Mixed Reality
Use AR and VR to teach complex topics and create an immersive, memorable experience.
What we've made
What we've made
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Virtual Reality
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Augmented Reality
Interested in using AR to design a unique learning experience? We’ve been exploring AR since the first iPhone was released in 2007. Games like Pokemon Go are wildly popular, but there is untapped potential in using AR for learning. We see exciting possibilities for AR in museums, K-12 education, municipalities,and more.
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Siftr -
The Station:Maine -
ARIS -
Play the Past -
Viola -
Dow Day -
ARISE Nursing -
Sustainable U -
WeBird
A lot of researchers and museums are curious about using VR for learning. At Field Day, we love designing VR experiences, and not just because VR is awesome. The situated nature of VR allows players to experience things that wouldn’t be possible in the real world.
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ThermoVR -
Discover IceCube -
Waddle: A Penguin's Tale
ARIS
No longer supported
Create mobile games, tours and interactive stories with ARIS games. Players experience a hybrid world of virtual characters and media in physical space. Anyone who can read can play and design these games. Used in classrooms or informally. IOS device required.
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The Station:Maine
No longer supported
In this Augmented Reality game, students in rural Maine play location-based quests focused on four themes: Water, Forestry, Energy, and Food. Players visit GPS_based tour stops, collect field notes, and take photos to share their observations.
Partners: Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, Vanderbilt University, Smart & Connected Communities Grant through the National Science Foundation.
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ARIS
No longer supported
Create mobile games, tours and interactive stories with ARIS games. Players experience a hybrid world of virtual characters and media in physical space. Anyone who can read can play and design these games. Used in classrooms or informally. IOS device required.
Learn More
Play the Past
Minnesota History Museum in 2012. No longer supported.
Play the Past was an AR game playable location at the Minnesota History Museum. The app, designed for grades 4-6, allowed kids to uncover stories, collect virtual items, and take on quests related to the exhibit’s topics of immigrations, transportation, mining, and more.
Partners: The Minnesota History Museum
Watch the video
Dow Day
No longer supported
This Augmented Reality game transports players back to the time of the Vietnam War, when Dow Chemical visited UW-Madison to recruit students and peaceful protests escalated into violent conflicts. Players take on the role of a reporter working during the conflict.
WeBird
No longer supported
WeBird is an AR bird-identification game that allows students to document sightings, record bird calls, take photos and videos, and share with others. The game was designed with Animal Science/Zoology researcher Mark Berres in 2013 and used with over 100 students at UW-Madison.
Read the Story
Sustainable U
No longer supported
In Sustainable U, an Augmented Reality game about campus sustainability, a visitor from the future shows students a bleak future unless people take action on sustainability. The game takes players on an AR tour of campus, with the goal of inspiring them to see the familiar in a new light.
Partners: The UW-Madison Office of Sustainability, The Educational Innovation Initiative
Read the Story
Viola
No longer supported
We partnered with UW-Madison Biology professor Catherine Woodward to create a mobile app for plant-identification that is truly pocket-sized! Viola guides users through plant identification using illustrations, which also helps teach the different parts of plants.
WisFlora Database, UW-Madison Baldwin Grant
ARISE Nursing
No longer supported
We teamed up with Madison College to design an AR project to help train nursing students for patient care. ARISE uses simulations and games to help students visualize real situations and feel more emotionally involved with patients in a simulated environment. ARISE also includes games that allow nursing students to practice their skills at home.
Partners: The US Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration
Watch the Video
ThermoVR
We teamed up with John Pfotenhauer, UW-Madison professor and researcher, to create this Virtual Reality simulation for teaching undergraduate thermodynamics. The game simulates the basic Equation of State used in classrooms across the country, allowing students to interact with this abstract concept in a hands-on, tactile environment.
Partners: UW-Madison School of Engineering
Learn more Read the Story
IceCube
The IceCube Virtual Reality experience puts you in the role of an astrophysicist. You will journey deep into space to track down the source of a neutrino detected by the IceCube observatory in Antarctica. Players learn about the IceCube observatory at the South Pole and the neutrinos they detect. Play at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery in Madison, WI or download for your own VR device.
Learn about Discover IceCube
Waddle: A Penguin's Tale
Our in-progress Penguins VR Project will allow players to experience life at the South Pole--as a penguin! We’re thrilled to be working with the Virtual Environments Lab and penguin research Jean Pennycook to create a fun, playful experience that introduces people to her NSF-funded work.
Partners: NSF, Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center
Learn about Waddle
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Siftr
Siftr
No longer supported
Use Siftr to make fieldwork activities easy. Teachers take 5 minutes to create a Siftr and students use mobile devices to collect data and observations outside of the classroom. Siftr helps you focus students, organizes their data and creates automatic visualizations to facilitate discussions in classrooms or online.
Get Siftr
Let’s make a mixed reality game together!
What does a VR Project Cost?
VR projects start at about $100K and can go to the millions. We’ll meet with you for free to determine the scope of your project. Most of our partners are funded through research grants. Others work with us to develop a concept and raise funds.
As part of WCER, we have access to a full grant-writing team. We can help you with the Broader Impacts portion of your grant or build a grant around your VR project. Step one is to reach out and set up a meeting! We’re excited to partner with you.
Your next Augmented Reality Game:
Powered by Field Day
Our customizable game and design platform is centered around community-based quests. Players collect virtual notes spawned on their map. learn about key concepts, visit stops, and make observations. Think Pokemon GO, but for learning.
How much does it cost?
Cost depends on how you’d like to use it. There are different tiers of involvement, from simply customizing your own quests to partnering with us to rebrand the platform with unique art, characters, and story. We’re looking for people interested in testing and prototyping. If you’re familiar with ARIS and have worked with us before, reach out to us.
Partners: Vanderbilt University, Smart & Connected Communities Grant through the National Science Foundation
Have an idea? Let's talk!
What about Aris?
ARIS was our popular AR game design platform. Over the last decade, we’ve loved seeing the creative ways that researchers and educators have used ARIS all over the world. (See our Past Projects below for some awesome ARIS projects.)
In 2020, we made the difficult decision to stop supporting this platform. ARIS might still work on older operating systems, but it has the potential to stop working at any time.
What’s next? There isn’t a tool that directly replaces ARIS, which leaves a gap for many designers. But we haven’t given up on AR. Siftr includes the field collection elements from ARIS. The Station, also focused on fieldwork, is a customizable game with quest-driven mechanics. We’ll continue to share new opportunities for collaborative design projects.
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