Virtual Reality in learning processes in university students: motivation and interest to awaken scientific vocations

Abstract

This article presents partial results of the doctoral thesis "Influence of Virtual Reality (VR) on the social appropriation of knowledge", whose objective was to determine the differences between VR images in relation to traditional audiovisuals (AT) in terms of their usefulness to transmit scientific knowledge, awaken intellectual curiosity, identify scientific vocations and generate scientific motivation and interest in the teaching and learning processes. To resolve the above, a study was carried out that collects the quantitative and qualitative results that allowed comparing the impact of VR images with VA as complementary teaching material in the classroom, through a quasi-experiment carried out on 302 participating subjects from four different universities (public and private, urban and suburban) in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. The results obtained confirm the attributes for playful and experiential or first-person learning, due to the combination of 3D and 360º that make still and video images virtual elements in the production of close experiences to witness events or visit places, with which it is shown to be useful in various specific university environments, varying according to conditions of the fields of application.