STUDENT PERFORMANCE WITH VIRTUAL REALITY IN INTRODUCTORY GEOLOGY LABS

Virtual reality is a new and exciting technology in teaching geoscience, but it’s place is understudied in the field of geoscience education research. Attempts have been made to generate a framework for learning with virtual reality, such as the one proposed in 1999 by Salzman et al., and this study focuses on measuring a specific relationship posed by the model between learner characteristics (e.g. spatial ability, domain experience, and gender) and learning from virtual reality contextualized within an introductory geoscience class. Students enrolled in Geology 101 at the University of South Carolina were the sample for this study (N=379). Prior to experiencing virtual reality in the class, they were given a survey to gauge their learner characteristics. Students were randomly divided into four sample groups exposed to different degrees of desktop virtual reality through a series of two homework assignments and two lab assignments. In the first phase of exposures (homework), students were split into two groups such that the first group completed the assignments with static photographs and the other with photospheres. In the second phase (lab work), both groups were split in half a second time, to experience the lab assignments using either static photos or photospheres. As such, groups experienced either a complete virtual reality experience (virtual reality on both the lab and homework assignments), an intermediate experience (virtual reality on either the homework or on the lab assignments), or a control experience (no virtual reality on any assignments). Students’ learning process and outcomes were measured using student responses to open-ended questions on their homework and lab assignments, as well as a subset of related, multiple-choice questions on an exam given in class. An ANOVA revealed no significant difference in student performance on the subset of test questions between any of the four groups (complete virtual reality, control, two intermediate groups) (p > 0.05). Further investigations into differences in student responses by treatment group to the lab and homework assignments are ongoing.