Reality Labs

Ben Egliston, M. Carter

Spatial computing – that is, a form of human–computer interaction that retains or manipulates referents of real object and spaces – is an increasingly intense focus for Meta. In 2018, Meta launched ‘Reality Labs’ (RL), a research and development division to oversee the company’s production of spatial computing technologies. Drawing on a media historiographical approach from platform studies, this article charts the development of the company’s spatial computing ambitions through RL from 2018 to 2022. In so doing, we find that Meta attempts to consolidate complementors through acquisitions, capture policymakers and academics, convene third-party businesses and developers, and expand its ecosystem through enhancing platform programmability. We argue that RL’s efforts to grow the platform from within, and through drawing in third-parties, signals an ambition to grow their spatial computing offerings such that they take on a central, infrastructural role in society.

O. T. Laseinde, D. Dada

Evgenia Paxinou, M. Georgiou, Vasilis Kakkos, Dimitris Kalles, L. Galani

ABSTRACT Background An increasing number of educational institutions are incorporating virtual reality (VR) applications in the instruction methodology for their laboratory science courses. However, there is debate about the use of the physical vs. the virtual lab as according to research the former offers a positive research-training environment, whereas the latter offers safe and repeated practice in combination with an engaging experience. Purpose This study explores whether virtualization applied to practically oriented education can: a) fulfill specific educational goals which correspond to the six levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, b) raise students’ confidence about their knowledge and c) help students learn how to use an optical microscope in a physical biology lab. Sample Fifteen graduates of the Athens University Department of Primary Education in Greece attending postgraduate studies in Science Education. Methods The sample was separated into two cognitively balanced groups to be educated on microscopy by two educational methods: a) the traditional tutorial and demonstration method, and b) our proposed tutorial and simulation method with a VR biology lab, Onlabs. Participants completed both a Pre- and a Post-test to assess the acquired knowledge, and a worksheet to assess their ability to operate a real optical microscope. Results Participants in the experimental group obtained higher Post-test scores and were better educated to correctly answer different types of questions corresponding to Bloom’s Taxonomy than were members of the control group. Moreover, when working in the physical lab after having used Onlabs, the experimental group was more knowledgeable about the required experimentation skills compared to the control group. Conclusion Our findings provided evidence in favor of using simulations. They pointed out that including simulations as a supplementary tool to the traditional face-to-face tutorials is a very promising prospective for grasping the details of laboratory knowledge, in a postgraduate program in Science Education.

D. Bolkas, Jeffrey Chiampi, J. Fioti, Donovan Gaffney

Jared P. Canright, Suzanne White Brahmia

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Instructional labs: Improving traditions and new directions.] We report on a study of the effects of laboratory activities that model fictitious laws of physics in a virtual reality environment on (i) students’ epistemology about the role of experimental physics in class and in the world; (ii) students’ self-efficacy; and (iii) the quality of student engagement with the lab activities. We create opportunities for students to practice physics as a means of creating and validating new knowledge by simulating real and fictitious physics in virtual reality (VR). This approach seeks to steer students away from a confirmation mindset in labs by eliminating any form of prior or outside models to confirm. We refer to the activities using this approach as Novel Observations in Mixed Reality (NOMR) labs. We examined NOMR’s effects in 100-level and 200-level undergraduate courses. Using pre-post measurements, we find that after NOMR labs, students in both populations were more expertlike in their epistemology about experimental physics and held stronger self-efficacy about their abilities to do the kinds of things experimental physicists do. Through the lens of the psychological theory of flow, we found that students engage as productively with NOMR labs as with traditional hands-on labs. This engagement persisted after the novelty of VR in the classroom wore off, suggesting that these effects were due to the pedagogical design rather than the medium of the intervention. We conclude that these NOMR labs offer an approach to physics laboratory instruction that centers the development of students’ understanding of and comfort with the authentic practice of science. Published by the American Physical Society 2024