2010/03/23 by Ximena Cid, Ramón López · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Engineering · #Science Education and Pedagogy #Spatial Cognition and Navigation #Geography Education and Pedagogy
paper · doi:10.3847/aer2009044
openalex publication_date 2010/03/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
Understanding lunar phases requires three-dimensional information about the relative positions of the Moon, Earth, and Sun, thus using a stereo display in instruction might improve student comprehension of lunar phases or other topics in basic astronomy. We conducted a laboratory ! 15 sections on phases of the Moon as part of the introductory astronomy classes. Half of the laboratories were taught using stereo visualizations projected by a portable GeoWall system running the AstroWall software, while the other half of the laboratories were identical, but without stereo. We found that both sets of laboratories showed a statistically significant gain in student comprehension, but that there was no statistical difference between the stereo laboratories and the nonstereo laboratories. We conclude that there is no advantage to using a stereo display in teaching about lunar phases.