to use it in a collaborative AR
system with markers and cameras.
We want to implement our system with
inexpensive hardware and open-source li-
braries; we thus want to promote free soft-
ware usage.
We want them to get actively involved in
their learning by introducing a novel tech-
nology like AR.
We want to provide them with a tool to
view different 3D material structures in an
intuitive way.
The rest of this Chapter is organized as fol-
lows. First, we review basic concepts of AR, and
we argue why it is important for education. Then,
we describe how we introduced it into the class-
room. Specifically, we describe the methodologies
used for designing and implementing structures,
improving coordination and interaction in the
classroom, and the models and structures devel-
oped. Finally, we present the students' opinions
and some ideas for improvements and future work.
We want to increase their 3D analysis and
perception skills.
During class, we want them to manipulate
the structures independently or in groups;
we also want them to do it with the pro-
fessor, and on their own, thus working on
problem solving; finally, we want them to
develop aptitudes such as initiative and
class participation by manipulating the
structures; and we want them to collabo-
rate in groups.
BACkgROUND
We also want to bring new computer tech-
nologies to the students, increasing their
knowledge, their abilities and their com-
munication skills; these skills are critical
for the students to successfully join multi-
disciplinary teams with experts from other
areas.
In this Section, we define Augmented Reality
and we argue why introducing AR is good for
Education. Then, we show several examples of
AR applied to Inorganic Chemistry. Finally, we
discuss the results obtained with those examples.
What is Augmented Reality?
With respect to the professors of Inorganic
Chemistry, we want to achieve the following goals:
Augmented Reality is a technique that introduces
virtual objects in the visual field of a user in real
time, mixing both worlds, the real world and the
virtual world.
Augmented Reality systems are an extension
of Virtual Environments (VEs). These systems
present the user with an enhanced view of the
real world. This view contains virtual elements.
The visual augmentation may be accompanied
by sound, tactile (haptic) and other types of aug-
mentation. Visual augmentation requires that the
user's movements be tracked. Tracking computes
the position and orientation of the user's head so
We want to provide them with a tool that
catches the students' attention by attracting
and surprising them; student attention and
participation should be maximized.
We want to increase the professors' options
to efficiently teach concepts where a good
spatial intuition is critical for the students'
understanding.
Finally, our computer related goals are the
following:
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