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Supporting Anatomy Education with a 3D Puzzle in a VR Environment - Results from a Pilot Study

Published: 08 September 2019 Publication History

Abstract

We designed an immersive VR system to support the imagination of complex anatomical structures. By solving a 3D puzzle of anatomical models, medical students learn names and spatial relations. The approach is proposed as a supplement to the work with traditional human body donors. To meet the needs of medical students and satisfy the different stages of learning, the approach contains different modes that help the student to gather and review medical knowledge. Additionally, different feedback mechanisms that support the student with the puzzle task are proposed. The concept is realized as a prototype application using the HTC Vive and the Unity game engine. This prototype is evaluated in a pilot study, where we investigate the general usefulness as well as the feedback mechanisms. The results suggest that a 3D puzzle in a fully immersive virtual reality environment can be a valuable extension to traditional teaching methods in the medical curriculum. Regarding the feedback, it is clear that a combination of vibrotactile feedback and a ghost copy approach are most promising.

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cover image ACM Other conferences
MuC '19: Proceedings of Mensch und Computer 2019
September 2019
863 pages
ISBN:9781450371988
DOI:10.1145/3340764
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

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Publication History

Published: 08 September 2019

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Author Tags

  1. 3D Puzzle
  2. Anatomy Education
  3. Virtual Reality

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MuC'19
MuC'19: Mensch-und-Computer
September 8 - 11, 2019
Hamburg, Germany

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  • (2024)A Survey of Medical Visualization Through the Lens of MetaphorsIEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics10.1109/TVCG.2023.333054630:10(6639-6664)Online publication date: Oct-2024
  • (2024)BrainBuilder: A Virtual Reality Serious Game for Insect Neuroanatomy Education2024 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG)10.1109/CoG60054.2024.10645620(1-4)Online publication date: 5-Aug-2024
  • (2024)Comparing Performance and Experience in VR vs. Real-World Through a Puzzle GameVideogame Sciences and Arts10.1007/978-3-031-51452-4_6(72-85)Online publication date: 3-Jan-2024
  • (2023)Puzzle game-based learning: a new approach to promote learning of principles of coronary artery bypass graft surgeryBMC Medical Education10.1186/s12909-023-04156-w23:1Online publication date: 13-Apr-2023
  • (2023)PuzzleFixer: A Visual Reassembly System for Immersive Fragments RestorationIEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics10.1109/TVCG.2022.320938829:1(429-439)Online publication date: Jan-2023
  • (2022)Nested Papercrafts for Anatomical and Biological EdutainmentComputer Graphics Forum10.1111/cgf.1456141:3(541-553)Online publication date: 29-Jul-2022
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  • (2021)VR System for the Restoration of Broken Cultural Artifacts on the Example of a Funerary Monument2021 IEEE Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR)10.1109/VR50410.2021.00101(739-748)Online publication date: Mar-2021
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