2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

GR in VR: Using Immersive Virtual Reality as a Learning Tool for General Relativity

Presented at Using Computation and Modeling, Engineering Physics and Physics Division (EP2D) Technical Session 3

According to general relativity, gravity can be understood as a curvature of spacetime in response to the presence of matter and energy. Students often struggle to visualize the geometry of curved spacetime. The standard demonstration used to aid in visualization, that of a ball on an elastic sheet, is fundamentally flawed and may lead to misconceptions. Recent research suggests that virtual reality can improve understanding of spatially complex or abstract concepts. We hypothesize that an interactive virtual reality demonstration involving masses in a curved 3D spatial grid, with clocks representing the relative passage of time, would support improved conceptual understanding and impact attitude among students learning general relativity compared to traditional methods. To test this hypothesis, undergraduate students who have no formal experience with general relativity are recruited to evaluate the virtual reality simulation. The students first take a questionnaire to determine a baseline for their conceptual understanding of general relativity, with confidence-scaled multiple choice and written response questions. The experimental group experiences an interactive virtual reality demonstration in which the subjects can move objects through space and time to visualize how mass curves spacetime. An instructor leads the control group through the standard ball on a sheet demo while delivering content orally. Students in both groups are prompted by an instructor to explore the relationship between mass, gravity, and time, guided by a set of conceptual questions. Immediately after the demonstrations, students complete the same questionnaire and a survey about learner attitude and simulation usability. Few previous studies focus on the conceptual understanding of general relativity and even fewer examine the possibility of immersive learning as a tool for teaching this topic. Our work addresses this gap by designing a novel immersive technique for visualizing relativistic effects and comparing this technique to existing non-immersive methods of instruction.

Authors

Kristen Schumacher http://orcid.org/0009-0002-8573-5075 University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign [biography]

Kristen Schumacher is currently a graduate student in physics with a research focus on modified theories of gravity. She founded the POINT project (Physics Outreach and Instruction through New Technologies) at UIUC to bring these abstract concepts to a wider audience through virtual reality.
Sonali Joshi University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign [biography]

Sonali Joshi is a graduate student in physics with a research focus on effective models for condensed matter systems. She is the head of the POINT (Physics Outreach at Illinois through New Technologies) VR Production Team. The VR simulations developed by POINT focus on conveying general relativity concepts.
Jina Kang University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign [biography]

Dr. Jina Kang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research centers on three interrelated areas: data science, data-driven design, and STEM education. She applies different analytical approaches of data science to understand students’ scientific inquiry behaviors in technology-enhanced learning environments and investigates data science skills required in science disciplines.
Eric Shaffer University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign [biography]

Eric Shaffer is a Teaching Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He also serves as the Associate Director for Education at the Center for Immersive Computing at that same institution. He teaches a revolving set of courses including Game Development, Computer Graphics, and Scientific Visualization. His research interests include using visualization for education, data-centric scientific computing, and geometric modeling.
Jessica Raley University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign [biography]

Jessica Raley is the outreach coordinator for the Illinois Center for Advanced Studies of the Universe (ICASU) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is also the adviser for the P.O.I.N.T. VR program.
Jose Nijaid Arredondo University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign [biography]

Graduate student working on the gravitational wave modeling of inspiraling compact binaries, with an emphasis on the effects of eccentricity and spin precession, and interested in expanding the teaching of general relativity to broader audiences, including K-12 curricula.
Brandon Mark Buncher University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign [biography]

I am am a physics Ph.D. student studying cosmology with a focus on large scale structure, weak gravitational lensing, big data analysis, and machine learning.
Rajan Patkar University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [biography]

Rajan Patkar is a sophomore in computer engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His goal is to connect his core engineering skills with fields in which he can make cross-disciplinary connections and accelerate progress, like physics education. He joined the POINT team (Physics Outreach and Instruction through New Technologies) to focus on the outreach and research efforts.
Katherine Zine University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign [biography]

I am a first year physics graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I did my undergraduate at Indiana University Bloomington. My research is in theoretical nuclear physics on neutron star equations of state.
Daniel Alfredo Caballero University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign [biography]

I am a colombian Physics PhD. student at UIUC doing research in classical gravity.
Dr. Alexandria Tucker University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign [biography]

Dr. Alexandria Tucker is an NSF MPS Ascend Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
Mireille Tan University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign [biography]

I am a freshman in B.S. in Computer Science, with current research interests in Human-Computer Interaction and Computer Graphics. For this paper, I implemented several features related to user interface and experience for our simulation in Unity.
Christopher Vistian Physics Outreach at Illinois Through New Technologies [biography]

Student of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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