Abstract
Driven by the high fidelity and low cost of the latest head-mounted devices reaching the consumer market, Virtual Reality (VR) is a technology upon which rests increased expectations for improving education and training outcomes. The unique capacity of VR to produce experiences with high levels of immersion, presence, and interactivity, opens a series of prospects to improve the learning of declarative, procedural, and practical knowledge through a new modality of educational content. This paper explores some of the most promising opportunities of VR through the development and evaluation of Sea of Cells, an immersive VR interactive experience to enhance the learning of the prokaryotic cell. Methodologies to introduce the VR experience, both inside and outside classes, were also explored by analysing assessments from several Portuguese biology teachers. A test pilot made through video demonstration, shows a promising future for VR in education. Despite the physical limitations of the pilot study, due to Covid, after presenting the project to 7 10th grade Biology teachers, it was concluded that VR might be a relevant and innovative tool for educational settings.
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Monteiro, R., Rodrigues, N.F., Martinho, J., Oliveira, E. (2022). Sea of Cells: Learn Biology Through Virtual Reality. In: Brooks, E., Sjöberg, J., Møller, A.K. (eds) Design, Learning, and Innovation. DLI 2021. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 435. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06675-7_11
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