A Scoping Review of Immersive Virtual Reality in STEM Education

• Published in: IEEE transactions on learning technologies Vol. 13; no. 4; pp. 748 - 761
• Main Authors: Pellas, Nikolaos, Dengel, Andreas, Christopoulos, Athanasios
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 01.10.2020; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Computer Assisted Instruction; Computer Simulation; Computer Uses in Education; Computer-aided instruction; Educational Benefits; Educational Technology; Elementary Secondary Education; engineering; Higher Education; Immersive virtual reality; Instructional Design; Learning; mathematics (STEM); science; STEM; STEM Education; student experiments; Task analysis; Teachers; Teaching; Teaching Methods; Technical education; technology; Three-dimensional displays; Training; Usability; Virtual reality; virtual reality (VR); Visualization
• ISSN: 1939-1382; 2372-0050
• DOI: 10.1109/TLT.2020.3019405

Although virtual reality (VR) simulation training has gained prominence, review studies to inform instructors and educators on the use of this technology in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are still scarce. This article presents various VR-supported instructional design practices in K-12 (primary and secondary) and higher education in terms of participants' characteristics, methodological features, and pedagogical uses in alignment with applications, technological equipment, and instructional design strategies. During the selection and screening process, 41 (n = 41) studies published in the period 2009-2019 were included for a detailed analysis and synthesis. This article's results indicate that many studies were focused on the description and evaluation of the appropriateness or the effectiveness of applied teaching practices with VR support. Several studies pointed out improvements in learning outcomes or achievements, positive perspectives on user experience, and perceived usability. Nevertheless, fewer studies were conducted to measure students' learning performance. The current scoping review aims to encourage instructional designers to develop innovative VR applications or integrate existing approaches in their teaching procedures. It will also inform researchers to conduct further research for an in-depth understanding of the educational benefits of immersive-VR applications in STEM fields.