Kamran Sahami’s goal is to incorporate active research into the classroom.

Kamran Sahami, assistant professor in the Department of Physics, is enthusiastic about his study in immersive technology. Dubbed ALIVE (Astronomy Learning in Immersive Virtual Environments), the joint project with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS) received a $470,000 grant to test the Immersive Virtual Environment at Gates Planetarium.

ALIVE is now in its third year and the results are encouraging. “Now we’re analyzing the results,” Sahami said. “We haven’t yet reached the level of statistical significance. There’s a three-year commitment from NSF (National Science Foundation) and a good chance we’ll get it for a fourth year.”

This would give Sahami more time to “see the effect of the actual immersion” and to answer the question: “Have there been significant (educational) gains?” in this innovative teaching tool.

The study tracks and compares three forms of learning using three of Metro State’s astronomy classes as control groups. The first group uses the typical high-tech “smart classroom.” The second group uses the software “Cosmic Atlas,” developed at DMNS, which is projected onto a flat screen in class on campus. The third group gets into a bus and heads to Gate’s Planetarium where students travel—virtually—through space. Multiple projectors hooked up to a computer create a model of the solar system where everything from a lunar eclipse to “lift off” from the Earth’s surface can be experienced in 3-D.

“The immersion is what really makes a difference,” said Sahami. Virtual immersive environments “can be a model for the classroom of the future if they are pedagogically valuable.”

The ALIVE project dovetails with Sahami’s two passions: teaching and research.

“To be able to do research in science teaching...you’re still seeing something new. You’re still figuring something out,” Sahami explained.

Sahami began his teaching career in 1991 when he taught his first lectureship after receiving an undergraduate degree in physics from San Diego State. There he met his wife Vicky, an astronomer and fellow student.  (She is now an adjunct faculty member in Metro State's Physics Department.)

Later Sahami graduated from the University of Colorado-Boulder with a Ph.D. in physics and launched a second career in research.

“I did a post-doctoral appointment…as a research scientist in non-linear dynamics.” After his two-year term Sahami stayed on as a research associate and “worked on the dynamics of the ocean and atmosphere.”

His years at CU brought a fortunate alliance: his friendship with Ka Chun Yu, now director of space science at DMNS and Sahami’s partner in the ALIVE project.

Though this is only Sahami’s third year teaching for Metro State, his enlightened look into the future of teaching earned him a Faculty Senate Excellence in Teaching Award in 2006. Nominated by another faculty member, Sahami sent in an essay about his teaching philosophy that illuminates his commitment to both teaching and research: “…the same methods of inquiry and tools of analysis that serve a scientist so well in his or her discipline can optimally be applied” to the study of teaching in that discipline.

This is a belief Sahami echoes when asked about his goals as a professor. “The one thing I’d like to do is to continue to apply what I’ve learned in research to my classroom, to really incorporate active research into the day-to-day of the classroom.”