Key lessons for the design and integration of virtual environments in secondary science

This paper discusses a 3 year research project in which a virtual enviroment (VE) to teach radioactivity was developed and tested in a number of schools. Many software packages currently developed for schools tend to be fairly generic, covering a topic quite broadly. There has been a lack of attention to teachers' requirements and needs. This research emphasised the importance of involving teachers through the development process, from specification to evaluation. It also confirmed the importance of school-based evaluation studies in the development and evaluation of educational software. Through carrying out school-based evaluation studies a number of key considerations were identified. These "contextual considerations" covered three areas seen to be important in the design and development of an educational VE: facilities and equipment available, intended use in school and individual learner characteristics. Lessons learnt from this research may prove to be useful guidelines for future researchers. As such, a framework has been developed as a recommendation for a suitable method for the design, development and evaluation of virtual environments for education, and more generally other educational software applications. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.