Development of Immersive Teaching Material using HMD and 3D Gesture Operation for Astronomy Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to discuss usability of the immersive astronomical teaching material that enabled teachers to intervene in the virtual space. The pictures of starry sky and instructor's hand were presented in two conditions; the head mount display (HMD) condition and the PC monitor condition. 20 college students completed the questionnaire about asking to assess the ease of the 3D gesture-operations and switching of the view in tandem with user's bodily motions. The t-test reported that the HMD condition was significantly above the PC monitor condition. The results showed that there was the possibility that the switching the view corresponding to user's body motions allowed the students to more easily recognize orientation and direction, which was consistent with the findings of Kawasaki et al. (2010). Meanwhile, the results also indicated the possibility that the teacher's interventions in the virtual space promoted the understanding of the students.