I'm a professor of mathematics at the University of North Carolina Asheville. I've also done a fair amount of consulting work over the years focusing on scientific and data visualization.
I'm happy to be part of the first Observable Ambassador's cohort.
For x3dom, you can disable the space bar and 'd' key and other key functionality for a more student friendly experience:
let scene = div
.append('x3d')
.attr('disableKeys', 'true')
.attr('width', scales.w.toString() + 'px')
.attr('height', scales.h.toString() + 'px')
.append('scene');
It appears that the disableKeys attribute can be only 'true' for 'false'. It'd be nice to be able to disable specific keys. I agree that some keys lead to rather surprising behavior, but I rather like having 'a' and 'r' handy.