Free Mixed Reality App Teaches Magnetic Field

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 09/24/19

A Japanese company has released an open source application that helps students visualize magnetic fields using Microsoft HoloLens. Wearing headsets, students can visualize how the magnetic field works in two or three dimensions by manipulating virtual bar magnets with their fingers and watching how compass needles respond to this invisible phenomenon.

Wearing headsets, students can visualize how the magnetic field works in two or three dimensions by manipulating virtual bar magnets with their fingers and watching how compass needles respond to this invisible phenomenon.

The code for the app was produced by Microsoft partner Feel Physics, which has tested the program with students in five countries, including the United States. According to Developer Tatsuro Ueda, the app has been applied up in science classes at 10 schools, three of which have confirmed "that the app is effective for learning the magnetic field."

Wearing headsets, students can visualize how the magnetic field works in two or three dimensions by manipulating virtual bar magnets with their fingers and watching how compass needles respond to this invisible phenomenon.

Ueda, president of Feel Physics, has published the HoloLens code to GitHub with the hope that the use of the program will be picked up by other teachers for their science classrooms as well as other education developers to port to other platforms, "such as Magic Leap One, Oculus Quest, iPad, Pixel3 and many others." Ueda noted in his GitHub readme file.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • hand touching glowing connected dots

    Registration Now Open for Tech Tactics in Education: Thriving in the Age of AI

    Tech Tactics in Education has officially opened registration for its May 7 virtual conference on "Thriving in the Age of AI." The annual event, brought to you by the producers of Campus Technology and THE Journal, offers hands-on learning and interactive discussions on the most critical technology issues and practices across K–12 and higher education.

  • teenager interacts with a chatbot on a computer screen

    Character.AI Rolls Out New Parental Insights Feature Amid Safety Concerns

    Chatbot platform Character.AI has introduced a new Parental Insights feature aimed at giving parents a window into their children's activity on the platform. The feature allows users under 18 to share a weekly report of their chatbot interactions directly with a parent's e-mail address.

  • laptop screen displaying a typed essay, on a child

    McGraw Hill Acquires Essaypop Digital Learning Tool

    Education company McGraw Hill has announced the acquisition of Essaypop, a cloud-based writing tool that will enhance the former's portfolio of personalized learning capabilities.

  • a professional worker in business casual attire interacting with a large screen displaying a generative AI interface in a modern office

    Study Finds Generative AI Could Inhibit Critical Thinking

    A new study on how knowledge workers engage in critical thinking found that workers with higher confidence in generative AI technology tend to employ less critical thinking to AI-generated outputs than workers with higher confidence in personal skills.