Use of mixed reality tools in introductory materials science courses

Spatial visualization skills of rotation and manipulation of three-dimensional objects often present major challenges that students face when learning new concepts in different areas of STEM education. In material science, students must possess a profound and intuitive understanding of its complex, 3D concepts to fully comprehend the fundamental interplay between structure and properties of different materials. Mixed reality technology offers material science educators the possibility to create 3D visualizations, overlay them on a classroom environment and allow students to interact with them in real-time. In this paper, we introduce an innovative and interactive mixed reality application, "Holo-MSE" - designed to help students visualize and fully control holographic models of threshold material science concepts. This paper is an interim report on an on-going study to implement Holo-MSE app in teaching selected threshold concepts of crystal structures and Miller indices with the aim to improve student performance and understand their spatial visualization ability in the mixed reality environment. Our preliminary results on spatial visualization ability indicate the effectiveness of mixed reality tools and highlight their tremendous potential in improving such skills in engineering students.