Faculty: Nicoletta Adamo, Purdue (PI), Ronnie Wilbur, Purdue (co-PI)
Sponsor: NSF-RDE "Software for Math Education of the Deaf" (grant#0622900 - $299,999)
We are developing an immersive virtual learning environment in which deaf and hearing children (age 5-10) interact with fantasy 3D avatars and objects and learn standards-based math and science concepts, and relative American Sign Language (ASL) terminology. The application can be displayed in stationary VR projection systems (such as the FLEX, housed at the Envision Center for Data Perceptualization), and can be interacted with using a pair of pinch gloves, or a 6 degrees-of-freedom (dof) wand, coupled with a wrist tracker.
The virtual world includes a series of stores in which the participants perform hands-on, minds-on math/science activities based on standard elementary school curriculum. Users have the ability to explore the stores, select and manipulate objects, and communicate with the virtual store keepers in spoken and written English, and American Sign Language.