Figure 1. An Activity System illustrating a breakdown between the tool (the VE) and the
participant’s (John’s) goal (O - Object), which is resolved by a revision of the Rules (from R1
to R2).
For a detailed analysis of these exploratory studies using the Activity Theory
framework, see [].
Overall, these case studies helped in clarifying issues concerning the
methodology for working with children for this problem, while acting as a test
bed for the application of the analytical framework. They also allowed
shortcomings of the task to be identified; the observed learning outcomes
indicated that the learning goal of the tasks (i.e. to learn about the order and
symmetry of ancient columns) was not easily quantifiable and did not provide
enough opportunities for conceptual learning to occur and, consequently, to
be assessed. This led to a re-design of the study, which required the design of
a different virtual environment, as discussed in the following section.
4. The design of an interactive VE to support
conceptual learning
It became apparent that the column construction activity did not provide
enough opportunities for conceptual challenge and could not be easily linked
to the everyday life and interests of today’s children between 8 and 12 years
old. Therefore, a different learning domain was chosen that would allow us to
exploit the capabilities of the VR medium in visualizing abstract and difficult
conceptual learning problems and providing feedback. In order to examine
“interactivity”, it was decided that varied levels of control over the parameters
of the system should be provided through an experimental VE in which
children would be asked to complete constructivist tasks that are designed as
arithmetical fraction problems. Fractions were chosen as the learning topic
due to the difficulty that primary school students have in understanding and