💻 Steam & Web — VR requires PC Connection
Maroon is available on Steam (free) and as a web browser experience at maroon.tugraz.at. The VR version runs via SteamVR — Meta Quest users need a PC connection via Oculus Link or Air Link. The desktop and web versions work without any VR hardware at all, making Maroon one of the few STEM lab tools usable across a standard school ICT room without headsets, with an optional VR upgrade for headset-equipped classes.
Platform: Steam (PC + PC VR) · Web browser ·
Price: FREE ·
Developer: GameLab Graz / TU Graz, Austria ·
VR mode: 6 experiments · PC VR via SteamVR ·
Version: v4.3 (February 2025)
About Maroon
What is Maroon?
Maroon is a free, open-source interactive virtual STEM laboratory developed by the GameLab at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), Austria. It is an academic research project — not a commercial product — which means its development is driven by genuine educational research into how virtual and immersive environments improve STEM learning outcomes. Multiple peer-reviewed papers published through IEEE and Springer validate its pedagogical effectiveness, and the project has been featured in an ORF (Austrian national television) documentary.
The concept is a 3D virtual laboratory room containing experiment stations, each of which teleports the user into a dedicated simulation environment. Currently 18+ experiments are available across physics, chemistry and computer science — with the VR version supporting 6 of those experiments. The platform launched on Steam in March 2025 (v4.3), though its research and web-based development spans back to at least 2017. Users can also access all desktop experiments without Steam at maroon.tugraz.at directly in a browser.
Why a university research project matters for schools: Commercial educational apps are built for engagement and retention metrics. Maroon is built by people whose primary goal is understanding what actually works in science education — and who publish their findings in peer-reviewed journals. When a paper from TU Graz shows that students who used Maroon's virtual pendulum simulation showed significantly improved conceptual understanding of oscillation compared to a control group, that matters. The educational effectiveness is not assumed — it is measured.
The open-source nature on GitHub means teachers and developers can inspect exactly what the simulations are doing, request new experiments, or contribute improvements. It also means Maroon will never be taken behind a paywall or discontinued for commercial reasons — as long as TU Graz continues to support it.
Experiments
What Can You Explore?
⚡ Physics Experiments
Coulomb's Law ⭐VR
Faraday's Law ⭐VR
Falling Coil ⭐VR
Huygens' Principle
Pendulum
Van de Graaff Generator
Van de Graaff Balloon
Optics
3D Motion
Cathode Ray Tube
Viscosimeter
Planetary System
Point Wave
⚗️ Chemistry Experiments
Titration ⭐VR
Catalyst
💻 Computer Science Experiments
Sorting Algorithms ⭐VR
State Machines
Pathfinding Algorithms
Minimum Spanning Tree
Perlin Noise
⭐ VR experiments (6): Coulomb's Law, Faraday's Law, Falling Coil, Titration, Sorting Algorithms — chosen from a vending machine in the VR lab. The remaining experiments are available in the desktop and web versions. New experiments are added as research projects are completed.
Spotlight
Three Experiments Worth Knowing
⚡
Coulomb's Law — Electrostatic Force (VR)
Manipulate charged particles and observe the inverse-square relationship between electrostatic force and distance in real time. In VR, students can physically reach out and move charges, watching force vectors update dynamically. The spatial, embodied experience of Coulomb's Law — feeling how force drops off with distance through direct manipulation — is significantly more intuitive than calculating it from an equation. Directly maps to GCSE Physics (static electricity) and A-Level Physics (electrostatics).
🔄
Faraday's Law — Electromagnetic Induction (VR)
Move a coil through a magnetic field and watch induced EMF respond to velocity, number of turns and field strength — all variable in real time. Faraday's Law is one of the most important concepts in GCSE and A-Level Physics and one of the hardest to demonstrate properly in a school lab without expensive equipment. Maroon's simulation makes the relationships between variables immediately visible and manipulable — a key pedagogical advantage over static diagrams.
⚗️
Titration — Acid-Base Chemistry (VR)
Conduct acid-base titration with different chemicals and concentrations, observing the colour change at equivalence point and calculating results. Real titration in a school lab carries practical risks, requires expensive consumables, and produces results that vary unpredictably with technique. The virtual version allows students to repeat the experiment unlimited times, test the effect of concentration changes, and understand the underlying chemistry without resource or safety constraints — before doing the real thing.
Curriculum Fit
School & Curriculum Value
GCSE / A-Level Chemistry85%
KS4 Computing / A-Level CS82%
No-hardware classroom use95%
Maroon's strongest curriculum fit is A-Level Physics — Faraday's Law, Coulomb's Law, electromagnetic induction, waves and optics are all directly on the A-Level specification and notoriously hard to demonstrate convincingly in a school lab. The titration simulation is relevant to both GCSE and A-Level Chemistry practical assessments. For Computing and Computer Science, the sorting algorithm visualisations (bubble sort, quicksort, etc.) and pathfinding algorithms are outstanding tools for making abstract CS concepts visually concrete. A unique advantage: the web version runs in any browser without Steam, headsets or installation — making it accessible in any ICT room, from any device, with no setup friction whatsoever.
