Palo Alto, CA, April 15, 2006—Researchers from the Graduate School of
Education at Stanford University have
announced the initial results of a pilot study
with students utilizing the 3D content in Project
3D-VIEW. Results were presented at the American Education Research Association
Annual Meeting in San Francisco in Spring 2006. Students who utilized the Project
3D-VIEW content in their lessons covering plate
tectonics performed better than those students
who utilized the same material presented in
2D. "The education materials were some of those
that used the stereo-3D content in which the
dimensionality of the Earth's plates just jump
out at you. This is exciting stuff." says Paul
Kim, Ph.D., the Chief Technology Officer at the
School of Education. "We will carefully study the
impact of the program's spatial components with more schools beginning in Fall 2006."
Kim studied a pilot school in Sunnyvale,
California, one of three alpha schools in the
project for the controlled study. The study will
be expanded and in late 2006 with the
beta-school to transcend diverse school
settings. One interesting note is that the
attitudes of the students using the 3D over the
2D did not change significantlystudent interest
was high in both groups. Kim will also lead a
study in Fall 2006 that examines student spatial ability.
Schools interested in participating in the
Stanford studies are encouraged to apply to be beta schools.
