Using a Game Engine to Integrate Experimental, Field, and Simulation Data for Science Education: You Are the Scientist!

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to use a game engine to
integrate geo-referenced research data, whether experimental or
simulated, to present it interactively to the user. Geo-referenced
means that every image, video, or sound file, every pressure
map, and every simulated temperature chart is attached to a
specific point on a map or body. These data may also be timereferenced,
so that different data sets may be available at the
same location for different times of the day or seasons of the year.
Target users for the interactive applications are high-school and
college students who can then conduct their own “experiments”
or “explorations” as a way to get exposed to the problems and
methodologies of science and research. We use two examples of
projects to illustrate the approach.