New Augmented Reality Applications - Teaching through Multi-User Virtual Environments - page 375

Methodology to Improve Coordination
and Interaction Using AR in Class

structure of the marker she is holding in her hand.
Students can also view their classmates' structures
as well as the professor's lecture. Figure 5 contains
a diagram of the classroom's AR setup, and some
pictures of the classroom during a class taught
using our AR system.
Our installation allows twelve students to
interact with our AR system. In larger classes we
can use higher resolution cameras or cameras
mounted on tripods to capture more than one
marker. That way several students can interact at
the same time with different virtual structures.
We have used this system to improve our theory
classes and to help with problem solving classes.
Problems where geometry is important to find a
solution are best suited for using our AR system.
One class of such problems is finding geometric
elements in a crystal structure.

The three classes where we use AR are taught
during the same semester. They also have the
same level, and are mainly based on the structure
of materials. They provide a framework to carry
out some collaborative activities.
There are several topics that are common to
the three classes, even though they are taught
from different perspectives. In the three classes
the 3D structure of materials is very important.
As an example we review ceramic pigments and
silicates.

Case 1: Ceramic Pigments
In Materials Science, pigments are taught from the
perspective of connecting their optical properties
and their structure. Ceramic Inorganic Chemistry
focuses on the composition of ceramic pigments

Figure 5. Multimedia classroom with webcams and markers for the professor and twelve students: left,
class setup: the students are grouped into six groups of two; right, Inorganic Chemistry lecture with our
AR system: physical setup of the classroom for four groups of two students, each group with its webcam
and set of makers; students manipulating the MgAl 2 O 4 spinel structure; and students interacting with
the zircon ZrSiO 4 crystal structure