This paper presents work-in-progress of a research project attempting to determine the efficacy of virtual reality in a science-focused education scenario called SolarVR. The research is informed from both academic literature and the heuristic experiences of researchers involved over the past ten years. An antidisciplinary approach to collaboration aims to support the increasing scale of experientiality of student developers. Physiological measures of participants aim to determine VR effectiveness whilst engaged in an immersive task. The blending of quantitative data, informed with insights from qualitative interpretation, emphasizes user-determined creativity for pedagogically appropriate learning in VR.

Despite its growing popularity, Virtual Reality (VR) has yet to make a significant impact in conventional education due to its high cost, unconvincing learning data, complexity of the technologies and, persistently, cybersickness. To alleviate this dilemma, it is necessary to develop a straightforward and reliable measurement of cybersickness for VR application developers and mainstream educators. The Empatica E4 wearable device and its eco-system were utilized to record Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and Electrodermal Activity (EDA) during customized computer-based and VR tasks with 16 participants. The metrics of S, NNMean, SDNN, RMSSD, and Poincaré Plot in HRV data and SCR width in EDA data were found to be potential indicators of cybersickness. Further research aims to determine a specific cybersickness index.

Joichi Ito, MIT Media Lab Director, suggests that the way ahead in education is to support endeavors where learning processes and peer collaborations are valued above end products such as exam scores. He terms this antidisciplinary [1]. To engage students in an antidisciplinary construction of their learning environments, a 3D virtual Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant scenario is designed for familiarity with operator challenges, nuclear plant risks, and basic nuclear power content [2]. Donning the Oculus Rift HMD, students are immersed in the Fukushima nuclear power plant and tasked with retrieving 5 radioactive bins randomly positioned throughout the plant. Due to the radiation levels, students must maneuver a robot throughout the plant. To locate the bins, the students can maneuver a drone over the plant. While retrieving the bins the student also collects virtual `Information cards' for later questioning. In addition, the student must locate the entrance (a teleport) to Reactor 2 and turn on the cooling water pump. The activity is timed so that on 8 minutes a tsumani alarm is sounded and water rises after 10 minutes. To learn about the accident, the student enters a Control Room and undertakes a `cause-and-effect' quiz utilizing the collected Information cards.

The potential for cybersickness remains a critical problem when engaged in Virtual Reality experiences. Cybersickness is difficult to resolve because, although there are commonly accepted symptoms and theories, there is still no consensus on how to overcome the problem. In this study, a method of real-time monitoring of physiological signals is proposed as an approach to measure the potential onset of cybersickness. An application called Cybatica which displays physiological data and a unique metric termed Onset of Cybersickness (OCS) has been developed.

The aim of this research is to design and implement a Solar Virtual Reality environment (SolarVR) for inter-cognitive and intra-cognitive communication by connecting users and sensors to a real-world solar panel plant for remote monitoring, maintenance and collaboration. The paper outlines the development of a VR solution which can be utilized for remote monitoring and communication, skills training and science education.