The virtual playground: an educational virtual reality environment for evaluating interactivity and conceptual learning

The research presented in this paper aims at investigating user interaction in immersive virtual learning environments (VLEs), focusing on the role and the effect of interactivity on conceptual learning. The goal has been to examine if the learning of young users improves through interacting in (i.e. exploring, reacting to, and acting upon) an immersive virtual environment (VE) compared to non interactive or non-immersive environments. Empirical work was carried out with more than 55 primary school students between the ages of 8 and 12, in different between-group experiments: an exploratory study, a pilot study, and a large-scale experiment. The latter was conducted in a virtual environment designed to simulate a playground. In this ‘Virtual Playground’, each participant was asked to complete a set of tasks designed to address arithmetical ‘fractions’ problems. Three different conditions, two experimental virtual reality (VR) conditions and a non-VR condition, that varied the levels of activity and interactivity, were designed to evaluate how children accomplish the various tasks. Pre-tests, post-tests, interviews, video, audio, and log files were collected for each participant, and analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. This paper presents a selection of case studies extracted from the qualitative analysis, which illustrate the variety of approaches taken by children in the VEs in response to visual cues and system feedback. Results suggest that the fully interactive VE aided children in problem solving but did not provide as strong evidence of conceptual change as expected; rather, it was the passive VR environment, where activity was guided by a virtual robot, that seemed to support student reflection and recall, leading to indications of conceptual change

Learning-by-Teaching in CS Education: A Systematic Review

To investigate the strategies and approaches in teaching Computer Science (CS), we searched the literature review in CS education in the past ten years. The reviews show that learning-by-teaching with the use of technologies is helpful for improving student learning. To further investigate the strategies that are applied to learning-by-teaching, three categories are identified: peer tutoring, game-based flipped classroom, and teachable agents. In each category, we further searched and investigated prior studies. The results reveal the effectiveness and challenges of each strategy and provide insights for future studies

Investigating the Learning Impact of Game-based Learning when Teaching Science to Children with Special Learning Needs

International audienceIn an attempt to find solutions to the current challenges faced by children with special needs, new teaching and learning methodologies that make us of various technologies such as 3D computer based games, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality enhanced learning have been proposed to be used in the classroom. The technology can enhance the lives of children with learning disabilities and gives then options of intervening in their various educational and cognitive problems. The paper presents a research study on learner experience when a new interactive educational 3D video game called Final Frontier, was used in a secondary school from Romania by children with hearing impairment. Pre-and Post-tests results analysis has shown that the game helped the children to acquire knowledge on the Solar system. It was also noticed that an interactive game-based learning approach is more suitable for children with disabilities than an interactive exploratory based digital library method

Proceedings of the CUNY Games Conference 6.0

The CUNY Games Network is an organization dedicated to encouraging research, scholarship and teaching in the developing field of games-based learning. We connect educators from every campus and discipline at CUNY and beyond who are interested in digital and non-digital games, simulations, and other forms of interactive teaching and inquiry-based learning. These proceedings summarize the CUNY Games Conference 6.0, where scholars shared research findings at a three-day event to promote and discuss game-based pedagogy in higher education. Presenters could share findings in oral presentations, posters, demos, or play testing sessions. The conference also included workshops on how to modify existing games for the classroom, how to incorporate elements of play into simulations and critical thinking activities, math games, and how to create computer games

Gamification of Education and Learning: Heuristic Elements, Player Types, and Learning Outcomes for Art History Games

The technology of virtual reality (VR) and the gamification of education and learning has had proven educational benefits, especially in secondary education. However, there remains little to no research on the heuristic elements and mechanics that contribute to learning at the postsecondary level of education. Most research conducted has been refined to science programs, but even in these instances, a study of the effects and interests of different demographics has yet to be considered. Given the visual nature of how the discipline of art history has traditionally been taught, there are a number of virtual reality (VR) applications to assist instructors in the field better engage students in immersive environments to provide a more accurate understanding of subjects covered. In order to capitalize on the strengths of the new digital medium, including immersion, engagement, and presence, the end user needs to be considered. This heuristic study investigates the different experiences, preferences, learning styles, and expectations relating to educational gaming of art history students at a private, Midwestern college. Results demonstrate that effective game design and development need consider the target audience to optimize user experience and learning outcomes

Exploring Immersive Learning Experiences: A Survey

Immersive technologies have been shown to significantly improve learning as they can simplify and simulate complicated concepts in various fields. However, there is a lack of studies that analyze the recent evidence-based immersive learning experiences applied in a classroom setting or offered to the public. This study presents a systematic review of 42 papers to understand, compare, and reflect on recent attempts to integrate immersive technologies in education using seven dimensions: application field, the technology used, educational role, interaction techniques, evaluation methods, and challenges. The results show that most studies covered STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) topics and mostly used head-mounted display (HMD) virtual reality in addition to marker-based augmented reality, while mixed reality was only represented in two studies. Further, the studies mostly used a form of active learning, and highlighted touch and hardware-based interactions enabling viewpoint and select tasks. Moreover, the studies utilized experiments, questionnaires, and evaluation studies for evaluating the immersive experiences. The evaluations show improved performance and engagement, but also point to various usability issues. Finally, we discuss implications and future research directions, and compare our findings with related review studies

The Impact of Resilience and Grit on Inductive and Deductive Reasoning Following Exposure to Combat-Like Environments

Cognitive processes have been shown to be severely affected by exposure to combat and war. While the negative impact of war on cognitive performance is apparent through numerous soldier narratives, the scientific investigation of this phenomenon is limited. Furthermore, the moderating influence of an individual’s resilience and grit on cognitive functions following combat environments is unknown. Understanding this interaction is essential in further understanding individual cognitive performance. Because the psychological wounds inflicted by combat situations affect individuals’ mental health, studying how such environments influence cognitive processes and performance can improve the training of our soldiers. This dissertation focuses on assessing how combat-like environments influence an individual’s ability to effectively and efficiently reason, and further examines whether an individual’s grit and resilience affect deductive and inductive reasoning in stressful environments. Participants were recruited from a private US military academy. The study used a pretest-posttest mixed design to investigate possible cognitive decrements in individuals’ ability to reason following exposure to war-like environments simulated by immersive and non-immersive technologies. Dependent measures included both inductive and deductive reasoning (as measured by The Letter Sets Test and Overton’s (1990) version of the Wason Selection Task, respectively) by placing participants into the immersive or non-immersive conditions. Self-reported resilience and grit were tested for interaction effects to examine how an individual’s resilience and grit influences an individual’s ability to reason in war-like environments. These findings might give a richer understanding of the ways in which cognitive mechanisms are affected by stressful environments like combat

Mix method approach of measuring VR as a pedagogical tool to enhance experimental learning: Motivation from literature survey of previous study

This research has been experimented on our previous literature review. Technological advancement has prevailed in the modern era from the 20th century. Artificial intelligence and virtual worlds have been created for rapid technological development. This paper is aimed at exploring the effect of virtual reality as a pedagogical tool for enhancing experiential learning among undergraduate students. Considering this, it was a mixed-methods study following the design of sequential exploratory–which includes qualitative followed by quantitative part. The targeted population was undergraduate students taking education programs from Public Sector Universities of Sindh. For the qualitative part, the sample of eight undergraduate students was interviewed for exploring their perceptions about virtual reality for enhancing experiential learning. The interviewed data were thematically analyzed, which revealed seven themes. For the quantitative part, emerged seven themes were used as constructs for developing the questionnaire. It was then used for quantitative data collection having excellent reliability. A sample of 80 students was taken, and data were collected by self-administration. The quantitative data were analyzed by descriptive as well as inferential statistics. Hence, the results found a statistically significant effect of virtual reality for enhancing experiential learning. However, user-friendliness ensures the applicability of virtual reality. Thus, it concluded that the implementation of virtual reality influences experiential learning enhancement. However, the implementation of virtual reality still depends upon the user-friendly nature of technology and virtual reality

Exploring the Impact of Varying Levels of Augmented Reality to Teach Probability and Sampling with a Mobile Device

abstract: Statistics is taught at every level of education, yet teachers often have to assume their students have no knowledge of statistics and start from scratch each time they set out to teach statistics. The motivation for this experimental study comes from interest in exploring educational applications of augmented reality (AR) delivered via mobile technology that could potentially provide rich, contextualized learning for understanding concepts related to statistics education. This study examined the effects of AR experiences for learning basic statistical concepts. Using a 3 x 2 research design, this study compared learning gains of 252 undergraduate and graduate students from a pre- and posttest given before and after interacting with one of three types of augmented reality experiences, a high AR experience (interacting with three dimensional images coupled with movement through a physical space), a low AR experience (interacting with three dimensional images without movement), or no AR experience (two dimensional images without movement). Two levels of collaboration (pairs and no pairs) were also included. Additionally, student perceptions toward collaboration opportunities and engagement were compared across the six treatment conditions. Other demographic information collected included the students' previous statistics experience, as well as their comfort level in using mobile devices. The moderating variables included prior knowledge (high, average, and low) as measured by the student's pretest score. Taking into account prior knowledge, students with low prior knowledge assigned to either high or low AR experience had statistically significant higher learning gains than those assigned to a no AR experience. On the other hand, the results showed no statistical significance between students assigned to work individually versus in pairs. Students assigned to both high and low AR experience perceived a statistically significant higher level of engagement than their no AR counterparts. Students with low prior knowledge benefited the most from the high AR condition in learning gains. Overall, the AR application did well for providing a hands-on experience working with statistical data. Further research on AR and its relationship to spatial cognition, situated learning, high order skill development, performance support, and other classroom applications for learning is still needed.Dissertation/ThesisPh.D. Educational Technology 201

Active Learning Augmented Reality for STEAM Education—A Case Study

Immersive technologies are rapidly transforming the field of education. Amongst them, Augmented Reality (AR) has shown promise as a resource, particularly for education in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM). There are, however, few teachers deploying this new medium in the classroom directly, and, consequently, only a few, elect students benefit from the AR-enriched offers. Curricula are already overloaded, and schools generally lack developmental resources, thus leaving no room for experimentation. This situation is further aggravated by the too few educational applications available with sufficient learning content. In this article, we investigate the method of Active Learning for the teaching of STEAM subjects, using a format where students are tasked with building an AR application as part of their learning. We evaluate the applicability of the Active Learning for STEAM subjects with a qualitative, case study approach, applying the workshop format as an extracurricular activity in our work with students from a range of secondary schools in Oxford. We discuss how the format works, so it can be embedded into regular curricula, not just as an extracurricular activity, also providing an overview on the involved teaching units and rationale. All teams in our preview audience of the case study succeeded in building working applications, several of impressive complexity. Students found that the lessons were enjoyable and AR technology can enhance their learning experience. The Active Learning method served as a catalyst for students’ skills development, with the case study providing evidence of learning to code, working with a physics simulation engine, ray-tracing, and geometry, learning how to manage teams and interact with other students/instructors, and engineering a working prototype of a game. We consequentially argue that combining the STEM subjects and the arts, using the proposed Active Learning format, is able to provide a more holistic and engaging education