“Open the door, let them out.” —Freeman Dyson

When I was a young teacher, Freeman Dyson gave me this advice when I asked what I could do for my middle school students to better prepare them for success once they showed up on his (or any college’s) doorstep. These words have guided much of my life as an educator, whether in the classroom, developing curriculum, or research. Reading about Magic Leap’s Magicverse brings into focus some of what I’ve been thinking about and working towards with AR (Augmented Reality) as I try to find ways to better connect learners with the world outside their door. By placing digital layers on the world outside, using ubiquitous and non-intrusive technology, we open the door to possibilities for place-based learning that, if done right, will facilitate inquiry that can lead to deeper understanding, especially as relates to the parts of a system. A system that includes, but goes well beyond, humans.

Magic Leap’s vision for the Magicverse is outlined in a blog post by the company’s CEO, Rony Abovitz. The blog focuses on his belief that:

There are endless problems we currently face: economic disparity, poor distribution of global healthcare quality, culture, misunderstanding, climate change, and war. To the extent possible, our goal is to develop the Magicverse to address some of those issues by amplifying human capability, affording greater economic possibilities, creating new forms of proactive healthcare, enabling creative joy and wonder, expanding the surface area and efficacy of human communication, and to embrace our physical world and who we are as a first principle.

The post delves into the layers Magic Leap would like to place on the world—what they call spatial application layers (Image Credit: Magic Leap). There is a lot packed into the post and the above statement, much of which resonates with my view, expressed at the ARIA Summit in 2018, of the power and potentially transformative nature of XR for education. From my perspective, what AR offers to inquiry and play, the way we as a species learn best, is the opportunity to create layers that offer just-in-time opportunities through place-based inquiry driven immersions—what I think of as adventures in STEMlandia. This experiential approach can help us to understand the underlying nature of the systems all around us. It offers us a chance to uncover and develop a systems thinker view of the world–one where it’s easier to see connections between parts, one that shows the flow between components, the positive and negative feedback loops, and other interactions that lurk just below the surface hidden in the cracks. Such connections are important to understand as they determine the health and future of the world, our species, and all life on Earth.

Consider the issue of climate change. A topic rife with misunderstanding and argument, primarily because most get their information in pre-digested sound bites from media divorced from the parts of the system impacted by climate change right outside their door. Scientists provide data on a grand scale as evidence for climate change, and those that deny it deconstruct or misrepresent the data to support an alternate reality. The result is that any discussion of how to deal with climate change often devolves into two extremes arguing for political points. The only reason this is possible is that we are removed from where the impact of climate change plays out—in parts of the system, the living and non-living components, in our neighborhoods, communities, cities, states, country, and the world.

But evidence-based experiences, using the data on climate change, grounded in location-based digital layers of the Magicverse would help us unpack the truth. Opportunities for location-based STEMlandia adventures would let one move through the physical world, experiencing the connections between data, the parts of a local system, and the probability of potential consequences of how climate change—short- and long-term—will play out. This will help move the argument beyond the extremes.

The Magicverse offers an approach to inspire creators, educators like myself, to construct these experiences for just-in-time learning grounded in inquiry. In the adventures in STEMlandia I envision, the Magicverse would be closely tied to the data-driven Earth system science community already comfortable thinking in layers—those that use Geographical Information Systems (GIS) as seen in the data layer visualization (Image Credit: Ontario County, NY) from the USGS to the left. By joining forces, current and future iterations of the dream of the Magicverse could create engaging hooks and opportunities for discovery and learning.

As a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) educator, I always try to find ways to get learners outside to experience the world. The power of children exploring nature, especially through playful experiences, like our team, EdGE at TERC, work toward creating can only benefit from a fully functional Magicverse. Every foray into the outside world already holds the opportunity of a teachable moment along with all the documented health benefits associated with going outside and exploring nature. With the promise of a tool that fully realizes the dream of the Magicverse for STEM learning, researchers and developers can create even more immersive learning experiences that fit seamlessly into the world and into the lives of learners more and more comfortable with technology. Experiences providing more opportunities to better understand the systems nature of the world. The promise realized will help create a world of systems thinkers to, as Magic Leaps’ CEO says, amplify human capability—especially the human capability to change the world for the better.