Assignment 3 Devlog

Introduction

This application is designed to help marine biology students with memorizing and understanding the anatomy of a fish

Description

The application presents a virtual fish to the user. The essential pieces of the fish’s anatomy can be picked up and further inspected, and when they are, labels with important information about that body part are displayed with the corresponding organ. The user can also enter a construction mode where, after memorizing the layout of the fish, they can attempt to put all the pieces back in the correct place. An important aspect of studying biology is being able to memorise the names of body parts and their function, as well as how they correlate with each other. A common teaching tool for subjects that study animal biology is dissection, wherein students are able to open up an animal or part of its anatomy to gain more understanding of how everything pieces together. Dissections are considered ‘hands-on’ learning, an approach to teaching that aims to have students learn by doing, rather than information being relayed to them[1]. According to the Institute of Educational Advancement, hands-on learning helps students remember concepts more than traditional methods on their own[2]. However, dissections are often messy and require a lot of cleanup, not to mention that some students might not be comfortable performing one. This application is attempting to emulate the same kind of tactile response that a dissection can offer in a virtual context in order to reap similar benefits, while being accessible to students who are uncomfortable cutting up a carcass. In addition to this, VR in an educational context helps with student engagement[3].

Interaction Design

The Application features a large fish with all of its organs, and there are several ways the player can interact with these. Pointing at a given organ will toggle a small label that has the name of the organ and a sentence about its purpose in the fish’s body. Organs can also be grabbed and moved around, in an effort to emulate the tactile response that an actual dissection can offer.

Technical Development

The application was developed in Unity for use on Oculus headsets. 

Using the Oculus hand functions, pointing at an organ toggles its label, doing a grabbing motion in proximity to an organ makes the player grab it virtually. Buttons to the right of the fish switch modes between organ inspection and fish reconstruction, and reset the scene in the event of an organ being lost in the void.

I’m already handing in the assignment late, but if I had more time, I was planning to add a timer to the construction mode, so that when a student put all the organs back in the fish correctly there was a win condition of some kind and their time for doing so was saved and displayed somewhere else in the application.

Assets

Fish Pieces - Modeled by me, used to construct the fish and serves as all the interactable objects within the application.

Scalpel Model - Used in the environment as a setpiece.

Tray Model - Used in environment as a setpiece.

Bench Texture - Used in environment to make the main plane look more like a benchtop lol

References

[1] https://newschoolarch.edu/blog/what-are-the-benefits-of-hands-on-learning/

[2] https://educationaladvancement.org/blog-hands-on-learning-and-memory/

[3] https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/benefits-of-virtual-reality-in-education

https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/free-3ds-model-blade-adjustable-bump/640236

https://www.turbosquid.com/AssetManager/Index.cfm?stgAction=getFiles&subAction=Download&intID=1578697&intType=3&csrf=897650ADA4C202C01C8D61EA757380BEC1727A76&showDownload=1&s=1

https://bathroomfactorywarehouse.com.au/products/adp-ocean-foam-caesarstone-top