Virtual Reality Simulations in Science Education: Learning Science by Writing

View Sample PDF

Author(s): Richard Lamb (East Carolina University, USA)
Copyright: 2021
Pages: 25
Source title: Designing, Deploying, and Evaluating Virtual and Augmented Reality in Education
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Gokce Akcayir (University of Alberta, Canada)and Carrie Demmans Epp (University of Alberta, Canada)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-5043-4.ch014

Keywords: Educational Technologies / Information Science Reference / Media & Communications / Virtual Communities & Virtual Reality

Purchase

View Virtual Reality Simulations in Science Education: Learning Science by Writing on the publisher's website for pricing and purchasing information.

Abstract

This study examines the role of virtual reality (VR) in the promotion of writing with greater complexity and lexical density. Using a combination of neuroimaging and traditional measures, the author characterizes differences in writing complexity and lexical density scores across four different pedagogical modalities: VR alone, VR followed by a textbook reading, textbook reading followed by VR, and textbook reading alone. Middle school students recruited from a rural middle school in the Mid-Atlantic Region of the United States responded to two prompts related to science content found in VR environments and a textbook. The authors hypothesized that exposure to a virtual environment prior to responding to the writing prompts would enhance both argumentative and summative writing products, when compared to participants who only had access to the textbook experiences. Participants who were exposed to the VR environment then had access to a textbook demonstrated significantly greater writing complexity and lexical density scores than those who had VR alone, or access to the text alone.

The IRMA Community

Research IRM

Virtual Reality Simulations in Science Education: Learning Science by Writing

Purchase

Abstract

Related Content

IRMA Sponsors