Digital Dome versus Desktop Display in an Educational Game: Gates of Horus

A visually immersive display can make an educational game more effective, if concepts are embodied in an information-rich space and the interaction/perception design exploits the egocentric view that the display affords. For example, ancient Egyptian temples juxtapose language and symbol in an architecture meant to be understood from the inside. Students, ages 11 through 14, played an educational game based on our (virtual) temple. In an unstructured test in which students produced their own guided tours of the temple, those who had played the game in a digital dome showed better factual recall (P < 0.05) than those who had used a standard desktop.