Organic Chemistry in Virtual Reality: Bridging Gaps between Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Representations

The traditional two-dimensional representations in organic chemistry education highlighted the lack of depth and interactivity, impeding student learning, engagement, and comprehension. By emphasizing on the limitations of conventional educational materials, the research advocated for integrating Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies, which enhance organic chemistry visualization. The main objective was to bridge the gap between two and three-dimensional perspectives, offering a more dynamic and interactive learning experience. The thesis aimed to assess traditional teaching methods in organic chemistry—lectures, textbooks, and laboratory exercises. It also aimed to identify their challenges in conveying complex molecular structures and reactions effectively. Additionally, it explored the integration of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) with these conventional methods. The goal had been to develop a cohesive educational framework that combined the strengths of both traditional and modern technological approaches. This blended learning model was meant to improve student engagement and understanding by incorporating dynamic visualizations into lectures as well as interactive content into textbooks. Building on this premise, the research focused on the following questions: 1. What challenges do traditional teaching methods face in teaching organic chemistry concepts adequately? 2. What advantages do VR and AR offer in organic chemistry education compared to traditional methods? 3. What impact do VR and AR technologies have on student engagement in organic chemistry compared to traditional teaching methods? 4. How can VR and AR be tailored to meet pedagogical and andragogical needs in organic chemistry education? 5. Why are VR and AR more effective than traditional methods in enhancing learning in organic chemistry? 6. What are the best strategies for integrating VR and AR into the organic chemistry curricula to enhance learning alongside traditional methods? 7. How can AR and VR in organic chemistry education be aligned with Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development to improve learning outcomes? 8. How can AR and VR be personalized in organic chemistry education to support individual learning and Piaget\u27s theory of self-learning? 9. What are the benefits and challenges of applying the \u27Ship Early, Ship Often\u27 approach to developing AR and VR tools in organic chemistry education? Upon the completion of this research, a literature review was conducted additionally as well as visual and content analyses. Based upon the research conducted, a visual solution was created to guide curriculum developers, textbook publishers, researchers, and educators in integrating VR and AR technologies into traditional organic chemistry curricula. The deliverable theory of the visual was a high-fidelity wireframe prototype created for VR and AR in Organic Chemistry, designed to enhance student engagement and understanding by combining immersive technology with traditional teaching methods. The project also featured a responsive website to inform stakeholders about the benefits of this integration, supported by print media like brochures, posters, and billboards for broader outreach and awareness. The high-fidelity wireframe prototype with the responsive website and supporting print media, were crucial elements in reshaping organic chemistry education, bridging the gap between traditional pedagogy and andragogy as well as futuristic learning paradigms

EXPLORING TEACHERS' EDUCATIONAL VIDEO GAME INTEGRATION PROCESS: FOUR EXPLORATORY CASE STUDIES

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Indiana University, School of Education, 2015Immersive educational games have continued to grow in popularity; however, there is a growing need in the field of game research to gain a clearer picture of the process by which teachers integrate these games to promote student achievement. The focus of this exploratory case-based research was to gain a clearer picture of the relationship between a teacher's desire to use an immersive game for a particular use and the process of realizing that purpose in his or her classroom through an implementation. Due to a lack of immersive game integration research, this study drew upon the large corpus of research on educational technology to conceptualize an immersive educational MUVE game as a type of instructional tool. The manner in which a game is used is largely influenced by a teacher's pedagogical preferences and classroom factors; therefore, this research has built a series of cases that observed and analyzed how four 7th and 8th grade teachers, working within a publicly-funded charter school, implemented the educational immersive game called Quest Atlantis. Video and interview data were collected each day teachers implemented QA in their classrooms. Video data was transcribed and coded using a grounded constant comparison method. The results of the analysis generated a number of themes that affirmed that teachers had a strong influence on how the game was used, and that a game implementation was a complex and brittle process. The conclusion of this study suggested that administrators and game scholars should shift their focus toward promoting the benefits of using games for teachers instead of students, and recommended that teachers are provided significant professional development and implementation support in order to realize the power immersive games can provide

Literacy for digital futures : Mind, body, text

The unprecedented rate of global, technological, and societal change calls for a radical, new understanding of literacy. This book offers a nuanced framework for making sense of literacy by addressing knowledge as contextualised, embodied, multimodal, and digitally mediated. In today’s world of technological breakthroughs, social shifts, and rapid changes to the educational landscape, literacy can no longer be understood through established curriculum and static text structures. To prepare teachers, scholars, and researchers for the digital future, the book is organised around three themes – Mind and Materiality; Body and Senses; and Texts and Digital Semiotics – to shape readers’ understanding of literacy. Opening up new interdisciplinary themes, Mills, Unsworth, and Scholes confront emerging issues for next-generation digital literacy practices. The volume helps new and established researchers rethink dynamic changes in the materiality of texts and their implications for the mind and body, and features recommendations for educational and professional practice

Using Immersive Virtual Reality for Student Learning: A Qualitative Case Study

ABSTRACT The prominence of virtual reality (VR) in the educational field has grown in recent years due to increased availability and lower costs. I conducted a global study regarding how pioneering K-12 teachers use VR to engage students in learning activities. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify how and why teachers used VR for student learning. Fifteen educators from five continents participated in the study. They described their initial VR experiences and how these experiences motivated them to pursue ways to implement VR in their disciplinary fields. I used the video conference tool “Zoom” to conduct interviews. Participants described the “spark” of discovery and recognition of VR for learning. They explained measures to obtain permission, approaches to funding, and the implementation process. Participants developed structures for student learning, transformed physical spaces, and invented pedagogies to ensure positive learning experiences. Participants provided optimal immersive experiences by repurposing content and adopting other applications to achieve learning goals. Three levels of incorporating VR for student learning were identified, including: (1) exploration; (2) acquiring and applying disciplinary knowledge; and (3) content creation and interactive problem solving. The quality of headsets dictated the level(s) of implementation. Dewey’s (1923) experiential learning theories as well as the Technology, Pedagogy, and Content Knowledge framework (TPACK; Mishra & Koehler, 2006) helped to interpret data. Successful implementation requires collaboration and pedagogical modifications and administrative support. This study highlights the successful methods and practices for others considering the implementation of VR for K-12 student learning. Keywords: TPACK, Dewey, Virtual Reality (VR), Innovation, Experiential Learnin

Augmented reality in architecture and construction education: state of the field and opportunities

Over the past decade, the architecture and construction (AC) industries have been evolving from traditional practices into more current, interdisciplinary and technology integrated methods. Complex and intricate digital technologies and mobile computing such as simulation, computational design and immersive technologies, have been exploited for different purposes such as reducing cost and time, improving design and enhancing overall project efficiency. Immersive technologies and augmented reality (AR), in particular, have proven to be extremely beneficial in this field. However, the application and usage of these technologies and devices in higher education teaching and learning environments are yet to be fully explored and still scarce. More importantly, there is still a significant gap in developing pedagogies and teaching methods that embrace the usage of such technologies in the AC curricula. This study, therefore, aims to critically analyse the current state-of-the-art and present the developed and improved AR approaches in teaching and learning methods of AC, addressing the identified gap in the extant literature, while developing transformational frameworks to link the gaps to their future research agenda. The conducted analysis incorporates the critical role of the AR implications on the AC students’ skillsets, pedagogical philosophies in AC curricula, techno-educational aspects and content domains in the design and implementation of AR environments for AC learning. The outcomes of this comprehensive study prepare trainers, instructors, and the future generation of AC workers for the rapid advancements in this industry

Immersive Virtual Reality as a Tool to Make in K-12 Environments

Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) is beginning to be implemented into K-12 contexts. As this technology makes its way into more learning environments there is a need to not only understand how to address curricular goals with this technology, but which frameworks for learning best inform the use of this tool. In addition, previous research has called for a need to begin to explore how immersive VR can be used as a tool for creation in K-12 classrooms (Maas & Hughes, 2020). This multiple-case study aimed to address these needs by examining the use of VR as a tool to create digital artifacts with high school science educators through a professional development experienc

Developing self-management and teamwork using digital games in 3D simulations

Producción CientíficaEmerging technologies are providing opportunities for designing new learning environments, especially environments in which students can learn by putting their skills into practice. Knowledge about the development of these experiences needs to be accumulated and processed so that they can be integrated effectively into training programmes. In this study we describe how transferable skills such as self-management and teamwork have been developed by 70 Spanish students of Education and Marketing. The learning experience comprised a serious game designed in a 3D simulation environment. For the analysis, two analytical rubrics were taken as references. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests such as Mann-Whitney U and Spearman rho were conducted for comparison and correlation analysis. Our results showed that the students performed well and had a positive perception of the suitability of using the simulation environment for the development of transferable skills. We also found that women performed better than men in activities involving teamwork, especially communication tasks.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Proyecto EDU2008-01479

The Integration of Augmented Reality (AR) in Education

New teaching techniques have been adopted as a result of the emergence of innovative technological tools in the field of Augmented Reality (AR), as investigated in several articles to date (Hsu 2017; Forsythe & Raine 2019). The availability of AR applications, both vision, and location-based, allows students today to learn foreign languages in a more contextualized and immersive manner, thanks to the use of smartphones and other electronic devices. Thus, this study seeks to analyze and review the recent trends in AR implementation in education and to present the main projects aimed at teaching with AR-based projects that have been published in the latest years in WOS and Scopus