by Robb Lindgren, James Planey, and Taehyun Kim
The CEASAR platform is a mixed-device collaborative problem-solving environment for undergraduate astronomy. The current instantiation of CEASAR is comprised of an augmented reality headset (the HoloLens 2) and multiple tablet computers that allow small groups of students to explore different views of a shared simulation of the night sky. Networked interactions allow for users to annotate the sky using a line draw tool, with the annotations remaining persistent in the sky and moving with the starfield depending on changes in location and time. To explore the use CEASAR in authentic learning applications, a problem-solving task was co-developed with local astronomy educators and the research team. The task, “Lost at Sea” challenges groups to determine the latitude and longitude of a crashed space capsule using only information on the position of the stars in the sky at the time of the crash. This Gallery Walk demonstration will give visitors a live view of the AR environment and access to the simulation from their home computer. This project was funded by Cyberlearning project IIS-1822796.
