Dr. Paul Hungler: Augmented Reality in STEM Education

Experiential learning is widely recognized as a deeply important educational tool. The value of giving students the opportunity not only to apply what they’ve learned, but also to interact with it in tangible, real ways is unmeasurable. Dr. Paul Hungler of the Queen’s Department of Chemical Engineering has had a long-standing interest in hands-on learning in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) related fields. Specifically, Dr. Hungler’s interest lies in virtual reality (VR) and its ability to give students access to unique experiential learning opportunities that would not be available to them otherwise. This coming January, Dr. Hungler and his team will begin to use a fully-immersive, educational VR app they’ve developed for first year students. The app’s purpose is to aid students in selecting an engineering discipline to pursue through exposure to different environments they may encounter in each particular discipline, such as an underground mine, or a solar power plant. Hungler and his team look forward to further developing this technology.