The use of virtual worlds in the school is an extraordinary tool to engage the children in the process of e-learning. Although one can find many examples that describe the use of such a technology in teaching regular educational contents, very few examples replicate other classical outdoor educational activities such as a visit to a museum, including the remote interaction with the docents of the visited institution. In this work, the results of a study of the user experience of three groups of children within a flexible virtual space that connects schools and museums are described and evaluated. This integrated educational space not only includes the exploration of exhibition areas but also the telepresence talks on the part of museum personnel, simulations, educational work in the form of virtual quests, all within a multi-user virtual environment based on Open-Sim and simultaneously accessible from the different institutions involved in the experiment. The results obtained could serve as a starting point for a future implementation of this platform for connecting educational institutions and museums across an entire city.

Este artículo analiza el grado actual de aplicación de los mundos virtuales 3D o Metaversos en el ámbito de la educación en los diferentes tramos formativos, recopilando ejemplos de aplicación llevados a cabo en todo el mundo y analizando las ventajas e inconvenientes de las distintas plataformas de creación y desarrollo de mundos virtuales disponibles para la comunidad educativa. Finalmente, describe varios casos de aplicación diseñados y desarrollados por el grupo de investigación de los autores, incidiendo incluso en aspectos relativos al diseño de ciberarquitectura que influyen en la adecuación de estas infraestructuras virtuales al fin al que se destinan.

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This article presents a novel installation for the development of hybrid physical-numerical flood models in an augmented reality environment. This installation extends the concept introduced by the well-known Augmented Reality-SandBox (AR-Sandbox) module, which presents a more educational, and less research-based and professional application. It consists of a physical scale topography built in a sandbox into which other elements (such as buildings, roads or dikes) can be incorporated. A scanner generates, in real time, a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) from the sandbox topography, which serves as a basis for the simulation of overland flow using professional hydraulic software (Iber+). The hydraulic and hydrological parameters (surface roughness, inlet discharges, boundary conditions) are entered with a simple Graphical User Interface (GUI) developed specifically for this project, as indeed was the entire system that allows the visualization of the simulation results. This allows us to obtain quantitative results of flood extension and magnitude, which are represented directly over the physical topography, yielding a realistic visual effect. This installation is conceived for both educational and professional uses. An example of its use is presented, through which its accuracy can be appreciated, and which also illustrates its potential.

In this work, we describe the results in the study of the user experience of three groups of children within a flexible virtual space that connects school and museum. This integrated educational space includes not only the exploration of exhibition areas but also includes telepresence talks on the part of museum personnel, simulations, educational work in the form of virtual quests, all within a multi-user virtual environment based on OpenSim and simultaneously accessible from the different institutions involved in the experiment. The results obtained could serve as a starting point for a future implementation of this platform for connecting educational institutions and museums across the entire city.