Eric Klopfer

In a biology game comparing stereoscopic HMD VR to a non‑stereoscopic 2D version with matched interactivity, both groups improved, but the immersive VR group showed greater gains in content assessments and mental‑model drawings of translation. The study isolates immersion as a key affordance that supports conceptual understanding of spatial environments and processes, informing when VR may add value beyond 2D interactive media.

Synthesizes multi‑year design research from the CLEVR project and the Cellverse game to distill best practices for designing VR learning games. The paper argues that authentic environments and actions, purposeful interactivity tied to learning goals, and structured collaboration with distributed roles can enhance learning and manage cognitive load. Practical guidance is offered for balancing fidelity, resources, and inclusion during VR design and evaluation.

Introduces UbiqGames, a class of mobile, casual educational games, through the Weatherlings case. Motivated by the need to understand how students use educational games amid distractions on their devices, the paper explains design choices for engagement and practicality. A pilot with 20 students suggested high engagement and increased interest in weather and climate after play, motivating further work on learning effects and generalization to other content areas.

Overviews AR simulations that overlay virtual data and interactions on real contexts and argues for engaging youth as authors of AR games. Using examples such as TimeLab 2100, the article discusses technical and pedagogical supports that enable students to create location‑aware games closely tied to their communities, blending portability with place specificity to deepen connection and learning.

Presents the Simulation Cycle, an iterative model connecting scientific inquiry and engineering design through simulation and gameplay with StarLogo TNG. Case studies in middle‑school science and high‑school physics show how transforming simulations into games can motivate learners, deepen understanding of complex systems (e.g., epidemics, gravity), and support practices such as data analysis, modeling, and design.

The paper proposes the augmented reality educational gaming (AREG) approach for handhelds and narrates a rapid‑prototyping design program culminating in Environmental Detectives. Across multiple iterations and school deployments, the authors articulate design principles (e.g., dynamic events, differentiated roles) and authoring‑tool needs to enable teachers and students to build their own local AR scenarios.

Describes the creation of a framework for handheld “augmented reality educational gaming” and the iterative design of the Environmental Detectives platform. Through rapid prototyping across multiple classroom trials, the authors analyze pedagogical, design, and technical decisions that enable location‑aware, role‑based investigations. They argue that handheld AR can bridge entertainment and education by leveraging mobility, context, and social interaction to support inquiry and problem solving in authentic scenarios.

Reports on Outbreak @ The Institute, a networked handheld AR game for authentic science inquiry. High‑school students assume complementary roles to contain a simulated epidemic distributed across a real campus. Analyses of surveys, logs, and interviews suggest that role specialization, embodied movement, and dynamic feedback foster perceptions of authenticity and interdependence, and support reasoning about underlying models in ways difficult to achieve in classroom‑bound activities.

Examines the pedagogical potential of augmented reality simulations that position learners as scientists conducting investigations. Drawing on case studies with secondary students, the paper shows how AR can foreground science as a social practice of managing resources, synthesizing multiple data sources, and iteratively forming and revising hypotheses in situ. Findings indicate that embodied, situated investigations can challenge simplistic views of “the scientific method.”

Articulates the pedagogical potential of augmented reality simulations for environmental engineering education using handhelds. Through design experiments and four case studies with secondary students, the work shows how AR simulations position learners in virtual investigations that highlight science as a social practice, foster management of resources and data, and challenge simplistic views of inquiry. Findings illustrate how immersion in place-based AR scenarios can connect academic content to students’ lived worlds.

This design experiment introduces augmented reality (AR) simulation games on mobile devices as a means to engage learners in environmental science. Four case studies show how positioning students as field scientists surfaces beliefs about scientific practice, connects classroom content to lived spaces, and supports sense‑making through narrative structure and contextualized inquiry.

Introduces OsmoBeaker, software enabling inquiry‑based, molecular‑level experiments on diffusion and osmosis. In controlled classroom studies, students using the simulations overcame several entrenched misconceptions (e.g., confusing quantity with concentration, directed motion), though not all. The results suggest that carefully designed molecular‑level simulations can improve conceptual understanding of core cell biology processes.