iSocial is a 3D Virtual Learning Environment (3D VLE) to develop social competency for students who have been identified with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders. The motivation for developing a 3D VLE is to improve access to special needs curriculum for students who live in rural or small school districts. The paper first describes a number of innovative features developed to translate ...

Modeling and Simulation (M&S) is becoming the core of scientific activities addressing nature complexity. To tackle complexity, we need to integrate heterogeneous formalisms in the same model. Models then become multimodels. Furthermore, M&S softwares have to assist take into account the M&S activity cycle, i.e. modellers to design and to implement models, to define experimental frames and to a...

This paper investigates the engaging concept of virtual 3D jigsaw puzzles to foster the understanding of spatial relations within technical or biological systems by means of virtual models. Employing an application in anatomy education, it answers the question: How does guided spatial exploration, arising while composing a 3D jigsaw, affect the acquisition of spatial-functional understanding in...

This paper intends to introduce a game-based 3D Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to second graders. The impetus arose from the need to make learning in mathematics more effective and interesting through multimedia. Applied in a game, the basic mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are expected to performed by learners as they represent themselves ...