Work-In-Progress-Teaching Invisible Phenomena and Virtual Experiments: Immersion or Augmentation?

This work-in-progress discusses Immersive Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality for teaching invisible phenomena and virtual science experiments in Materials Science. Immersion, coupled with 3D spatial interaction, is useful when the knowledge to be acquired is procedural, to create a sense of scale and to allow easy navigation within a large experimental space. Immersion is also beneficial to transport the learners into the world of the infinitesimally small, when the phenomena occur at atomic scale. Conversely, augmentation is better for experiencing phenomena that can be triggered by interacting with real objects. Deployment, affordability and use in actual teaching are also discussed.