Frame Immersion Theory (FI) is a pre-formal foundations framework that treats time as the experienced continuity of observer-occupancy across affinity-linked discrete frames rather than as a fundamental flowing substance (p. 1). Version 1.5 consolidates several corrections: observer-occupancy is formulated as a frame-indexed relation rather than as an observer moving through frames; memory is defined at substrate level as event-selective retained local bias on future state transition; learning is treated as feedback-shaped integration of memory-bias into future behavior; and Self-Death is (...) reframed as a terminal-topology claim within observer-indexed adjacency rather than as an experienced transition into absence (p. 1). FI decomposes death into Corporeal Death, Narrative Death, Social Death, and Self-Death, conceding the first three while rejecting Self-Death under Strong FI’s current primitives. Strong FI asserts Infinite Local Continuability: every occupied observer-indexed frame belongs to a nonterminal admissible adjacency structure containing infinitely many locally accessible observer-preserving adjacent occupied frames. The document also introduces SOMA Core v2 as an operational structural instance for memory-field learning and pattern-bias continuity in a stateless or mostly stateless local model. This working paper presents the internal v1.5 baseline, its challenge protocol, and its external-language falsifiers. (shrink)

This paper puts forward an account of imaginative immersion. Elaborating on Kendall Walton’s thesis that imagining aims at the fictional truth, it first argues that imaginings are inherently rule- or norm-governed: they are ‘regulated’ by that which is presented as fictionally true. It then shows that an imaginer can follow the rule or norm mandating her to imagine the propositions presented as fictional truths either by acquiring explicit beliefs about how the rule (norm) is to be followed, or directly, (...) without acquiring such beliefs. It proceeds to argue that to the extent that an imaginer follows this rule (norm) without holding such beliefs, she is more immersed in her imaginings. The general idea is that immersion in an activity is a matter of following rules or norms that apply to that activity without explicitly thinking about how to follow them, that is, without ‘doxastic mediation.’ Lastly, the paper shows that this thesis can explain various features associated with imaginative immersion, such as the sort of attentiveness it involves, the emotional response it generates, and its relation to spoilers. (shrink)

Much of the excitement about virtual reality and its potential for things like entertainment, art, education, and activism is its ability to generate experiences that are powerfully immersive. However, discussions of VR tend to invoke the notion of immersive experience without subjecting it to closer scrutiny; and discussions often take it for granted that immersive experience is a single unified phenomenon. Against this, we argue that there are four distinct types or aspects of immersive experience that should be distinguished: representational (...) immersion, which corresponds roughly to what is sometimes called “psychological presence”; participatory immersion, which is related to the interactive aspects of VR experience; affective immersion, which has to do with the subject’s emotional relation to the experience; and narrative immersion, which captures the phenomenon of being caught up in the flow of events experienced. We argue that this four-way distinction helps us understand the powerfully immersive character of VR, while also recognizing its continuity with the immersion we experience with media such as novels, films, and music. We also argue that the account of immersion we offer here lets us better understand the connection between VR and empathy, charting a middle course between extreme enthusiasts who view VR as the ultimate “empathy machine” and extreme skeptics who argue that this attitude is misguided. (shrink)

Some stories generate in us a peculiar experience of intense narrative engagement. This common experience, which we call narrative immersion, has been the object of a vast literature in psychology and other disciplines. Philosophers, however, have only recently engaged with this topic and the tendency has been to explain it by postulating specific kinds of mental states. We propose a different approach, explaining narrative immersion by means of a particular distribution of attention over the content of ordinary mental (...) states. First, we provide a characterization of narrative immersion based on studies by psychologists and other theorists. Then, we discuss alternative views and develop our own proposal. We articulate how attention works as we engage with the narrative, and how the adequate distribution of attention over the mental states involved in understanding the storyworld can offer the resources to explain the characteristic features of narrative immersion. Unlike alternative proposals, ours avoids the need to postulate controversial mental states. (shrink)

A common view about the phenomenology of episodic remembering has it that when we remember a perceptual experience, we can relive or re-experience many of its features, but not its characteristic presence. In this paper, we challenge this common view. We first say that presence in perception divides into temporal and locative presence, with locative having two sides, an objective and a subjective one. While we agree with the common view that temporal and objective locative presence cannot be relived in (...) remembering, we argue that subjective locative presence – the feeling of being immersed in a certain scene – can be so. Our argument for this claim starts by determining independently the underpinning mechanisms of subjective locative presence in quasi-perceptual imagination. These mechanisms are self-projection, imaginative pretence, and attentional focus. We then proceed to establish that they have been found to underpin conscious states of episodic remembering too. We conclude that episodic remembering can bring us to relive the subjective locative presence characteristic of a perceptual experience, and that the common view is mistaken. Our view – ‘mnemonic immersivism’ – has important consequences regarding the relationships between memory and imagination and the phenomenology of episodic remembering. (shrink)

Immersive experiences are typically associated with entering alternative worlds, often represented as distinct spatial environments. This paper challenges such conventional notions of immersion by arguing that the contexts of immersion aren’t spatially articulated “worlds” but temporally structured “situations” of limited scope. We propose a novel concept of immersion, asserting that being immersed in a situation involves being experientially and actively in sync with its unfolding temporal structure, rhythm, vibe, and pace. Drawing on the phenomenology of (film)experience and (...) following the wave metaphor, we examine the underlying dynamics of time experience in immersive encounters. This expanded understanding of immersion has profound implications, bridging the gap between lm experience and everyday life and revealing the political dimensions of immersive experience. (shrink)

Children sometimes lose themselves in make-believe games. Actors sometimes lose themselves in their roles. Readers sometimes lose themselves in their books. From people's introspective self-reports and phenomenological experiences, these immersive experiences appear to differ from ordinary experiences of simply playing a game, simply acting out a role, and simply reading a book. What explains the difference? My answer: attention. -/- [Unpublishable 2007-2017. This paper was referenced in Liao and Doggett (2014).].

In this study, the design philosophies behind, along with motivational and academic outcomes of an immersive VR-assisted online special education curriculum are described. Difficulties associated with allocating special education resources in US public school settings form a rationale for the creation of the program. The possibility for a portable immersive learning approach to activate students’ individual and collaborative problem-solving abilities and grant students greater freedom and control in learning is considered. As a foundation to understand the power of immersive learning, (...) Gordon Pask’s Cybernetic Theater, and his broader ideas on responsive technology assemblages applied to the performing arts and architecture developed in collaboration with figures such as Joan Littlewood and Cedric Price are drawn from. The CadetNet special education curriculum, which relies on a design framework rooted in Pask’s work, utilizes an assemblage of videoconferencing, headset VR simulations, and academic games in varied sequences to give students ways to engage in content acquisition, collaboration, and expression through multimedia avenues. Teachers modulate instructional delivery and their use of this technology assemblage in real-time to meet the participants’ needs. Results from a three-week summer enrichment program conducted with six students diagnosed with neurodevelopmental learning differences (e.g., Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Specific Learning Disability and their comorbidities) are shared. Narrative inquiries of transcripts from mathematics and language arts lessons indicate how Pask’s design framework was applied to implement the curriculum, and that student activity ensuing during the program echoed both the hopes and concerns associated with Pask and his colleague, Joan Littlewood’s broader design philosophies. Student surveys and standardized test scores reveal a maintenance of pre-experimental academic prowess, and adaptive changes in their self-determined motivational profiles, which have been shown to be a strong correlate of student interest in extant literature. Results showcase how sociocognitive effects of CadetNet resonated with Pask’s proposed outcome of heightened audience interest central to the Cybernetic Theater. (shrink)

This paper investigates the relationship between immersion, emotion, and imagination in virtual reality (VR), focusing on two seemingly distant domains: Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s installation Carne y Arena (2017) and VR-based workplace safety training. Both cases demonstrate that simulated environments can elicit authentic emotional responses – such as fear, stress, or vulnerability – yet the implications of these experiences diverge sharply. Drawing on theories of presence and the “paradox of fiction”, we argue that VR should be understood not as a (...) substitute for imagination but as a heightened form of fiction that depends on the user’s willingness to engage in make-believe. While Carne y Arena frames affect as an entry point for moral imagination within an explicit artistic and symbolic context, occupational safety training instrumentalizes emotion as a means of behavioral conditioning within a productivist framework. The danger in both domains lies not in immersive experience itself but in mistaking a single simulation for the fullness of lived reality. (shrink)

The paper proposes a minimal definition of dreaming in terms of immersive spatiotemporal hallucination (ISTH) occurring in sleep or during sleep–wake transitions and under the assumption of reportability. I take these conditions to be both necessary and sufficient for dreaming to arise. While empirical research results may, in the future, allow for an extension of the concept of dreaming beyond sleep and possibly even independently of reportability, ISTH is part of any possible extension of this definition and thus is a (...) constitutive condition of dreaming. I also argue that the proposed ISTH model of dreaming, in conjunction with considerations on the epistemic relationship between dreaming and dream reports, raises important questions about the extent to which dreams typically involve a detailed body representation—an assumption that plays an important role in philosophical work on dreaming. As a commonly accepted definition of dreaming is lacking in current dream research, the ISTH model, which integrates conceptual analysis and epistemological considerations with results from empirical research, is an important contribution to this field. By linking dreaming to felt presence, full-body illusions, and autoscopic phenomena such as out-of-body experiences in wakefulness and in the hypnagogic state, the ISTH model of dreaming also helps integrate dream research, both theoretically and experimentally, with the study of other altered states of consciousness involving hallucinations. It makes straightforward and investigable predictions by claiming that all of these experiences have amodal spatiotemporal hallucinations as their common denominator. Finally, it is theoretically relevant for the philosophical discussion on minimal phenomenal selfhood. (shrink)

This chapter navigates the confluence of immersive design, critical mapping, urban heritage, and socio-environmental justice. It elucidates the potential of these intersecting domains to engender inclusivity, bolster urban resilience, and challenge prevailing power dynamics within urban spaces. Initially, the chapter illuminates the nuances of critical mapping, emphasizing its pivotal role in understanding and advocating for socio-environmental justice within the tapestry of urban heritage. By taking Amsterdam and Houston as primary case studies, the exploration accentuates the power of immersive art and (...) design in forging embodied experiences. These experiences, intrinsically holistic, seamlessly meld the cognitive and affective realms of design-centered embodiment. The showcased city narratives unravel the myriad ways immersive art interventions can stimulate critical reflections on core issues interlinking urban heritage, socio-environmental justice, and the nuances of public space occupation. -/- Situating itself within the broader discourse of the book on digital interventions in cultural heritage, this chapter carves a distinct narrative niche. It accentuates the transformative potential of immersive art and design in envisaging and actualizing vibrant, inclusive, and adaptive urban transition zones. By interlacing threads of critical mapping and socio-environmental justice, the chapter augments the discourse on urban heritage, offering a profound dive into its manifestations in both North American and European landscapes. (shrink)

Practices such as mindfulness, introspection, and self-reflection are known to have positive short and long-term effects on health and well-being. However, in today's modern, fast-paced, technological world tempted by distractions these practices are often hard to access and relate to a broader audience. Consequently, technologies have emerged that mediate personal experiences, which is reflected in the high number of available applications designed to elicit positive changes. These technologies elicit positive changes by bringing users' attention to the self—from technologies that show (...) representation of quantified personal data, to technologies that provide experiences that guide the user closer in understanding the self. However, while many designs available today are either built to support or are informed by these aforementioned practices, the question remains: how can we most effectively employ different design elements and interaction strategies to support positive change? Moreover, what types of input and output modalities contribute to eliciting positive states? To address these questions, we present here a state of the art scoping review of immersive interactive technologies that serve in a role of a mediator for positive change in users. We performed a literature search using ACM Digital Library, Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, and Design and Applied Arts Index (beginning of literature—January 1, 2018). We retrieved English-language articles for review, and we searched for published and unpublished studies. Risk of bias was assessed with Downs and Black 26-item QAT scale. We included 34 articles as relevant to the literature, and the analysis of the articles resulted in 38 instances of 33 immersive, interactive experiences relating to positive human functioning. Our contribution is three-fold: First we provide a scoping review of immersive interactive technologies for positive change; Second, we propose both a framework for future designs of positive interactive technologies and design consideration informed by the comparative analysis of the designs; Third, we provide design considerations for immersive, interactive technologies to elicit positive states and support positive change. (shrink)

This paper argues that immersive participation is an epistemic strategy that shapes how thought experiments ("TEs") are interpreted and contested within research communities. Building on Waltonian fictionalist approaches, I argue that their focus on work worlds and fictional truths leaves the productive role of immersion in TEs underexplored. By reinterpreting Hacking's metaphor of performing a TE as acting a part in a play, I highlight three interrelated features of TEs' participatory dimension: (i) their dual nature as both scripts and (...) performances, (ii) the alternation between onlooker and participant stances, and (iii) the public status of immersion. I illustrate this proposal through Thomson's Dying Violinist and Einstein's Chasing the Light, showing how immersive features can guide ethical judgement and expose theoretical tensions. Finally, I argue that immersion is itself open to dialectical contestation: critics can redirect or dampen a TE's immersive features in order to reshape its argumentative force. On this view, the epistemic value of immersive participation lies not in the accuracy of the experience it recreates, but in its capacity to open a shared space of contestation in which the strengths and limitations of TEs can be collectively tested. (shrink)

This research project and exhibit, delves into the complex relationship between public exhibition, urban spaces, and socio-political norms in shaping urban thresholds within the two American and European metropolitan cities of Houston and Amsterdam. This study also investigates the transformative power of new media and emerging technologies in the production, circulation, and consumption of design, offering fresh perspectives on the influence of these technologies on urban design studies and digitally augmented physical spaces. By merging interdisciplinary research areas, including Design Computation (...) and Fabrication, Urban Communities, and Spatial Justice, this project provides an immersive exploration into the co-production of liminal spaces, focusing on the participation of diverse publics and the dynamics of inclusion, exclusion, and recognition in two cities of Houston and Amsterdam. The main emphasis of this paper is on the critical urban studies and the role of emerging technologies in advancing the theoretical and methodological frameworks of the presented immersive installation project. (shrink)

This paper explores spatial justice in urban environments through immersive art and design, focusing on Amsterdam and Houston. It presents a case study from the Venice Biennale 2023, showcasing art's potential in fostering inclusive urban spaces. The study delves into the socio-political complexities of urban areas, highlighting often-ignored liminal spaces and their tensions and possibilities. Immersive art emerges as a transformative medium, capable of challenging and reshaping perceptions of space, and addressing systemic socio-economic disparities. Adopting a transdisciplinary approach, the research (...) combines insights from various fields to enrich discussions on spatial justice and inspire urban transformations. (shrink)

Many traditions have utilized silent environments to induce altered states of consciousness and spiritual experiences. Neurocognitive explorations of spiritual experience can aid in understanding the underlying mechanism, but these are surprisingly rare. We present the verbal report and the electroencephalographic (EEG) alpha profile of a female participant scoring a maximal 34 on the Absorption Scale, recorded before and while she was immersed in a whole-body perceptual deprivation (WBPD) tank. We analyze her trancelike experience in terms of the imagery reported: a (...) spaceship, corridors, doors, a man dressed in white, speaking to God, the sun, supernova, concentric images, and an out-of-body experience. Her report is indicative of a spiritual experience, given that she felt that she was “meeting God” in the laboratory. She exhibited both frontal and parietal left > right alpha power asymmetry at baseline, whereas in the WBPD condition, there was a global increase in alpha power and especially a sharp increase in right-frontal alpha power. Her verbal report and EEG alpha profile were compared to those of another female participant, also scoring high on absorption, whose verbal report was also indicative of a trancelike experience. For further comparison, we present the data for two participants scoring low on absorption. Spiritual experience that can be verbalized might be associated with a marked increase in right-frontal alpha power, as reported here. In contrast, a mystical experience characterized by ineffability would be indicated by a marked increase in left-frontal alpha power. (shrink)

Virtual reality (VR) technology now provides players with immersive and realistic experiences as never before. Spatial presence plays a crucial role in the introduction of immersive experience in a VR environment. Spatial presence is a special feeling of personal and physical presence in the displayed environment. In this study, we found that the first-person perspective (1PP) was more effective in raising the sense of spatial presence that induces immersive experience compared to the third-person perspective (3PP) in a VR shooting game. (...) Moreover, eye blink rate was significantly higher in the 1PP compared with the 3PP. The 1PP game setting was more realistic than the 3PP setting, and may have raised participants’ sense of immersion and facilitated eye blink. These results indicate that eye blink rate is increased by the sense of spatial presence, and can be a good measure of subjective immersive experience in a VR environment. Neuroscientific evidences suggest that dopaminergic system is involved in such emotional experiences and physiological responses. (shrink)

The importance of forests is reflected in the national forest legislation which has been developed and implemented in European countries over recent years. Due to regional and national specificities, forest regulations include culturally immersed terms specific to the described area. The aim of this paper is to analyses the culturally driven legal terms existing in specific legal regulations concerning forestry in Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Poland, and identify possible ways of translating them. In order (...) to take the interdisciplinary nature of the issue into account, the degree of hybridity of the selected texts will be examined by means of corpus analysis. The methodology applied in the paper uses a comparative approach. Additionally, the authors also resort to the aforementioned corpus analysis, as well as the analysis of comparable texts and the analysis of terminology according to the three categories of equivalence as determined by Šarčević, and the techniques of providing equivalents for non-equivalent or partially equivalent terms as research methods. The material used for analysis comes from selected German, English and Polish legal acts regulating forest management and maintenance that are considered as corpora for the selection of culturally immersed terminology, namely: the Polish Act on Forests of 28th September 1991 [Ustawa z dnia 28 września 1991 r. o lasach], Title 16 U.S. Code Chapter 2—National Forests, Forestry Act 1967, Chapter 10, German Forestry Act 1975 [Gesetz zur Erhaltung des Waldes und zur Förderung der Forstwirtschaft von 1975]. The paper concerns potential problems that could occur in the translation of culturally immersed legal terminology due to the terms’ rigidity and high degree of specificity. The studies presented will allow conclusions to be drawn regarding the possibilities and strategies for translating culturally immersed terms. In addition, the availability of terminological dictionaries for these language pairs will be discussed. (shrink)

Immersion is an availability, a submersion, a diving and, in case of distraction/inattention, a downright drowning. It is about perceiving a certain fortuitous or yielded space-time, an either individual or collective tendency in order to create situations of resistance to environmental, political and social contemporaries paradigms. The creation of new network combinations in space-time immersing are devices that spark new forms of politics making as well as new ways to be in the world. The events « interference STD/AIDS », (...) « Multimédia Free », « Folie.com » and « Eroticomia » have put together a network of immersing in a Brazil about which we try here to analyze certain common aspects. (shrink)

The noise factor is the ratio of signal to noise of an input signal to that of the output signal. Noise can block or interfere with the meaning of a message in both human and electronic communication. But in Information Theory, noise is still considered to be information. By refining the definition of noise as that which addresses us outside of our preferred comfort zone, Joseph Nechvatal's Immersion Into Noise investigates multiple aspects of cultural noise by applying the audio (...) understanding of noise to the visual, architectural and cognitive domains. Nechvatal expands and extends our understanding of the function of cultural noise by taking the reader through the immersive and phenomenal aspects of noise into algorithmic and network contexts, beginning with his experience in the Abside of the Grotte de Lascaux. -/- Immersion Into Noise is intended as a conceptual handbook useful for the development of a personal-political-visionary art of noise. On a planet that is increasingly technologically linked and globally mediated, how might noises break and re-connect in distinctive and productive ways within practices located in the world of art and thought? Joseph Nechvatal explores this intriguing question in Immersion Into Noise. (shrink)

Experiential learning in food and agricultural higher education takes many different forms. This paper highlights an immersive, comparative approach to a graduate food studies course in the dairy sector. It explores how students in this class experience a particular combination of field trips, culinary workshops, hands-on activities, and classroom discussions, and explores how the structure and combination of these course elements contributes to reflection, critical thought, and a more nuanced and complex understanding of food systems (or not). Results suggest that (...) this intensive compare/contrast approach to field trips and applied experiences, accompanied by multiple venues for in-depth verbal and written reflection on these experiences, can help facilitate (1) self-reflection, critical thinking, and broader systems thinking, (2) an understanding of and empathy towards conflicting views on food systems issues, and (3) an acceptance of and ability to work across differences, within the contradictions and complications that characterize food systems work. (shrink)

GoalThis paper presents an immersive Virtual Reality system to analyze and train Executive Functions of soccer players. EFs are important cognitive functions for athletes. They are a relevant quality that distinguishes amateurs from professionals.MethodThe system is based on immersive technology, hence, the user interacts naturally and experiences a training session in a virtual world. The proposed system has a modular design supporting the extension of various so-called game modes. Game modes combine selected game mechanics with specific simulation content to target (...) particular training aspects. The system architecture decouples selection/parameterization and analysis of training sessions via a coaching app from an Unity3D-based VR simulation core. Monitoring of user performance and progress is recorded by a database that sends the necessary feedback to the coaching app for analysis.ResultsThe system is tested for VR-critical performance criteria to reveal the usefulness of a new interaction paradigm in the cognitive training and analysis of EFs. Subjective ratings for overall usability show that the design as VR application enhances the user experience compared to a traditional desktop app; whereas the new, unfamiliar interaction paradigm does not negatively impact the effort for using the application.ConclusionThe system can provide immersive training of EF in a fully virtual environment, eliminating potential distraction. It further provides an easy-to-use analyzes tool to compare user but also an automatic, adaptive training mode. (shrink)

One of the most pleasurable aspects of video games is their ability to induce immersive experiences. However, there appears to be a tentative conceptualization of what an immersive experience is. In this short review, we specifically focus on the terms of flow and immersion, as they are the most widely used and applied definitions in the video game literature, whilst their differences remain disputable. We critically review the concepts separately and proceed with a comparison on their proposed differences. We (...) conclude that immersion and flow do not substantially differ in current studies and that more evidence is needed to justify their separation. (shrink)

What has been called ‘the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics’ sets a challenge for philosophers. Some have responded to that challenge by arguing that mathematics is essentially anthropocentric in character whereas others have pointed to the range of structures that mathematics offers. Here a middle way is offered that focuses on the moves that have to be made in both the mathematics and the relevant physics in order to bring the two into appropriate relation. This relation can be captured via the (...) inferential conception of the applicability of mathematics which is formulated in terms of immersion inference and interpretation. In particular the roles of idealizations and of surplus structure in science and mathematics respectively are brought to the fore and captured via an approach to models and theories that emphasizes the partiality of the available information: the partial structures approach. The discussion as a whole is grounded in a number of case studies drawn from the history of quantum physics and extended to contest recent claims that the explanatory role of certain mathematical structures in scientific practice supports a realist attitude towards them. The overall conclusion is that the effectiveness of mathematics does not seem unreasonable at all once close attention is paid to how it is actually applied in practice. (shrink)

The phenomenon of immersion mainly appears and relates to human existence in the interactive electronic environment. Immersion can produce an experience of electronically generated reality, which consists of feelings similar to those known from the experience of the physical world and can influence our sensuous and intentional attitude. A person enters the electronic world, frequently finding there the value of being and a sphere for her/his own activity, which can release personality and produce the kind of emotional attitude (...) which sometimes possibly does not appear in the physical world. Immersion was also described in electronic interactive art as a phenomenon which operates on the basis of aesthetic experience, where it is connected with feelings of being surrounded by outside influences, or with the “absorption” of perceiver by the work of art. The description of immersion on the basis of interactive artbecame the foundation for treating it as a general feature of art and also makes it possible to treat art as an immersive environment, where immersion becomes a historical notion, shaped by the historical development. (shrink)

Nursing ethics teaching often relies on lectures and paper-based cases, which may not adequately prepare students for ethically ambiguous clinical practice. Evidence on low-resource, narrative, immersive approaches for nursing ethics education remains limited. To explore how undergraduate nursing students described their ethical reasoning, ethical positioning, and perceived learning after participating in an immersive ethical role-play simulation (IERS). Qualitative descriptive study. A total of 102 second-year undergraduate nursing students at Hubei Polytechnic University in central China participated in November 2025. Students took (...) part in a 2.5-hour, peer-enacted IERS built around an end-of-life decision-making scenario. Anonymous post-session survey data were collected using one two-part mapping item and two open-ended questions. Q1-2 responses were summarized using descriptive content analysis; Q3 responses were examined using typological analysis; and Q4 responses were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Autonomy was the most frequently identified primary bioethical principle (50/102 responses), although students also referred to beneficence, justice, non-maleficence, and relational obligations such as filial duty. Three post-simulation positioning modes were identified: principle-based distancing, contextualized ambivalence, and value-aligned identification. Four themes described students’ perceived learning gains: embodied understanding of bioethical principles, movement beyond binary moral judgment, perspective-taking and empathy, and emerging professional identity. This study suggests that a low-resource, immersive role-play format may help nursing students engage with bioethical principles in context, consider multiple stakeholder perspectives, and reflect on their future professional responsibilities. The findings support IERS as a feasible complement to didactic ethics teaching, while also indicating the need for longitudinal and comparative research to assess sustained educational impact. (shrink)

The 360° medium, an immersive dome-based video projection environment (immersive dome environment (IDE)) also called ‘fulldome’, is often seen as an old concept of a traditional planetarium setting. This article invites the reader to look at it as a unique, hybrid media format, which opens new ways of perception.

Although the importance of the concept of immersion in game studies is indisputable, its meaning remains imprecise and ambiguous. My goal here is to develop a phenomenological clarification of this concept. I begin by clarifying how immersion has been understood in game studies. I further contend that immersion in digital games should be recognized as one modality of immersion among others. This basic realization allows one to open a dialogue between game studies and phenomenology. I develop (...) a phenomenological conception of immersion, which relies on Alfred Schutz’s phenomenology of multiple realities and Theodor Conrad’s phenomenology of immersion. Although such an approach provides us with a general conception of immersion, it does not clarify what specific features characterize immersion in digital games. I argue that this form of immersion is a hybrid phenomenon, which shares certain features with immersion in non-digital games and other features with immersion in other types of digital media. I further demonstrate that immersion in digital games is characterized by a specific function of embodiment. With this in mind, I conclude my analysis by introducing a phenomenologically grounded distinction between actual and virtual embodiment, thereby clarifying in which sense immersion in digital games is an embodied and a disembodied experience. (shrink)

This paper seeks to unpack the social, environmental and cultural impact that virtual reality (VR) photographic documentation has on sacred geo-heritage sites. Artistic and creative researchers have consciously or unconsciously practiced immersive at-tunement when visiting and creating digital art. Several of these sacred geo-heritage sites are protected for their geological, historical or cultural significance. Immersive attunement is the concept of immersing oneself in a foreign environment and being culturally conscious of the impact that the filmmaker's physical presence and the audience's (...) virtual presence imposes on a given space. Cinematic virtual reality is a form of immersive media that creates a digitised cinematic experience using 360-degree cameras, designed to project a spherical image through a head-mounted display. This allows the audience to screen the VR film from inside the picture. Immersive media technology such as virtual reality cameras and photogrammetry drones are currently mapping geological sites around the world, for a myriad of scientific and artistic research. These projects offer the possibility of advancements in scientific understanding and artistic awakening. What social, cultural, and environmental impact do the researchers or artists photographing the site have on those specific environments? This paper aims to investigate ways in which immersive media artists can sustainably and consciously compose and photograph cultural geo-heritage sites for cinematic virtual reality experiences. What choices can immersive media artists make to consciously photograph these significant places using VR technology, without harming the environment? What are the ethical responsibilities of using these technologies in places that are not only culturally protected but sacred? (shrink)

This essay addresses the violence of the digital world through its relationship to the visuality of noise and how it shapes the image of thought. Noting how deep and contemplative silence is integral to any creative and critical process, it fleshes out the ways the hyper-technologization of life is throwing us into an immersive abyss. This represents another indicator in the digital colonization of the human condition, through which the poetic is being completely appropriated by a technological vision for species (...) being. Calling for a revival in attentive silence, it draws upon literary thinkers and artists, to move beyond the mimetic understanding for art (including the mimicry of images and sounds) and reveal the violent depths of digitalization and its total noise seduction which ultimately devour its own content. Over-stimulation thus becomes an audible clamor for lives lost within a digital trace; lives which no longer find they are able to cast any meaningful shadow. (shrink)

Research on the specific features of daydreaming compared with mind-wandering and night dreaming is a neglected topic in the philosophy of mind and the cognitive neuroscience of spontaneous thought. The extant research either conflates daydreaming with mind-wandering (whether understood as task-unrelated thought, unguided attention, or disunified thought), characterizes daydreaming as opposed to mind-wandering (Dorsch, 2015), or takes daydreaming to encompass any and all “imagined events” (Newby-Clark & Thavendran, 2018). These dueling definitions obstruct future research on spontaneous thought, and are insufficiently (...) precise to guide empirical studies. They also fail to illuminate the phenomenal core of daydreaming, namely, its dreamlike qualities. Although daydreaming is related to both mind-wandering and narrative imagination, it is not reducible to either. We argue that daydreams are experiences of spontaneous, immersive imagination in the waking state. The main task of our investigation is to distinguish daydreaming, conceptually and phenomenologically, from mind-wandering, on the one hand, and night dreaming, on the other. Although daydream experiences can vary widely, we distinguish prototypical experiences of daydreaming from adjacent imaginative activity, including fleeting imagery and “focused daydreaming,” or crafted visualization. We consider our phenomenological analysis as preparatory work for conceptually distinguishing different spontaneous and imaginative states so that they can be investigated accordingly with questionnaires and qualitative methods. We argue that precision about the phenomenal character of daydreaming can guide neurophenomenological investigations, help delimit studies on individual variance in daydreaming features, and identify differences among daydreaming, mind-wandering, and night dreaming conceptually and phenomenologically, and possibly eventually in terms of neural correlates. (shrink)

In recent years, prevalent global societal issues related to fake news, fakery, misinformation, and disinformation were brought to the fore, leading to the construction of descriptive labels such as “post-truth” to refer to the supposedly new emerging era. Thereby, the (mis-)use of technologies such as AI and VR has been argued to potentially fuel this new loss of “ground-truth”, for instance, via the ethically relevant deepfakes phenomena and the creation of realistic fake worlds, presumably undermining experiential veracity. Indeed, _unethical_ and (...) malicious actors could harness tools at the intersection of AI and VR (AIVR) to craft what we call _immersive falsehood_, fake immersive reality landscapes deliberately constructed for malicious ends. This short paper analyzes the ethically relevant nature of the background against which such malicious designs in AIVR could exacerbate the intentional proliferation of deceptions and falsities. We offer a reappraisal expounding that while immersive falsehood could manipulate and severely jeopardize the inherently affective constructions of social reality and considerably complicate falsification processes, humans may neither inhabit a post-truth nor a post-falsification age. Finally, we provide incentives for future AIVR safety work, ideally contributing to a future era of _technology-augmented critical thinking_. (shrink)

The modernization of teacher education requires the use of innovative pedagogical methods to increase the effectiveness of professional learning. One of the most promising trends is the integration of integrative learning into the block learning model. Immersive learning focuses on creating an environment where learners are engaged and actively involved in meaningful learning experiences. Such methods in teacher education programs can significantly promote the development of professional competencies, critical thinking, and practical teaching skills. This study examines the application of integrative (...) learning approaches to teacher education in the block learning model. The block learning model organizes the learning process through a series of compact, structured modules that allow students to focus on a specific topic or competency at a time. This model promotes a deeper understanding and practical application of pedagogical knowledge through integrative learning strategies such as simulations, interactive activities, collaborative activities, and technology-enabled environments. This study examines the pedagogical foundations of integrative learning and analyzes how these methods can be effectively integrated into block teacher education programs. Special emphasis is placed on the development of professional skills of future teachers, including lesson planning, classroom management, reflection, and the use of new teaching methods. The study also highlights the role of digital technologies and interactive learning environments in enhancing integrative learning experiences. The results suggest that integrating integrative learning into the block learning model can increase student engagement, improve learning outcomes, and promote the professional development of future teachers. (shrink)

Cinematic virtual reality (CVR) offers filmmakers a wide range of possibilities to explore new techniques regarding movie scripting, shooting and editing. Despite the many experiments performed so far both with both live action and computer-generated movies, just a few studies focused on analyzing how the various techniques actually affect the viewers’ experience. Like in traditional cinema, a key step for CVR screenwriters and directors is to choose from which perspective the viewers will see the scene, the so-called point of view (...) (POV). The aim of this paper is to understand to what extent watching an immersive movie from a specific POV could impact the narrative engagement (NE), i.e., the viewers’ sensation of being immersed in the movie environment and being connected with its characters and story. Two POVs that are typically used in CVR, i.e., first-person perspective (1-PP) and external perspective (EP), are investigated through a user study in which both objective and subjective metrics were collected. The user study was carried out by leveraging two live action 360° short films with distinct scripts. The results suggest that the 1-PP experience could be more pleasant than the EP one in terms of overall NE and narrative presence, or even for all the NE dimensions if the potential of that POV is specifically exploited. (shrink)

The subject of this research is the immersive artistic environments that exist in the modern cultural space. Immersive technologies are used today in educational processes, historical reconstruction, various forms of socialization, in visual arts; immersion is implemented as a special scientific approach in anthropological, ethnographic, art history studies. Interactivity and immersiveness are considered here as complex predictable processes whose algorithms are embedded in the very basis of an artistic work or cultural environment. They make it possible to intensify the (...) entire spectrum of sensory-emotional perception, creating not only a new type of artwork, but also a new type of recipient immersed in the process of unfolding an artistic plot. The classification of functions of immersive spaces is proposed in the study. On the example of Russian and foreign art projects, the essential signs and features of immersive art are analyzed and identified. Immersive projects implemented in recent years are considered on the example of the cultural field of the north-west of Russia, as well as a comparative analysis of foreign and domestic events is carried out. The study concluded that immersive environments have both positive and negative potential: a complex effect on human feelings using special technological techniques that affect perception can lead to both the effect of complete immersion and catharsis, and to destructive hyperstimulation of the psyche. And the artistic immersions themselves are more a form of media communication than finished works. (shrink)

Background: Dementia is one the major problems of aging societies, and, novel and effective non-drug therapies are required as interventions in the oldest-old to prevent cognitive decline.Objective: This study aims to examine the efficacy and safety of reminiscence using immersive virtual reality focusing on anxiety that often appears with cognitive decline. The secondary objective is to reveal the preference for VR image types for reminiscence: live-action or computer graphics.Methods: This was a pilot, open-label, and randomized crossover study which was conducted (...) on January 2020 at a single nursing home. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups in equal numbers, and they alternately viewed two types of VR images themed on the mid- to late Showa era in Japan. In group A, the CG images were viewed first, and then the LA images were viewed. In group B, the images were viewed in the opposite order. Before VR viewing, subjects responded to Mini-Mental State Examination Japanese version and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Japanese version. After viewing the first and second VR, subjects responded to STAI and the numerical rating scale for satisfaction and side effects.Results: Ten subjects participated in this study. The values of analyses are presented in the mean. The age was 87.1 years, and the MMSE was 28.5. The total STAI score before VR viewing was 36.1, but it significantly decreased to 26.8 after the first VR viewing, and further decreased to 23.4 after the second VR viewing. The NRS score for satisfaction tended to be higher after viewing LA in group A vs. 8.6, P = 0.0993), while in group B, the score after CG was slightly lower than that after LA. There were no serious side effects.Conclusions: This study suggests that iVR reminiscence can reduce anxiety in the oldest-old without causing serious side effects. Furthermore, the impacts might be better with LA images. (shrink)

This paper addresses the simultaneous attitude and position tracking of a target spacecraft in the presence of general unknown bounded disturbances in the framework of dual quaternions, which provides a concise and integrated description of the coupled rotational and translational motions. By virtue of the newly introduced dual direction cosine matrix, the dimension of the dual quaternion-based relative motion dynamics written in vector/matrix form can be lowered to six. Treating the disturbances as unknown parameters, a modular adaptive pose tracking control (...) scheme composed of two separately designed parts is then derived. One part is the adaptive disturbance estimator designed based on the immersion and invariance theory. Driven by the disturbance estimation errors, it can realize exponential convergence of the estimations and has the nice “parameter lock” property, which can hardly be expected in the conventional certainty equivalent adaptive controllers. The other part is a proportional-derivative-like pose tracking controller where the estimated disturbances are directly used. The closed-loop stability of the relative motion system under different kinds of disturbances is proven by Lyapunov stability analysis. Simulations and comparisons with two previous dual quaternion-based controllers demonstrate the novel features and performance improvements of the proposed control scheme. (shrink)

The integration of virtual reality into STEM education has generated growing interest in how this technology impacts the understanding and application of scientific concepts. This study focuses on investigating this relationship by using the MICMAC technique to identify key variables and their interactions in virtual educational environments. It was found that variables such as the design of educational content, the quality of the virtual experience, and the interactivity of the environment are key to the learning process in STEM. In addition, (...) determinant and autonomous variables were identified, which play fundamental roles in the generation of scientific knowledge for students. These results highlight the relevance of considering various aspects of virtual educational design to improve the effectiveness of learning in STEM. The practical implications of this study are significant for educators and educational program designers, highlighting the need to create immersive, interactive, and collaborative virtual environments to promote better understanding and application of scientific concepts. This study contributes to existing knowledge by providing a deeper understanding of how virtual reality can enhance learning in STEM, and suggests directions for future research in the field. (shrink)

Background: Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease in which the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons leads to initially sporadic and eventually widespread damage of the nervous system resulting in significant musculoskeletal and cognitive deterioration. Loss of motor function alongside increasing cognitive impairment is part of the natural disease progression. Gait is often considered an automatic activity; however, walking is the result of a delicate balance of multiple systems which maintain the body’s center of mass over an ever-changing base of support. (...) It is a complex motor behavior that requires components of attention and memory to prevent falls and injury. In addition, evidence points to the critical role of salient visual information to gait adaptability. There is a growing understanding that treatment for PD needs to address movement as it occurs naturally and walking needs to be practiced in more complex environments than traditional therapy has provided.MethodsIn this single-blinded randomized-controlled pilot study, an immersive treadmill training was piloted to determine feasibility and preliminary efficacy on gait and cognition in people with PD. Eighteen participants with Hoehn and Yahr stages I-III PD were randomized to either an intervention or a waitlist control group. Following baseline data collection, the intervention group trained for 30 min, three times/week for 4 weeks on a split belt treadmill combined with a first-person immersive video game targeting visuospatial skills and working memory. Assessment was repeated after 4 weeks of training for the experimental group and 1-month after baseline for the control group. Primary motor outcomes were captured with the APDM Opal sensors during 6 MWT, TUG, and TUG Cognitive. Secondary outcomes of cognition were measured with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Verbal Fluency and the Symbol Digit Modality Test. Within subject differences were calculated using the Wilcoxon Signed Ranked Test and between subject comparisons were analyzed using the Mann Whitney U-test.ResultsThis novel treadmill training program was well-tolerated with all participants in the intervention group completing 4 weeks of training three times a week without any adverse effects. After immersive cognitive motor training, the experimental group made clinically relevant improvements in gait speed and walking distance during the 6 MWT while members of the control group showed no change or decreased gait speed and walking distance over the 1-month trial. In addition, the experimental group demonstrated significant improvement for the TUG Cognitive and those changes were greater than the control group. The experimental group also improved scores on MoCA and SDMT cognitive outcome measures while the control group did not.ConclusionThe use of immersive gaming technology to engage specific areas of cognition related to gait is feasible in PD. The treadmill training program paired with a customized interactive video game improved walking velocity in addition to non-significant but consistent improvements in other gait measures and cognitive performance in participants with early to mid-stage PD. (shrink)

In this essay, some theoretical semiotic issues concerning immersive technologies are presented and discussed. In particular, the somatic and corporeal dimensions of the construction of the user-visual hybrid, the problematic of point of view and realism, and the narrativity inscribed in immersive technologies will be discussed. The objective is twofold: tracing the semiotic perspective on the real/virtual relationship and questioning certain rhetoric of immersivity that underlies precise ideologies circulating in the contemporary imagery.

Although scholars have asserted that it is necessary to explore the effect of immersive media presentation on preschoolers’ prosocial behaviors, the empirical research, as well as the moderating roles of this link, remained limited. One hundred and twenty preschoolers were involved in three experiments of four waves. This study empirically examined the effect of media presentation, including immersive media presentation and traditional media presentation, on preschoolers’ prosocial behaviors and the moderating effect of theory of mind on such links. After the (...) experimental intervention, we find that the extent to which traditional media presentation and immersive media presentation impact preschoolers’ prosocial behaviors is different. First, the results show that preschoolers, who have been involved in traditional media presentation, do not notably reveal the development of their prosocial behaviors. However, in the group of high ToM, we find that traditional media presentation positively and significantly relates to preschoolers’ prosocial behaviors. That is to say, the positive influence of traditional media presentation depends on ToM. Second, the results also show that immersive media presentation positively and significantly relates to preschoolers’ prosocial behaviors whether ToM is high or not. Furthermore, ToM encourages the positive influence of immersive media presentation on preschoolers’ prosocial behaviors. (shrink)

This paper will investigate the anonymous collective of skilled artists which created an immersive work of art of a high order in the Abside (Apse) of the Grotte de Lascaux. The Apse is a roundish, semi-spherical, penumbra-like chamber (like those adjacent to romanesque basiliques) approximately 4.5 metres in diameter (about 5 yards) covered on every wall surface (including the ceiling) with thousands of entangled, overlapping, engraved drawings (Leroi-Gourhan, 1968, p. 315) for which, on request, I received a very unique privilege (...) of seeing, though far too briefly. (shrink)

Covid-19 has prompted a surge of data visualizations that have been published for public consumption, yet, many have not had broad appeal or may have not been well-understood by laypeople. A data storytelling platform called Flow Immersive has been created to successfully engage both laypeople and experts in understanding complex information. This tool integrates emerging technologies [e.g., augmented reality and virtual reality ] with a multiplatform, multiuser publishing approach. From October 2020 to December 2020, Flow’s Covid-19 AR videos captured 9 (...) million views, and have been used in multiple professional presentations. This paper documents the journey from development to deployment, and some user feedback which all led to breakthroughs in scalability and higher levels of engagement. (shrink)

Worldwide, more parents are opting for immersion pre-schooling for their children in order to benefit from its linguistic, educational, and cultural benefits. This immersion can be either bilingual or monolingual, aimed at early second language learning, or at language maintenance – offering minority language children mother-tongue support and enrichment. This book examines some of the key issues and policy concerns relating to immersion education in the early years. The term itself can be difficult in some political contexts, (...) as can the differing outcomes noted by studies comparing monolingual programmes, and bilingual programmes for minority language children. The importance of training in immersion methodology for educators is discussed, as is the need to adapt preschool pedagogical practices to the immersion context, in order to provide optimal input for young language learners. One of the most pressing discussions surrounds differentiated provision – ensuring that the varying needs of children with language impairment, typical second language learners, and mother-tongue speakers with significant socioeconomic or linguistic disadvantages are all met. Overall, the book explores the challenges currently facing the sector, particularly with regard to training and professional development for practitioners, and the provision of appropriate materials in less widely used languages. Given the documented benefit of high quality immersion pre-schooling, this book fulfils an urgent need to increase the recognition of the sector. This book was published as a special issue of _International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. _. (shrink)

In this systematic review, we summarized and evaluated the evidence for effects of, and associations between, immersive nature-experience on mental, physical and social health promotion outcomes. Immersive nature-experience was operationalized as non-competitive activities, both sedentary and active, occurring in natural environments removed from everyday environments. We defined health according to the World Health Organization’s holistic and positive definition of health and included steady-state, intermediate, and health promotion outcomes. An electronic search was performed for Danish, English, German, Norwegian, and Swedish articles (...) published between January 2004 and May 2017. Manual approaches, e.g., bibliographies from experts, supplemented the literature search. Data were extracted from 461 publications that met the inclusion criteria. To assess the status and quality of the evidence for health promotion effects of immersive nature-experience, we focused on the subset of studies based on controlled designs (n = 133). Outcome level quality of the evidence was assessed narratively. Interventions most often involved adventure-based activities, short-termed walking, and seated relaxation in natural environments. We found positive effects on a range of health promotion outcomes grouped under psychological wellbeing (n = 97; ≈55% positive; ≈13% mixed; ≈29% non-significant; 2% negative); psychosocial function (n = 67; ≈61% positive; ≈9% mixed; ≈30% non-significant); psychophysiological stress response (n = 50; ≈58% positive; ≈18% mixed; ≈24% non-significant), and cognitive performance (n = 36; ≈58% positive; ≈6% mixed; ≈33% non-significant; 3% negative); and social skills and relationships (n = 34; ≈70% positive; ≈7% mixed; ≈22% non-significant). Findings related to outcomes categorized under physical health, e.g., risk of cardiovascular disease, were less consistent (n = 51; ≈37% positive; ≈28% mixed; ≈35% non-significant). Across the types of interventions and outcomes, the quality of the evidence was deemed low and occasionally moderate. In the review, we identify, discuss, and present possible solutions to four core methodological challenges associated with investigating immersive nature-experience and health outcomes: 1) intervention and program complexity; 2) feasibility and desirability of randomization; 3) blinding of participants and researchers; and 4) transferability and generalizability. The results of the review have been published as a popular-scientific report and a scientific research overview, both in Danish language. (shrink)

My research into Virtual Reality technology and its central property of immersion has indicated that immersion in Virtual Reality (VR) electronic systems is a significant key to the understanding of contemporary culture as well as considerable aspects of previous culture as detected in the histories of philosophy and the visual arts. The fundamental change in aesthetic perception engendered by immersion, a perception which is connected to the ideal of total-immersion in virtual space, identifies certain shifts in (...) ontology which are relevant to a better understanding of the human being. This understanding was achieved through a broad inquiry into the histories of Virtual Reality, philosophy, and the visual arts and has lead to the formulation of an aesthetic theory of immersive consciousness indicative of immersive culture. The primary subject of this discourse is immersion then: an experience which will be identified within the dissertation as the indispensable characteristic of Virtual Reality. The understanding of immersion arrived at here will be used to fashion a synchronous theory of art particularly informed by encounters and concepts of immersion into virtuality. To sufficiently address this subject in a scholarly fashion, I have researched, found and accumulated aesthetic and philosophic examples of immersive tendencies, as found within the histories of art and philosophy, which subsequently contributed towards the articulation of what I have come to call immersive consciousness. As a result of formulating such an immersive consciousness, a good deal of the basis for the questioning of the Western ontological tradition has been found in the Western tradition itself when we look with new eyes and ask new uncertain questions. Moreover, this immersive consciousness will be used to propose some abstract questions encircling today's electronic-based culture. Through the structuring of the argument within the thesis - and overtly within the conclusion - I have articulated a non-teleological creative strategy which provides the basis for an unconstraining integration of noologies (ways of semblancing the thinking process). This strategy provides a means of exemplifying - and for honoring - various methods of thinking. This structuring strategy is consistent with the 'hacker ethic' as defined by Steven Levy, as a demand that access to computers - and anything which might teach us something about the way the world works - should be unlimited and total. To follow this strategy, this dissertation has set out to understand how topical conceptions of virtual immersion connect to pre-existing systems of thought as revealed in art as they have extended out of antecedent ontological self-understandings, historical human self-understandings which have evidenced themselves in the elaboration of technological objectives. To do this I have forged a certain rhizomatic paternity/maternity for Virtual Reality within this dissertation by joining choice immersive examples of simulacra technology into mental connections with the relevant examples culled from the histories of art, architecture, information-technology, sex, myth, space, consciousness and philosophy. (shrink)

We created Justice: The Game, an educational, role-immersion game designed to be used in philosophy courses. We seek to describe Justice in sufficent detail so that it is understandable to readers not already familiar with role-immersion pedagogy. We hope some instructors will be sufficiently interested in using the game. In addition to describing the game we also evaluate it, thereby highlighting the pedagogical potential of role-immersion games designed to teach political philosophy. We analyze the game by drawing (...) on our observations as designers and playtesters of Justice, along with feedback from students obtained in focus-groups conducted shortly after playtesting ended. We present evidence that Justice, compared to conventional instructional methods alone, plausibly enhances student learning of philosophical skills and content by requiring them to practice those skills and put their content-area knowledge to use in a highly-motivating and engaging context. (shrink)

This mixed-methods study examined Grade 4 students’ growth in two types of civic competencies—argumentation skills and disciplinary thinking, and how civic competencies interweave and co-develop over an academic year in the context of an interdisciplinary social studies curriculum called Digital Civic Learning (DCL). A total of 106 fourth-grade students (38.7% girls) and 6 social studies teachers participated in the study. Quantitative evidence indicates that students in the DCL curriculum significantly improved in their argumentation skills (argument-counterargument integration, claim-evidence integration) and disciplinary (...) thinking. These civic competencies became more strongly associated with each other by the end of the curriculum. Multiple case studies revealed how two students synergistically applied their evolving argumentation skills and disciplinary thinking through distinct learning pathways. These results paint a complex picture of the development of students’ disciplinary thinking and integrating of argumentation skills, and the role of the curriculum in fostering the concurrent development of these civic competencies. Findings align with our overarching assumption that, through collaborative discourse and immersive learning about complex social issues, students can leverage their disciplinary thinking during argumentative social interactions, grappling with solutions and seeking common ground; continuous discourse among peers further enhances argumentation skills while honing disciplinary thinking. This study bridges the research-practice gap by providing evidence for the co-development of argumentation and disciplinary thinking within social studies classrooms. Our findings underscore the importance of inquiry-based learning, aligning with the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework, fostering critical civic competencies, and empowering students to actively participate in democratic processes. Particularly in this digitalized society, DCL emerges as a promising approach to integrate disciplinary thinking and argumentation skills across both physical and digital environments, fostering informed and active citizenship among students. (shrink)

[Interactive and Immersive Practices; Critical Spatial Practices. The Augmented Reality of the Exhibition Space] The rise of installations, as well as immersive and interactive spaces, in both art and science museums has accustomed the public to heightened interactivity, leading to a better understanding of social, natural and scientific phenomena. These spatial systems have also paved the way for the production of innovative environments within exhibition design. This article aims to present a brief overview of the origins of immersive and sensory (...) practices at work in contemporary museums, and to evaluate the potential of these processes to generate critical thinking in the visitor. A concise description of the evolution of the operational and intellectual premise of these museums and their changing practices demonstrates the transformations that have occurred, their modalities, and their application in selected works, notably: The Weather Project by Olafur Eliasson presented at Tate Modern London; Diller + Scofidio’s media pavilion, Blur Building, in Yverdon-les-Bains in Switzerland; and the exhibition Sense of the City at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal. (shrink)