Learning Support System for Museum exhibits using Complex Body Movements--Enhancing Sense of Immersion in Paleontological Environment

Abstract

This paper presents a support system to assist learning in museums. Museums are important places for children to learn about science. At present, the main learning methods in museums involve the study of various displays and their explanations. The opportunities for user to observe or experience the environment about which they are learning are limited. It is difficult for children to learn and comprehend paleontological environments. Therefore, in this study, we work towards the development of a body experience-based learning support system that is applicable to museums. In an initial step toward realizing an immersive learning support system in museums, Yoshida et al. proposed a prototype system. However, users carry out all the learning with that same body movement. On the other hand, in our proposed system, users can learn about paleontology using various body movements and complicated body movements that are characteristic to paleontology. This enhances the sense of immersion in the paleontological environment by incorporating body movement as an observation behavior of paleontology. In addition, the user’s involvement in learning and motivation to participate are improved, and the effectiveness of the individuals’ learning process is improved because they can comprehend the various body movements of extinct animals. In this study, proposed immersive learning support system is applied to the fossil exhibition at a museum. In addition, the evaluation of user questionnaires were conducted with the objective of clarifying whether the proposed system can provide learners with a realistic paleontological observation experience.