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Board 63: Development of a Virtual Reality Educational Game for Waste Management: Attack of the Recyclops

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Conference

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Salt Lake City, Utah

Publication Date

June 23, 2018

Start Date

June 23, 2018

End Date

July 27, 2018

Conference Session

Computers in Education Division Poster Session

Tagged Division

Computers in Education

Page Count

22

DOI

10.18260/1-2--30075

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/30075

Download Count

892

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Paper Authors

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Fadi Castronovo California State University, East Bay

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Dr. Castronovo is an assistant professor of engineering at the Cal State East Bay’s Construction Management program, part of the School of Engineering. Currently, Dr. Castronovo has started the STEM Educational Gaming Research Group. The group is composed of undergraduate students from computer engineering and science, construction management, and other STEM disciplines. The goal of the STEM Educational Gaming Research Group is to enhance instruction in the engineering department, support the students in gaining competitive technical and problem-solving skills, stimulate student’s involvement in research, and promote new internal and external research. His previous research efforts have focused on the NSF-funded Virtual Construction Simulator (VCS) research project. The VCS is an educational simulation game design to support college construction engineering students in developing complex problem-solving skills. To have a strong assessment of the educational value of the game, he pursued a minor in Educational Psychology at the Educational Psychology Department at Penn State. This experience allowed him to gain invaluable knowledge in the field of cognitive, metacognitive, and motivation education.

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Semih Yilmaz California State University, East Bay

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Akarsh Rao Immersive and Interactive Research Group

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Walter Condori Jr. California State University, East Bay

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Karan Monga STEM Educational Gaming Research Group

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Karan Monga is an international student in his second year pursuing a degree in Computer Science. He is a research assistant in the STEM Educational Gaming Research Group. He is in charge of game development and programming. He also led the development of the Cal State East Bay virtual campus, by leveraging several modeling tools. Through the educational simulation game, he aims to educate college students about the importance of waste management and sustainability by letting them inside the virtual world. He hopes to become a full-time game developer after he graduates.

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Hadiseh Gooranorimi California State University, East Bay

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Hadiseh Gooran is a graduate student in Interaction Design at California State University, East Bay. She is a research assistant in the field of Immersive and Interactive Research. While being extremely passionate about the research in STEM educational system, Game-based learning and VR/AR technologies, she also is one of the most involved student in this field. Her proficiency is in Character Design and 3D-Modelling and Animating, and she has a major role in this project, providing a realistic experience within the virtual environment.

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Abstract

Methodologies for educational content delivery and instruction have been going through a revolution thanks to the advancements in computer-based technologies. Serious game technology, as one of these advancements, holds the promise of significantly enhancing the learning of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) concepts, which are traditionally acquired through practical experience. In particular, serious and educational games have been shown to not only engage and motivate students but also facilitate the development of complex problem-solving skills. Another technological advancement that is known to increase student engagement through immersion is Virtual Reality (VR). VR has been shown to lead the users to establish empathic connections with their virtual environment. Combining the two technological trends, this paper illustrates the design and development of a virtual reality educational game, Attack of the Recyclops, by undergraduate computer science and engineering students. Primarily targeted at freshman college students, the learning objective of the game is proper disposal of waste, such as composting and recycling, within a virtual model of a local college campus. Helping students to learn, via a virtual reality educational game, how to properly dispose of waste could have positive outcomes for their future behavior, hence the natural environment in general. The paper illustrates the game development experience within the assessment framework of learning objectives. Therefore, this experience may also assist future game developers in aligning learning objectives with virtual game design.

Castronovo, F., & Yilmaz, S., & Rao, A., & Condori, W., & Monga, K., & Gooranorimi, H. (2018, June), Board 63: Development of a Virtual Reality Educational Game for Waste Management: Attack of the Recyclops Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--30075

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