Learning Science in Immersive Virtual Reality

By Jocelyn Parong, Richard E. Mayer. Journal of Educational Psychology, 2018

882 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The goals of the study were (a) to compare the instructional effectiveness of immersive virtual reality (VR) versus a desktop slideshow as media for teaching scientific knowledge, and (b) to examine the efficacy of adding a generative learning strategy to a VR lesson. In Experiment 1, college students viewed a biology lesson about how the human body works either in immersive VR or via a self-directed PowerPoint slideshow on a desktop computer. Based on interest theory, it was predicted that students who learned in immersive VR would report more positive ratings of interest and motivation and would score higher on a posttest covering material in the lesson. In contrast, based on the cognitive theory of multimedia learning, it was predicted that students who learned with a well-designed slideshow would score higher on a posttest, although they might not report higher levels of interest and motivation. The results showed that students who viewed the slideshow performed significantly better on the posttest than the VR group, but reported lower motivation, interest, and engagement ratings. In Experiment 2, students either viewed a segmented VR lesson and produced a written summary after each segment or viewed the original, continuous VR lesson as in Experiment 1. Students who summarized the lesson after each segment performed significantly better on the posttest and the groups did not differ on reported interest, engagement, and motivation. These results support the cognitive theory of multimedia learning and demonstrate the value of generative learning strategies in immersive VR environments.

Subfields: Developmental and Educational Psychology, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Human-Computer Interaction

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/dde037402363fde92e5f61c3c1d7f25620e1ef3d

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In Developmental and Educational Psychology

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Citations in the corpus

Investigating the effect of pre-training when learning through immersive virtual reality and video: A media and methods experiment (2019, methodology): “Prior research investigating immersive VR has shown a media e ﬀ ect for motivational variables, but not for declarative knowledge (Makransky et al., 2019b; Makransky & Lilleholt, 2018; Moreno & Mayer, 2002; Parong & Mayer, 2018).”
The impact of augmented reality on cognitive load and performance: A systematic review (2021, background): “Once, AR is compared to a screen condition, where the results are beneficial for AR, and the other time participants performing with IVR outperform participants in the AR condition.”
A systematic review of immersive virtual reality applications for higher education: Design elements, lessons learned, and research agenda (2020, methodology): “…to relevant incoming information), organizing (i.e., mentally arranging the information into a coherent structure), and integrating (i.e., connecting the verbal and pictorial representations with one another and with relevant prior knowledge activated from long-term memory) (Parong & Mayer, 2018).”
Thirty years of research on online learning (2018, background): “In the last few years, the pace has continued for research on the instructional design of online instruction, including emerging research on instructional design to enhance learning in virtual reality (Parong & Mayer, 2018).”
Immersive virtual reality increases liking but not learning with a science simulation and generative learning strategies promote learning in immersive virtual reality. (2020, background): “This could include providing students with pre-training material before the IVR lesson (Meyer et al., 2019), or by segmenting a IVR lesson, and having them summarize the material after each segment in order to encourage reflection and self-regulated learning (Parong & Mayer, 2018).”