We report on our ongoing efforts to develop, implement, and test VR activities for the introductory astronomy course and laboratory. Specifically, we developed immersive activities for two challenging "3D" concepts: Moon phases, and stellar parallax. For Moon phases, we built a simulation on the Universe Sandbox platform and developed a set of activities that included flying to different locations/viewpoints and moving the Moon by hand. This allowed the students to create and experience the phases and the eclipses from different vantage points, including seeing the phases of the Earth from the Moon. We tested the efficacy of these activities on a large cohort (N=116) of general education astronomy students, drawing on our experience with a previous VR Moon phase exercise (Blanco (2019)). We were able to determine that VRbased techniques perform comparably well against other teaching methods. We also worked with the studentrun VR Club at San Diego State University, using the Unity software engine to create a simulated space environment, where students could kinesthetically explore stellar parallax - both by moving themselves and by measuring parallactic motion while traveling in an orbit. The students then derived a quantitative distance estimate using the parallax angle they measured while in the virtual environment. Future plans include an immersive VR activity to demonstrate the Hubble expansion and measure the age of the Universe. These serve as examples of how one develops VR activities from the ground up, with associated pitfalls and tradeoffs.
AMACA: Astronomy education with a Multi-sensory, Accessible, and Circular Approach
INAF - Istituto di Radioastronomia（意大利国家天体物理研究所射电天文台）；IAU Office of Astronomy for Education Center Italy（国际天文学联合会天文学教育办公室意大利中心）；INAF - Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna（意大利国家天体物理研究所博洛尼亚天体物理学与空间科学观测站）；INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova（意大利国家天体物理研究所帕多瓦天文台）；IAU OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinator Team for Italy（国际天文学联合会天文学教育办公室意大利国家协调团队）；University of Padua（帕多瓦大学）；IRCAM STSM Lab, Sound Perception and Design group（巴黎音乐声学研究所短期访问学者实验室声音感知与设计小组）
From A Systematic Investigation of Faculty-Produced Think-Pair-Share Questions to Frameworks for Characterizing and Developing Fluency-Inspiring Activities
Astro-Animation -- How Artists and Scientists Envision the Universe
Maryland Institute College of Art（马里兰艺术学院）；Liverpool John Moores University（利物浦约翰摩尔斯大学）；Transart Institute（跨艺术研究所）；University of Maryland, Baltimore County（马里兰大学巴尔的摩县分校）；NASA Goddard Space Flight Center（美国宇航局戈达德太空飞行中心）
