Bridging strategies for VR-based learning

A distributed immersive virtual environment was deployed as acomponent of a pedagogical strategy for teaching third gradechildren that the Earth is round. The displacement strategy isbased on the theory that fundamental conceptual change requires analternative cognitive starting point which doesnt invoke thefeatures of pre-existing models. While the VR apparatus helped toestablish that alternative framework, conceptual change wasstrongly influenced by the bridging activities which related thatexperience to the target domain. Simple declarations of relevanceproved ineffective. A more articulated bridging process involvingphysical models was effective for some children, but the multiplerepresentations employed required too much model-matching forothers.