The Effect of Virtual Reality on Knowledge Transfer and Retention in Collaborative Group-Based Learning for Neuroanatomy Students

• Vinicius Souza UFRGS
• Anderson Maciel UFRGS
• Luciana Nedel UFRGS
• Regis Kopper University of North Carolina at Greensboro
• Klaus Loges UNISINOS
• Eliane Schlemmer UNISINOS

Resumo

There are many uses for virtual reality (VR) in education, and there is a consensus about its contribution in the teaching and learning processes. However, the majority of the studies assess the effectiveness of an individual learning in VR, and there is a need to explore more on the effects of VR using different levels of immersion and collaboration. This paper presents an experiment to investigate knowledge transfer in a group-based learning game, including active and passive learners. We introduce a VR serious game to support teaching and learning processes in neuroanatomy health education. A between-subjects experiment was conducted with 23 students to jointly assess learning, knowledge retention, and sense of presence. As a control condition, grouped students assembled a physical model of the human brain, while in the experimental condition, a virtual brain was assembled. In each group, one participant actively assembled the brain, while the others observed and verbally collaborated in a group-based learning strategy. Results shown high mean scores in the virtual condition retention and post-test. When comparing the knowledge test performance before and immediately after the experiment, we found significant difference only for the virtual condition. The same can be observed for retention. Because of the promising results achieved and motivated by the need of more engaging new tools for remote learning -- fully used in quarantine conditions, such as the current one because of the Covid-19 pandemic -- we conducted a pilot user study to evaluate the learning effect of a remote version of our collaborative VR game.

Palavras-chave: Virtual Reality, Presence, User Evaluation