Virtual Reality (2009) 13:8799
DOI 10.1007/s10055-009-0113-6
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Using immersive game-based virtual reality to teach fire-safety
skills to children
Shana Smith Emily Ericson
Received: 23 April 2007 / Accepted: 18 February 2009 / Published online: 13 March 2009
Springer-Verlag London Limited 2009
Abstract Virtual reality (VR) has been used both to
simulate situations that are too dangerous to practice in real
life and as a tool to help children learn. This study was
conducted as part of a larger more comprehensive long-
term research project which aims to combine the two
techniques and demonstrate a novel application of the
result, using immersive VR to help children learn about fire
hazards and practice escape techniques. In the current
study, a CAVE was used to immerse participants in a fire
scene. To improve the childrens motivation for learning
over prior VR fire-safety training methods, game-like
interface interaction techniques were used and students
were encouraged to explore the virtual world. Rather than
being passive viewers, as in prior related studies, the
children were given full control to navigate through the
virtual environment and to interact with virtual objects
using a game pad and a 6DOF wand. Students identified
home fire hazards with a partner and then practiced
escaping from a simulated fire in the virtual environment.
To test for improved motivation, a user study was com-
pleted. Results indicate that students were more engaged by
the new game-like learning environment and that they
reported that they found the experience fun and intriguing.
Their enhanced enthusiasm for what is relatively standard
fire-safety information demonstrates the promise of using
game-based virtual environments for vital but otherwise
tedious fire-safety skills training for children.
S. Smith (&)
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
e-mail: ssmith@ntu.edu.tw
E. Ericson
Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA, USA
Keywords Virtual reality (VR)
Immersive
CAVE

Game based
Fire safety
Children
1 Introduction
Due to decreasing computer equipment costs and increas-
ing processor speed, computer simulations have become
more common over the last decade. Virtual reality (VR) is
one new and rapidly growing capability used for computer
simulations. As equipment capabilities have grown, the
applied uses of such technologies for education and train-
ing have become broader. In particular, VR allows full
submersion into a virtual environment. As a result, VR can
be used in training situations where it would be too dan-
gerous or logistically impossible to have users participate
in an actual event (Stansfield et al. 2005).
VR training reduces risk and improves logistics by
creating virtual environments in which trainees can prac-
tice realistic simulated hazard situations or scenarios. Users
typically wear head mounted displays (HMDs) and use
6DOF wands for navigation and interaction. Instructors can
initiate any of a series of emergencies, from separate
applications on desktop computers. Students are usually
graded, and they lose points whenever they initiate incor-
rect actions that would lead to injuries in a real world
environment.
For example, Kizil and Joy (2001) developed a system
to help prepare miners for dangerous situations that could
not be addressed through traditional training methods.
Haller et al. (1999) developed a similar system to train
refinery workers. VR has been used for training both
emergency first responders and their commanders. In Li
et al.s study (2005), as many as six first responders could
participate in an emergency scenario while wearing HMDs.
123
88
Trainees made decisions based on instructions given by
their commanders.
VR has also been used in firefighter training systems.
Navy firefighters traditionally train on retired battleships.
Instructors create various types of fires, and the trainees are
asked to respond to the situations. However, using VR,
trainees can perform missions in virtual, rather than actual,
fire environments. Researchers found that trainees dem-
onstrate similar levels of learning, whether they train on an
actual ship or in a virtual environment. However, virtual
environments offer significantly less risk to the trainees
(Tate et al. 1997).
The studies cited showed that VR systems can be effec-
tively used to isolate trainees from dangerous risks during
hazard skills training. Moreover, Sulbaran and Baker (2000)
also showed that learners usually enjoy VR training more
than other traditional training methods and that they retain
knowledge gained from VR training longer than that gained
using other methods. As a result, VR hazard-skills training
has the potential to reduce risk, increase acceptance, and
improve effectiveness over prior training methods.
Recent related research has also focused on developing
more advanced technology for realistically modeling fires
in VR environments, for example, Sherman et al. (2007)
developed a simulation application to graphically illustrate
the spread of wild fires. However, they only focused on
technical aspects of software and hardware development.
They did not create or test any fire-safety training
applications.
VR has also been used to teach children about abstract
or difficult concepts. For example, Ohlsson et al. (2000)
developed a VR system which they used to communicate a
key learning concept: that the Earth is round. According to
the researchers, the concept can be hard for children to
grasp because all of their day-to-day experience with the
Earth apparently conflicts with this fact. In their system,
children worked in teams of two to collect objects on a
virtual asteroid. One child, within a CAVE, acted as an
astronaut on the face of the asteroid. The second child,
from an ImmersaDeskTM, acted as a mission controller.
The mission controller helped their teammate navigate on
the virtual asteroid. The study showed that, after training,
children could translate their experiences from the virtual
asteroid to the way they thought about the Earth.
In two studies, Roussou et al. (2004, 2006) developed a
virtual playground application to help children grasp
another difficult learning concept: comparing fractions.
Fractions with bigger numbers in the denominator are
actually smaller than those with smaller denominators.
However, the fact seems counterintuitive to young children.
To address the need, the researchers used a VR playground
paradigm in which they asked children to help several
animated characters locate and place playground equipment
123
Virtual Reality (2009) 13:8799
based upon the fraction of the total playground area they
occupied. While there was no evidence that any concrete
learning took place, the researchers concluded that students
were given a new context in which to think about fractions.
In another example, Kaufman et al. (2000) designed a
VR learning application for older students. In a pilot study,
they then used the application to help students grasp dif-
ficult concepts in geometry. In their study, students wore a
HMD and viewed a virtual world. They used a pen inter-
face and buttons which were drawn on actual notebooks
which the users held in their hands. After the training, all of
the users in the pilot study expressed positive feelings
about the VR interface and about their confidence with the
geometrical concepts presented.
An example of a VR sandbox system is the NICE
project (Roussou et al. 1999). The system allowed children
to interact with a virtual garden. Children could plant
seeds, provide sunshine and water for their plants, and
watch the plants grow. The system allowed children to
experiment with different kinds of plants and with giving
the plants varying levels of water and sunshine.
Researchers found that the open-ended style of play which
they used engaged children and encouraged them to create
narratives to go along with their experience.
From the cited references, VR can be used to effectively
communicate key concepts to children in effective sand-
box learning environments. Other studies show that
games, in general, can be used as an effective means for
engaging children in material that they might otherwise
consider to be difficult or boring to learn. For example, in
prior studies, researchers have used games to teach children
how to protect themselves in the event of a fire and help
children learn to cross a street more safely (Padgett et al.
2006; Thomson et al. 2005).
In prior related studies, VR systems have been developed
specifically for children. However, none of the studies
focused on developing game-based immersive VR-based
fire-safety training systems. Some prior studies focused on
communicating key learning concepts, while others focused
on creating general sandboxes that allowed children to
freely explore pre-defined learning environments.
The current study combined findings from several prior
research areas and, based upon the findings, designed and
evaluated an interactive game-based VR fire-safety training
system for teaching elementary school children about fire
safety. The current study was completed as part of a larger
more comprehensive long-term research project which
aims to use immersive VR to provide effective high-risk
fire-safety training to children. In particular, the project
aims to (1) help children learn about fire hazards and (2)
practice escape techniques by immersing them in virtual
fire hazard and fire emergency situations. The two topics
were identified, by firefighters who are participating in the
Virtual Reality (2009) 13:8799
project, as the two most critical aspects of fire-safety
training for children. The long-term project was motivated
by statistics which show that young children are one of the
most at-risk groups in fire hazard situations.
In an initial study (Ericson and Smith 2008), a virtual
environment was designed, built, and tested. The virtual
environment was designed as an immersive teacherlearner
environment. Firefighters who were participating in the
study served as instructors. One firefighter led a group of
children through a virtual house that had specific fire
hazards which the firefighter helped the children to iden-
tify. They also discussed how to eliminate the hazards. The
firefighter also triggered a simulated fire in the house and
then taught students how to escape from the fire.
Although results of training in the virtual environment
were positive, many of the children were frustrated by the
lack of interaction they had with the environment and some
lost interest or motivation during parts of the training
session. As a result, additional research was conducted
concerning how to design more-effective virtual-training
environments for children.
The goal of the current study was to increase learner
motivation, over prior methods used in the overall study,
while maintaining or enhancing learning about fire hazards
and fire-escape techniques. The method used to achieve the
current study goal was to use game-based VR techniques to
make fire safety fun and engaging to learn, while actually
helping children remember the steps they need to take to
save themselves and others if they ever find themselves in a
real fire emergency.
The paper is organized as follows. First, results from an
initial study of a first version of the system are presented
and ways that were identified to address initial study issues
are discussed. Then, the design of the second, more
advanced game-based system is described. A discussion of
the technical issues encountered during design of the sec-
ond system, design of a user study for the second system,
and results of the user study are given. Finally, a descrip-
tion of proposed future work is presented.
2 Initial study
In collaboration with the City of Ames, Iowa, Fire
Department, the researchers initially developed a CAVE-
based VR system for training children how to respond in
fire emergencies. The system was designed such that, in
which firefighters could lead children through realistic
simulated fire situations. The firefighters provided guidance
and instruction during the fire emergency simulations.
During initial system design, the researchers and fire-
fighters decided that the most important information for
children to gain from the proposed VR learning
89
environment was how quickly fire spreads and that
crawling low can help people escape from a burning
building.
As a result, a virtual house was built, which contained
several fire hazards and means for simulating a fire in the
house. During the simulation, children followed an adult
guide and a firefighter, as they walked through the VR
house. The adult guide ran the simulation using a handheld
6 DOF wand and the guide led both the firefighter and the
children along a prescribed path through the virtual house.
The firefighter described fire hazards, provided information
and motivation, and helped the children stay on task. At the
end of the simulation, a simulated fire was started and the
fire spread quickly through the house. The firefighter
showed children how to crawl out of the burning house, to
a safe meeting-place outside the house.
Initial study results showed that, while children learned
intended concepts well and that they enjoyed the new
technology more than prior fire-safety training methods,
such as books, lectures, or videos, in general, they were
also frustrated that they could not interact with the virtual
environment directly. Many of the children said that they
wanted to be able to actively explore the virtual house. A
study by Roussou (2004) also showed that simply viewing
a virtual environment did not keep children fully engaged.
Here, we addressed the issue by creating a second, more
advanced, game-based version of their virtual learning
system. In the new system, several improvements were
made to the user interface. In particular, ambient sounds
and a novel interaction technique, which engaged users in a
more active way, were both added.
3 Game-based system design
In the current study, several special concerns were addres-
sed during design of the more advanced system. In
particular, the investigators aimed to develop a system that
would both entertain children and, at the same time, provide
them with information about the important underlying
topic: fire safety. From the original initial study, the
investigators realized that it was important for the system to
be fun and accessible to young children, and, yet, not tri-
vialize the message. As a result, the investigators chose to
use a video game paradigm, while maintaining the original
VR environment, fire hazards, and fire simulation scenario.
Video games are now prevalent among children
(Mungai et al. 2002; Ketelhut et al. 2006). At the same
time, video games have also been shown to be an excellent
tool for learning. The promise of games for learning lies in
the facts that they are fun, they provide immediate feed-
back, and they allow users to experiment in a realistic
environment without real-world consequences.
123
90 Virtual Reality (2009) 13:8799

3.1 Basic system components

Three primary open-source software libraries were used to

create the VR fire-safety training environment: VR
Juggler (http://www.vrjuggler.org/), OpenSceneGraph (http://
www.openscenegraph.com/index.php), and Open Physics
Abstraction Layer (OPAL) (http://ox.slug.louisville.edu/
*o0lozi01/opal_wiki/index.php/Main_Page). Using the
three libraries to develop the necessary software program
allowed the research effort to focus on the educational con-
tent and the methods used to enhance interaction, rather than
the low-level technical aspects of building the system.

3.1.1 Realistic smoke

The City of Ames Fire Department provided consultation
during design and development of the system. City of
Ames firefighters felt that, to carry the weight and impact
needed for realistic fire-safety training, it was crucial that
the system effectively mimic a real fire-situation.
The firefighters indicated that there were several
important aspects of their requirement. First, from the very
beginning of the fire, smoke had to be generated in a rea-
listic way. Second, the smoke needed to continue to fill the
room in layers from the ceiling, as it does in a real fire. In
addition, the whole process needed to happen very quickly,
since smoke can often fill an entire room in a matter of
seconds (Pehrson 2004). Finally, the smoke had to be dense
enough to obstruct the view of anyone who was standing in
its midst, so that the participants were forced to crawl if they
wanted to see where they were going. To handle the
requirement, particle systems were used to simulate smoke
in the virtual environment. As a result, the open-source
Particle Systems API was used to create smoke for the
system (www.cs.unc.edu/*davemc/Particle). The Particle
Systems API is thread safe, and it features an API which is
similar to that of OpenGL (McAllister 2000).
Each particle system is represented internally by an
array of points. To make the particles look like puffs of
smoke, a function was added to the particle handler class to
create each point in a given particle system as an OpenGL
quad. A smoke-texture map was mapped to each quad and,
as a result, a cloud of smoke could be formed. Figure 1
shows the result, layers of smoke that descend from the
ceiling.
Fig. 1 Layers of smoke
got during the training exercise. Figure 2 shows an outside
view of the house model which was built. The red mailbox
was designated as the safe meeting-place where children
should go when they escaped from the house.
Randall and Jones (1993) showed that physically acting
out a procedure often makes it easier to remember, there-
fore, the investigators felt that the game should require
users to practice an actual physical escape, by crawling
from the fire scene. The most difficult part of trying to
achieve the goal, in the context of an interactive game, was
that, if done correctly, escaping from the fire had to take
place in less than a minute. To maintain realism and
training impact, the time limitation did not lend itself well
to an interactive VR game experience with any sort of
entertainment value. Therefore, the investigators added a
separate task to the VR game, a modified version of the
original search for fire hazards.
Fire department personnel stress fire-hazard training
with children because fire-hazard training generally helps

3.2 Game development

The game which was developed was defined in two

distinct parts: a timed-hazard search and an evacuation
from a simulated fire event. The evacuation was the most
important part of the simulated experience, since it repre-
sented the actual physical-evacuation practice that users Fig. 2 Completed house model

123
Virtual Reality (2009) 13:8799
keep them away from dangerous items which may hurt
them, such as candles, and help prevent a fire before it
starts. For example, both the National Fire Prevention
Agency (NFPA) and the United States Firefighters Asso-
ciation (USFA) maintain versions of a home-hazard search
on their websites for children. In this project, the hazard-
search game was developed from a list of common home-
fire hazards provided by the City of Ames Fire Department.
The following sections describe details of the game
development.
3.2.1 Navigation
One of the primary complaints from participants, during
the initial study, was that they wanted to explore the virtual
house on their own, rather than being passive observers in
the VR environment. Thus, in the second version of the
system, a gamepad was used for navigation. The gamepad
was an intuitive choice for navigation because gamepads
are a standard input method for video games.
In the new system design, the right analog stick of the
gamepad was used to rotate the players view and the left
analog stick was used to move forward, backward, side to
side, or in any combination of the given directions. Forward
was defined by the direction the player was facing when they
moved the left analog stick. The approach allowed users to
face any wall of the immersive environment without needing
to adjust the way they were using the gamepad.
Prior related research with games designed for education
showed that intended users often expect a great deal from
applications that are called games, and that they are required, two participants. Previous related studies have
often disappointed by the actual application (Elliott et al.
2002). As a result, the game-based version of the fire-safety
application was designed to be as interactive as possible.
The application allowed users to dynamically navigate
through the environment, which required some form of
collision detection that would prevent users from passing
through objects in the virtual environment.
To address the need, OPAL was integrated into the
visual simulation to create physical representations of all of
the important objects in the virtual environment. In the
active virtual environment, the user was represented by an
invisible sphere, subject to the effects of gravity, and their
movements were powered by an OPAL motor.
The terrain of the fire-safety environment was composed
of a single model which included the ground, the house,
and most of the furniture. As a result, the terrain, which
was very complicated, could not be represented by a full
object model.
For complex environments, OPAL users typically define
mesh objects, rather than full object models. In OPAL,
mesh objects are defined by an array of vertices and a
second array that maps vertices to mesh triangles. Mesh
91
objects with more vertices are more complicated; therefore
they still require more computational resources to compute
collisions for each display frame. As a result, overall,
simulation objects were simplified as much as possible. For
example, users were modeled as simple spheres.
3.2.2 Interface
To create a fun way to indicate hazards in the virtual
environment a user interface was developed using a 6DOF
wand. In the final design, users pointed the wand at an item
they wished to remove from the house. The wand included
a tracker that reported its orientation in the CAVE, and the
orientation information was passed to a physics simulation
which fired a ray in the direction the wand was pointing.
The laser technique is very popular for object selection
in 3D VR environments (Vanacken et al. 2007).
Figure 3 shows an example of children pointing at a fire
hazard in the CAVE environment. If a hazard model was
hit, meaning the first thing the ray encountered was a viable
hazard model, the hazard was marked as found and the
physics simulation reported the index of the discovered
hazard back to the visible simulation. The hazard model
was then removed and a sound was played to indicate
successful identification and removal of the hazard.
Another theme the investigators saw from the results of
the initial study was that many children were nervous about
entering the virtual environment. Many asked if they would
be able to bring a friend with them, with this in mind, the
interface was designed to accommodate, and in fact
also found that, if two children use an application together,
it is important that each has an important role to play, so
that they are forced to collaborate (Ohlsson et al. 2000).
As a result, the new fire-safety application was designed
so that one child played the role of a Navigator, and the
Fig. 3 Users zap a hazard in the VR game
123
92
other child played the role of a Hazard Zapper. As a team,
they were responsible for removing all of the hazard
models in the house. To accomplish the task, the children
needed to communicate with each other to both find and
effectively eliminate all of the fire hazards. In addition,
they were never alone in the virtual environment, which
reduced their anxiety about the experience. However,
working together in the house, without adults, helped train
the children to handle the most-dangerous real fire situa-
tion, which takes place when adults are not present.
A heads up display (HUD) was added to the application
to provide users with information because, with the new
system, a firefighter was no longer with them in the envi-
ronment. The HUD displayed instructions and information
on the walls of the CAVE, so that the information was
accessible to the users, no matter which direction they were
facing.
3.2.3 Hazard search
Hazard removal presented a unique design challenge with
respect to information sharing. Each hazard had to be
represented by a visual model, which was removed when
the hazard was discovered by the users. Actual hazard
removal was not complicated, since most scene graphs
provide functionality for switching a node on and off.
However, in the new system, each hazard needed to be
physically represented, so the user could not pass through
the hazard until it had been removed from the environment.
Therefore, both the visual simulation and the physical
simulation needed to maintain a synchronized list of haz-
ards and update the list as hazards were removed.
3.2.4 Fire evacuation
Cooking fires in kitchens are the most common cause of
residential fires (United States Fire Administration 2002).
As a result, a smoking pan was added to the house model,
as one of the fire hazards. When time expired for the
hazards search portion of the simulation, the children were
instructed to find the kitchen. When they arrived at the
kitchen, a kitchen fire began at the stove and spread out
through the room. To create the effect, several particle
systems were used in tandem. First, a small system that
released puffs of smoke at large intervals was used to show
that food left on the stove was burning. Then a larger, faster
moving plume of smoke was used to show that a fire had
started. Once the smoke reached the ceiling of the room a
layer of animated smoke began to roll across the ceiling
away from the source of the fire. After the first layer of
smoke started, a fire alarm began to sound. One second
later, another layer of smoke started, and the process
continued until the final layer began.
123
Virtual Reality (2009) 13:8799
When the lowest layer of smoke was approximately
3 feet from the ground, the CAVE switched into view-
dependent mode. In view-dependent mode, if the users
stood up, their viewpoint rose above the smoke ceiling and
they saw nothing but dark heavy smoke. However, if the
users crawled close to the floor, they could see their sur-
roundings and find a way to escape, as shown in Fig. 4.
Following their escape from the kitchen and house the
children were instructed to go to a pre-defined meeting
place. Having a meeting place was one of the most
important safety tips offered by fire fighters. Instructing
users to find a pre-defined meeting place encouraged them
to think about where a good meeting-place was outside
their own home, and the layered smoke reinforced the
concept that it is vitally important to crawl close to the
floor in a real fire situation. Figure 5 shows the HUD
instructions which were displayed after the children arrived
at the meeting place.
4 User study
To complete the proposed user study, a fire-safety training
course for children was developed. The training course
included elements that Fire Department personnel felt were
important in a useful fire-safety training course for children.
In particular, after the initial study, participating Fire
Department personnel felt that the VR training environment
should be used in addition to either video or personal contact
training with firefighters. As a result, the new course com-
bined both video and VR environment training. The new VR
training system aimed to enhance or reinforce prior training
methods, rather than to replace them. While, at the same
time, the VR training system aimed to improve user satis-
faction with VR fire-safety training and to improve overall
user motivation during the fire-safety training program.
Fig. 4 Fire evacuation
Virtual Reality (2009) 13:8799 93

classroom and a fire-safety pre-quiz was administered, to

gage the participants baseline levels of fire-safety knowl-
edge. Next, a video was presented, which showed a
firefighter giving a fire-safety presentation. The presenta-
tion was designed to give the children a framework for
thinking about the VR fire-safety application. After
watching the video, a short presentation was given, which
described, in detail, the user interface of the game system
and explained the objectives of the game.
Next, the control group, which consisted of 10 children,
took a post-quiz prior to using the VR application, while
the experimental group, which consisted of 12 children,
used the VR application first and then took the post-quiz.
Figure 6 shows a flowchart outlining the steps in the
training process. In Fig. 6, the experimental group process
Fig. 5 Children arrive at the meeting place
is denoted by a dashed line and the control group process is
denoted by a solid line.
The simulation was run in a four-sided CAVE. The reso-
lution of the projectors used was 1,280 9 1.024 pixels, and the
4.3 Experimental results
refresh rate of the projectors was 96 Hz. The screen dimen-
sions were 120 9 90 for the front, left, and right screens, and
Results were analyzed for data from the pre-quiz, the post-
120 9 120 for the floor screen. The frame rate of the virtual
quiz, and the user-experience survey.
environment is application dependent. For our fire-safety
training system, the frame rate was set to approximately 40 fps.
4.3.1 Pre- and post-quiz
4.1 Participants
The quiz used to measure the participants learning was
developed based on the main points communicated in the
Participants were drawn from area Boy Scout troops.
fire-safety presentation, which the investigators created and
Results were analyzed for data collected from both a quiz
which the Fire Department presented. The quiz was com-
(see Appendix 1) and a user-experience survey (see
posed of five fill in the blank questions, five true or false
Appendix 2) which were administered. Of the 22 par-
questions, and an open-ended section that asked students to
ticipants, one did not complete the survey, so only 21
think of some fire hazards, and describe the first thing they
survey data points were analyzed.
would do if they were in a room that was filling with smoke.
Table 1 shows the age distribution for participants in the
Students pre-test and post-test scores were recorded and
study. Their ages ranged from 7 to 11. Requirements for
analyzed. The means of the pre-test and post-test scores are
participation included being able to read and write profi-
shown in Fig. 7. Table 2 shows the results of a matched pairs
ciently and not having any prior VR fire-safety training
experience (e.g., the participants did not participate in the
initial study for the original system).

4.2 Training procedure

Children played the VR game in teams of two. Participants

were first given a tour of the VR system, so that they were
somewhat familiar with the technology being used. The
tour also provided an opportunity for discussion about how
the game worked and for explaining the user interface that
would be used during the training session. After the par-
ticipants saw the VR equipment, they were taken to a

Table 1 Age distribution

Age 78 9 1011

Participants 8 4 9
Fig. 6 Experimental process

123
94 Virtual Reality (2009) 13:8799

Fig. 7 Mean scores for pre- and post-test

test that was carried out on the general pre- and post-test data,
to search for significant improvements. Table 2 results show Fig. 8 Mean scores organized by group
that all students, taken as a single group, improved signifi-
cantly in measured fire-safety knowledge after training.
However, when considered as separate groups, there was no easy. Figure 9 shows distributions for the participants
significant difference in knowledge gained between the con- responses to the survey questions.
trol group and the experimental group, as shown in Fig. 8. Analysis of results revealed a significant difference in
how frightened participants were in the virtual environ-
4.3.2 User-experience survey results ment, based upon age, with 11-year-olds reporting
significantly less fear than 8-year-olds, as shown in
The user-experience survey which was administered asked Table 3. However, age did not play a significant role in
participants to describe their experiences in the CAVE. The learning and ease of use, as shown in Tables 4 and 5.
survey asked participants to rank how frightened they felt The final, open-ended, part of the survey used two
in the CAVE, on a scale of 15, with 5 indicating very questions to ask for participants opinions about their most
frightened. Next, the survey asked participants how much and least favorite parts of the training process. There were
they felt they had learned in the game, on a scale from 1 to some obvious groupings in the responses to the two ques-
5, with 5 indicating the highest degree of learning. Finally, tions. Figure 10 summarizes responses to the question
the survey asked participants how easy it was to play the concerning what participants liked best in the training
game, with 1 indicating very hard and 5 indicating very process. The most popular response was getting to play the
game. Figure 11 summarizes responses to what participants
liked least during the training process. Frustration over the
Table 2 Matched pairs: post-test and pre-test difference hazard zapping functionality was the most popular response.
Post-test scores 13.1364 There were also several responses indicating that partici-
Pre-test score 10.7727 pants felt dizzy or sick while using the VR application.
Mean difference 2.36364
Std error 0.49911
Upper 95% 3.4016 5 Discussion
Lower 95% 1.32567
N 22 The results indicate that the VR training system did not
Correlation 0.56167 affect short-term learning gains, in either a positive or
t-ratio 4.735667
negative sense, during the training process. The result was
DF 21
expected because the VR training system was used to
reinforce the fire-safety material covered by firefighters
Prob [ |t| 0.0001*
during the video portion of the training program.
Prob [ t \0.0001*
In addition, the quiz was designed to be short and simple
Prob \ t 0.9999
so that children between ages 8 and 11 could easily

123
Virtual Reality (2009) 13:8799 95

Fig. 9 Distributions for survey

questions

Table 3 Statistical results

Level Mean
comparing fright and age
78 A 3.6250000
9 AB 3.0000000
1011 B 1.5555556

Table 4 Statistical results

Level Mean
comparing learning and age
1011 A 4.2222222
78 A 4.0000000
9 A 4.0000000

Table 5 Statistical results

Level Mean
comparing ease of use and age
78 A 3.5000000 Fig. 10 Responses for What did you like best about Fire Safety
1011 A 3.3333333 Training?
9 A 3.0000000

complete it. As a result, some participants who scored very

well on the pre-test did not have much room for
improvement on the post-test. The limited range of the
instrument may have affected the results.
However, qualitative study results show that the game-
based VR training system did improve the childrens
satisfaction with VR fire-safety training and their overall
motivation for fire-safety training.

5.1 Zapping complications

Noise associated with the tracker hardware made it some-
times difficult to aim at fire hazards in the environment,
especially when pointing at objects that were far away from
the users or not at right angles to the direction the users
were facing. The imprecise targeting was frustrating for
users.
After the study was completed, the problem was fixed
by adding a visible box to the ray, which is used to check
for intersections. The box is used to both indicate, to the
user, the orientation and length of the ray and to check for
intersections. The improved approach allows for a certain
amount of error in the tracker readings on the wand, and
makes it easier for users to zap hazards.
Fig. 11 Responses for What did you like least about Fire Safety
Training?
Six participants said that the problem with hazard zapping
was their least favorite part of the whole training experience.
However, several students mentioned zapping as one of their
favorite parts of the training experience, demonstrating that
the interaction method is compelling to young users.
5.2 User experience observations
One surprising issue that was encountered was getting the
children to crawl in the virtual environment. The head
tracking software adjusted the camera view when the

123
96
Navigator knelt down, which allowed the children to see
below the layers of smoke that were formed. The investi-
gators believe that this capability of the virtual environment
makes it especially useful for training the particular skill,
however, many of the children were not used to this idea.
Even after they were instructed to get on their knees they
sometimes did not understand what to do. One child asked
How do I kneel? This was an unexpected user-interface
issue. Apparently, children who are used to playing video
games expect to carry out activities within the game envi-
ronment without actually physically engaging in the
activity; the student who asked the question wanted to know
which button to press to virtually kneel in the game.
Although the issue needs to be addressed, the issue shows
that immersive VR systems have a built-in capability for
higher levels of actual humancomputer interaction than
traditional video games, which can increase capabilities for
truly hands-on training experiences.
Younger children reported feeling fear in the virtual
environment. The result indicates a greater level of realism
and immersion than traditional fire-safety training methods
and, therefore, a more powerful learning experience. As a
result, using immersive VR as a part of the training
experience may lead to greater learning gains over time for
younger children. The investigators did not want to trau-
matize children during the fire-safety training program;
however, a proper level of realism is necessary for safety
training. Younger children also had a greater problem with
feeling dizzy or with experiencing motion sickness.
In spite of the reported frustration associated with haz-
ard zapping, most of the users enjoyed the experience. All
participants were very excited when they were able to start
playing the game. Most remarked that it was just like being
inside a video game. Their increased enthusiasm for
learning relatively standard fire-safety information fulfilled
the primary goal of the study. The trainees enthusiasm
demonstrated the promise of VR for training vital skills
over other somewhat tedious methods.
6 Conclusions and future work
Fire safety is a difficult skill to evaluate because children need
to be able to reproduce correct behaviors under highly spe-
cialized fire situations. Demonstrating correct behavior in a
classroom setting does not necessarily translate to real-world
situations. VR applications show promise for providing the
means for training fire-safety skills, in a safe environment,
which might later be needed in dangerous situations.
In an initial related test, children indicated that they
wanted to be able to explore a virtual fire-safety training
environment on their own. To address the issue, a game-
based version of the fire-safety application was designed to
123
Virtual Reality (2009) 13:8799
be playable without the help of an adult navigator, or a
firefighter. The second more-advanced version of the sys-
tem provided users with a more immersive experience and
made them active participants in the learning process.
However, with the new system, students were alone,
without firefighters, in their process of learning appropriate
fire-safety procedures. For example, students themselves
had to learn that crawling low would help them see.
On the other hand, the open nature of the VR facility
seemed to allow and encourage children to talk to other people
in the room. Children often asked their parents and others
questions while they navigated in the VR environment. The
uncontrolled interaction may have skewed test results, but
may also have added to the users learning experiences.
From project results, the investigators demonstrated that
immersive VR systems have a built-in advantage over prior
fire-safety training methods for children. They allow
children to experience realistic virtual hands-on and
on-site experiences for high-risk safety training, which
cannot be achieved through lectures or regular video
games, e.g., how to kneel down or crawl in a fire situation.
In addition, study results show that game-based VR sys-
tems increase childrens motivation over more traditional
teacherlearner forms of VR-based instruction, which was
the primary goal of the study.
The results indicate, as have other related studies, that
emerging VR capabilities may help create a new paradigm in
learning: highly interactive, experiential, virtual-learning
environments that can augment, enhance, or possibly replace
traditional teacherlearner methods based upon lectures and
videos. Learners apparently prefer the new learning paradigm.
As a result, as in the current study, future teachers may
actually become virtual-learning system designers rather
than lecturers and their main efforts may be focused on how
to design their knowledge and teaching abilities into effec-
tive learning systems that both engage and motivate learners.
Study results also indicate that age of learners impacts
system design needs. With respect to fire-safety training for
children, users with age differences of as little as a few
years apparently require different learning environments.
In the current study, younger children reported more fright
than older children. As a result, different fire simulations
might be needed to allow adjusting experience intensity
and realism for different age groups.
Different forms of learning evaluation are also needed.
Younger students had a more difficult time completing the
study quiz, and they became more frustrated with the forms
that they had to fill out as part of the study. For younger
children, one-on-one interviews might be a more effective
evaluation format because written self expression might
still be difficult for them.
In addition, the simplicity of the quiz, which was deve-
loped for the youngest users, may have prevented measuring
Virtual Reality (2009) 13:8799 97

any additional learning gains that may have been achieved by
reinforcing video training with VR training. The retention
rate of fire-safety knowledge due to the VR training com-
ponent, versus traditional classroom video and/or personal
interaction training techniques need further study, as well.
The extent to which traditional learning methods can be
replaced, rather than augmented or enhanced, by virtual
learning environments needs to be determined.
In the future, the potential for using intelligent agents,
which act as training guides, also needs to be explored. Other
game-like elements could also be improved, to include more
hazards and to make hazards and hazard placement more
dynamic, so that different hazards would appear in different
locations on successive runs of the program. The improved
functionality could make the game more interesting for
repeated training, since users would not know all the hazards
and where they were located in the training environment.
Fire safety is a difficult skill to test in children because they
may never need the skills. However, if children do find
themselves in a fire emergency they are typically either pre-
pared or they are not. The investigators believe that the
children who participated in the program are better prepared in
the event they experience a fire situation in their home. As a
result, the study and the study results present a significant gain
and step toward improved fire-safety training for children.
Appendix 1

Fire Safety Quiz

Directions: Complete each sentence.
1. What is the most common type of household fire? ___________________
2. _______________ is the time of day when most cooking related fires happen.
3. It is important that you have working _______________ detectors in your home.
4. Most house fires take place in the ____________________.
5. Never use the ____________________ to go downstairs during a fire.

Directions: Read each statement. Decide which statements are true and which statements
are false.

T F 1. You should have an escape plan, but it is okay not to practice.

T F 2. Your family should have a meeting place a safe distance from your home.
T F 3. It is important to know how to operate all windows and doors in your house.
T F 4. It is okay to only know one way out of a room in your house.
T F 5. Floor coverings can help you navigate in a room filled with smoke.
List 5 examples of fire hazards.
1. 4.

2. 5.

3.

If you are in a room that is filling with smoke what is the first thing you should do?

123
98 Virtual Reality (2009) 13:8799

Appendix 2

Fire-Safety Training Survey

1. Gender
Girl Boy

2. What is your age?

3. Did you ever feel frightened while in the fire scenes in the CAVE? (1: not at all; 5: a lot)
1 2 3 4 5

4. How much do you think you learned about fire safety during this program? (1: nothing at all, 5: a lot)
1 2 3 4 5

5. How easy was it to use the VR application? (1: very hard; 5: very easy)

1 2 3 4 5

6. What was the most important thing you learned in the fire safety training program today?

7. What did you like the most about fire safety training in the CAVE?

8. What did you like the least about fire safety training in the CAVE?

References
Elliott J, Adams L, Bruckman A (2002) No magic bullet: 3D video
games in education. In: Proceedings of international conference
of the learning sciences 2002. Seattle, WA
Ericson E, Smith S (2008) Using immersive virtual environments
for realistic life-size fire prevention and safety training for
children. In: The 3rd IASTED international conference on
human-computer interaction. Innsbruck, Austria, Paper Number
611-053
Haller M, Kurka G, Volkert J, Wagner R (1999) omVRa safety
training system for a virtual refinery. In: Proceedings of ISMCR
99. Topical workshop on virtual reality and advanced human
robot systems, Tokyo, pp 291198

123
Virtual Reality (2009) 13:8799
Kaufmann H, Schmalstieg D, Wagner M (2000) Construct3D: a
virtual reality application for mathematics and geometry educa-
tion. In: Education and information technologies, pp 263276
Ketelhut DJ, Dede C, Clarke J, Nelson B (2006) A multi-user virtual
environment for building higher order inquiry skills in science.
In: Paper presented at the American Educational Research
Association, San Francisco
Kizil MS, Joy J (2001) What can virtual reality do for safety? St
University of Queensland, Lucia, QLD
Li L, Zhang M, Xu F, Liu S (2005) ERT-VR: an immersive virtual
reality system for emergency rescue. In: Virtual reality,
pp 194197
McAllister DK (2000) The Design of an API for Particle Systems.
UNC Computer Science Tech Report
Mungai D, Jones D, Wong L (2002) Games to teach by. In:
Proceedings of the 18th annual conference on distance teaching
and learning. Madison, WI
Ohlsson S, Moher T, Johnson A (2000) Deep learning in virtual
reality: how to teach children that the Earth is round. In: 22nd
annual conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Philadel-
phia, PA, pp 364368
Padgett LS, Strickland D, Coles CD (2006) Case study: using a virtual
reality computer game to teach fire safety skills to children
diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome. J Pediatr Psychol Adv
Access 31:6570
Pehrson R (2004) Fire behavior. In: Cote AE (ed) Fundamentals of
fire protection. NFPA, Quincy, MA, pp 101133
Randall J, Jones RT (1993) Teaching children fire safety skills. Fire
Technol 29(3):268280
Roussou M (2004) Learning by doing and learning through play: an
exploration of interactivity in virtual environments. ACM
Comput Entertain 2(1):123
99
Roussou M, Johnson AE, Moher TG, Leigh J, Vasilakis CA, Barnes
CR (1999) Learning and building together in an immersive
virtual world. In: Presence, pp 247263
Roussou M, Oliver M, Slater M (2006) The virtual playground: an
educational virtual reality environment for evaluating interac-
tivity and conceptual learning. In: Virtual reality, pp 227240
Sherman WR, Penick MA, Su S, Brown T, Harris FC (2007) VR fire:
an immersive visualization experience for wildfire spread
analysis. In: IEEE virtual reality conference. Charlotte, NC,
pp 243246
Stansfield S, Shawver D, Rogers D, Hightower R (2005) Mission
visualization for planning and training. IEEE computer graphics
and applications, pp 1214
Sulbaran T, Baker NC (2000) Enhancing engineering education
through distributed virtual reality. In: ASEE/IEEE frontiers in
education conference. Kansas City, MO, pp 318
Tate DL, Silbert L, King T (1997) Virtual environments for shipboard
firefighting training. In: Proceedings of the IEEE 1997 virtual
reality international annual symposium. IEEE Computer Society
Press, Buquerque, NM, pp 6168
Thomson J, Tolmie A, Foot H, Whelan K, Sarvary P, Morrison S
(2005) Influence of virtual reality training on the roadside
crossing judgments of child pedestrians. J Exp Psychol Appl
11(3):175184
United States Fire Administration (2002) Protecting your family from
fire. Federal Emergency Management Agency
Vanacken L, Grossman T, Coninix K (2007) Exploring the effects of
environment density and target visability on object selection in
3D virtual environments. In: IEEE symposium on 3D user
interfaces. Charlotte, NC, pp 115122
123