This summer, I worked with Professor Zachary Cofran on a virtual reality anthropology learning environment using Unity, a cross-platform game engine. Working on the first version of the lab created by Kamile Lukosiute, Adam Van Arsdale, and Jordan Tynes at Wellesey College in 2017, I was given the task of improving upon the Bio-Anthropology lab aimed to help students learn more about bones, fossils, and their features. By creating a virtual space to observe and interact with these fossils, students will look at fossils without worry of damaging them and professors will not have to wait the hours (and sometimes days) it takes to print viable 3D models of said fossils.

User examining a fossil for placement in the timeline.

In the original lab, users could enlarge fossils to note their characteristics with ease, teleport throughout the main room, pick up and move bones, and select some bones and fossils from a selection menu. With our additions, users have a larger array of fossils to choose from, such as Australopithecus and Neandertal specimens. They can also find information about the bone by toggling an information box, which appears next to the selected bone and displays the bone ID, element, geological age, site of discovery location, and similar specimens. The pedagogical centerpiece of the VR lab is a timeline activity, in which students will have to use reference fossils to identify and determine where other fossils belong in a timeline.

Student testing the virtual reality timeline activity.

This activity encourages students to learn more about the anatomy of certain species and how these evolutionary trends led to modern humans. Ideally, the bone lab will serve as a supplementary tool for students taking the Human Origins course or for those who wish to study fossils but have no direct access to them. With projects like this, the capabilities of VR are shown, and with it new ways to educate students.