CONVEY: Connecting STEM Outreach Now Using VIE Education for Youth

Abstract

As part of the CONVEY (Connecting STEM Outreach Now Using VIE Education for Youth) program, a multidisciplinary Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) team designed a mixed reality workshop to provide experiential instruction to children in families with wounded warriors. The goal of the workshop was to improve participants’ understanding of their family members’ conditions; of specific topics in biology, anatomy, and engineering; and of current and future rehabilitative technologies. The hope was that this increased and personalized understanding might motivate them to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This effort, commissioned by the Office of Naval Research, leveraged both traditional learning methods and immersive technologies. Using a modified version of the VIE (which stands for Virtual Integration Environment)—the virtual training platform APL developed to help amputees quickly adapt to operating its revolutionary Modular Prosthetic Limb—the team created a number of scenarios in virtual and mixed reality to enhance the lesson-based activities. This article outlines the approaches for developing these immersive scenarios, documents the technologies and capabilities used, and presents the program’s measures of effectiveness.