Inspiring the Minds of our Next STEM and Aerospace Engineering Generation

As a nation, and so too globally, the development of a new knowledge economy is working hard to entice our next generation of young people to drive further innovation and exploration in the field of aerospace engineering and space exploration.

In this latest blog, we look at how immersive spaces are primed to inspire and nurture the next generation of physicists, engineers, scientists and mathematicians.

Today’s learning institutions and academic brands need to consider how they will equip the next generation of young people.

It is very apparent that the UAE is now a major player in the world of aerospace engineering. Led by the GCC Space Agency, and via partnerships with NASA in the United States, the country is becoming a leading authority in international satellite communications and space exploration. The Mars Probe is the first of many programs that will see the UAE control its own destiny in aerospace engineering.

This presents a huge opportunity for the minds and futures of our young people, and of our future generation of scientists and engineers.

To support this creation of a new generation of knowledge economy that includes all STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) subjects, ranging from biomechanics and bioengineering to chemistry and aerospace engineering, there needs to be a means of fundamentally understanding data generated from within these areas.

Immersive learning spaces lend themselves extremely well to the visualization of complex sciences.

Take, for example, the visualization of aerospace engineering data. Teachers, students and scientists need absolute accuracy. Our immersive learning platform can track 11,000 geostationary satellites around the earth, and present them to students in real-time – helping them to understand the relationship between each other.

In the context of particle physics science, we can demonstrate the relationship between datasets from the micro level, up to the macro scale – truly to the size of the cosmos.

This teaching method saves so much time when compared to a passive whiteboard environment.

Immersive spaces can instantly, and beautifully, show earth-based seasonal data, weather patterns and temperature fluctuations. We can import and visualize the emerging biofarming landscape across the United Arab Emirates, and help students to understand the reasons for the practice, as well as being able to manipulate the data to grasp cause and effect scenarios.

One of the many benefits of the immersive ‘classroom’ format is that teachers and students can manipulate outcomes – gaining hands-on learning in an interactive, responsive outcome format.

What data can be brought in the dome? How does it work? How is it visualized?

We have created a customized educational platform designed specifically to curate this material.

While there is a huge library of regularly updated datasets from agencies such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and NASA, that’s free to access and import, Visuals Attraction has also developed a unique database manager and real-time visualization system that can work with textures, models or interactive datasets (2D and 3D).

On a typical project, we will work with the institution to create a series of video vignettes or real-time databases which can be brought into the platform as an educational resource. Either as a full lecture ready-to-present, or as a subset of that on any given topic.

For example, this could take the form of a DNA model, or recent COVID population spread data, presented as an interactive resource so that students can visualize the comparison between the COVID virus and other common viruses.

Our team of developers and educators can also steer the customization of this platform so that it is branded for the purpose and requirements of the academic institution.

In particular, how can these solutions nurture aerospace engineering early-stage students?

Fundamentally, in early stage education, we can stimulate wonder and interest in topics that are perhaps not traditionally so ‘visually appealing’. Students and teachers can share and dissect topics in a much more approachable and accessible format.

Particularly for students in the 12-15 year age range, both boys and girls, these hands-on, highly visual experiences are proven to develop the foundational skill sets of our next generation of scientists.

What can a dome do that a standard classroom cannot?

The dome as an immersive classroom provides an instantly accessible teaching environment. And one that has no limits. We can bring in any data, any model, any topic, at any time for lessons and teaching experiences that are as far-reaching as your imagination.

We can play, pause, rewind and repeat any lesson, or part of a lecture. All experiences can be navigated from any point.

The real-time, live feed capability is similar to a video game – data can be brought into the dome and visualized on demand, with no wait time needed to render the media onto the extreme resolution, giant canvas dome display.

What future trends do we see for this type of experience being used in this context?

Working with real-time game engine and generative server technologies, our solutions can now handle complex databases formed from real scientific data. Bringing this into the dome, in real-time and at exceptionally high rates of resolution and frame rate, and it’s an incredible experience.

The global knowledge economy of machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will require future generations of scientists and developers to understand complex datasets as well, in order to build real-time engines that will effectively go and ‘teach themselves’. Our learning systems will also support this, laying the foundations for complex data comprehension in all areas.

Domes and interactive immersive spaces will also be increasingly used in the education of much broader modeling and simulation topics – including architectural and Building Information Management (BIM) modeling.

The new generation of schools and academic centers must provide the functionality, and the tools, to empower students and prepare them for our future global technology shift, which is now already underway.