FIGURE: Floor Plan of experiment areas
4.3.2.1. Method
The main study sessions were conducted using a total of 44 second-grade children from an urban Catholic elementary school with an ethnically mixed student population (see \ref{tableracedist}). Another 8 children from other schools participated in case studies after the classroom studies were completed. The gender distribution was equal: 26 boys and 26 girls.
\begin{table}
\begin{center}
\caption{ ETHNIC DISTRIBUTION OF SUBJECTS }
\begin{tabular}{|l|c|}
\hline
Race & Number \\
\hline
Caucasian & 36\\
African American & 8 \\
Asian & 6\\
Hispanic & 2\\
\hline
& Total 52 \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\label{tableracedist}
\end{center}
\end{table}
The classroom studies were conducted on two different days in various rooms of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (\ref{figfloorplan}). The teachers were asked to evaluate the students in their class according to their reading and writing skills, leadership skills, and shyness. The children were then randomly assigned to groups. We tried to keep the groups as equally distributed as possible by selectively matching and assigning the children with strong leadership skills or strong reading and writing skills to different groups. Each class of 22 students was divided into three teams of 7 to 8 students each. The children all gathered in one room which was used as the main activity area. Three tables were arranged in this room with eight chairs around each. Every team occupied a table and used it as their writing, planning, drawing and eating surface.
FIGURE: Floor Plan of experiment areas
Before beginning the VR experience, the children were asked to complete pretest question sheets. These sheets included three general sets of questions that attempted to identify the children's computer and video game exposure, familiarity with gardening, and understanding of simple ecological concepts (Appendix A, section \ref{pretestsection}). After completing the questionnaires, each group of students was asked to generate ideas for planning their garden. A large piece of paper containing a top-down view of the garden was placed on each table (\ref{figgardenplan}). Four rows of differently colored stickers, each one representing one of the four available vegetables, were provided. The children in each group had to plan where they would plant their vegetables by placing the stickers on the soil area of the garden. A total of forty vegetables were allowed (10 stickers for each kind).
FIGURE: Garden plan
After the planning stage, the first team continued onto the CAVE and ImmersaDesk part, while the other teams remained in the room to continue their concept maps. Each team was split into two groups, one for the CAVE and the other for the Immersadesk. The two groups collaborated remotely, represented by the avatar of the leader of each group. The leader was assigned randomly by the researchers, to avoid conflicts during the experience in VR. The leaders were instructed in the use of the wand and were allowed a 10-minute period to practice navigation. Each session lasted for an average of 30 minutes. In addition to the two avatars sharing the same virtual space, an adult acting as teacher was disguised as a girl avatar and was guiding the groups from another Immersadesk. The teacher-avatar was also responsible for keeping the time, keeping the children focused on their planting task, helping them accomplish the the planting planned on paper, and encouraging the two groups to speak louder. An audio connection between the three VR sites was established through the use of hidden ambient microphones. Out of a total of 8 groups for each classroom, 4 groups were of single gender (2 all-girls teams, 2 all-boys teams), and the remaining 2 were of mixed gender.
Following the virtual experience, the two groups were joined and guided into a small, quiet interview room, where they completed the post-test questions and discussed their impressions with the researcher. These sessions were also videotaped for later transcription.
After the interview, the groups returned to the main room. Large pieces of white paper were placed on the table, upon which the students could draw. They were asked to draw the garden they created in NICE. The activities also continued in their classroom after the experiments. The teachers assigned to the students homework reports to describe the virtual reality experience and propose their own virtual worlds. The answers ranged from ``baseball'' and ``basketball'' worlds (from the boys) to ``tropical rainforests'' and ``underwater expeditions with dolphins'' (from the girls). Some were illustrated with drawings.
Similar methods were used in the case studies, but the children were in pairs, rather than groups, and the time they spent in the virtual environment was longer. The boy who participated in the initial study returned two more times, where he collaborated once with a remote adult and next with another remote boy of his own age.