brought to the virtual reality laboratory on a weekend) prevented us from
achieving an equal number of boys and girls in each condition, although an
equal number was achieved overall.
Figure 5. Images of children participating in the Virtual Playground studies, in
the two experimental conditions: interactive VR condition (left column) and
passive VR condition (right column).
The nature of the study was such that the student was free to act or interact for
as long as she wished with the playground, be it the virtual or the non-virtual
(LEGO) playground. A researcher who was at the same time the interviewer
and the observer was constantly present, encouraging the participant to
explain her/his actions while doing (by thinking aloud).
If assigned to the interactive VR experimental condition, the participant was
immersed in a typical CAVE-like system2. The participant viewed the
projected stereoscopic images by wearing a pair of active stereo glasses and
could move around freely to interact with the environment by using a wireless
wand which contains a joystick and buttons. The wand was used to navigate
2 Consisting of four projection surfaces (three walls and the floor)
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