Project Overview

VR is a beneficial tool to give learners agency and encourage self-directed learning through exploration. But often learners need guidance to help them focus on the most important content. In this project, we studied how guidance affects learning and agency in a VR multiplayer game for science education. In the game, created by our collaborators at the University of Oregon in Meta’s Horizon Worlds, players board a research cruise to cooperatively collect and analyze plankton as marine biologists. Participants were randomly assigned either an unguided condition where they play just with their novice partner, or a guided condition in which a researcher is present as a live, virtual guide during the session. 

Team Members

Collaborators

The development of VESL (Virtual Excursions for Science Learning) was made possible by a grant from the University of Oregon Environment Initiative, led by Old Hara Studios (https://www.oldharastudios.com/) and Dr. Kelly Sutherland (https://cas.uoregon.edu/directory/biology-faculty/all/ksuth).