Mixed realities - Virtual object lessons

Abstract

The question of how to design and implement efficient virtual classroom environments gains a new quality in the light of extensive digital education projects such as the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative. At the core of this consideration is not only the task of developing content for very different cultural settings but also the necessity to reflect the effects of learning processes that operate exclusively with digitally mediated content. This paper traces the design of the project Venture to the Interior, an interactive experience that presents selected objects from the collections of the Museum of Natural History in Berlin and reflects them as building blocks for the Enlightenment-idea of a building of knowledge. The project investigates the role of objects as a knowledge device and the possibilities for a translation of the didactic effects of experiential learning into virtual environments. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.