Effectiveness of Low-Cost Smartphone-Based Virtual Reality in STEM Education: An Experimental Study in Rural Schools

Abstract

The accelerated development of immersive technologies has provided new possibilities that can help solve longstanding disparities in STEM education, especially in schools with low density due to the lack of laboratories and other means of exposure to experience. This was an experimental research study that investigated the efficiency of low-cost smartphone-based virtual reality (VR) teaching on STEM academic success, conceptual transfer, retention, student attitude, and engagement in rural secondary school students. A cluster randomized controlled trial was used with schools being allocated to either an intervention group of smartphone based VR intervention or the control group of traditional instruction. The intervention combined curriculum-based VR simulated exercises that were implemented using simple smartphone viewers with the facilitation of structured teacher guidance and guided reflection exercises. Statistical tests found that students who were exposed to VR had a higher score in achievement on the post-test, transfer of learning, and retention of the content after four weeks as compared to the control group. Moreover, VR group members showed more positive attitudes to STEM and greater levels of engagement. The results are aligned with the theory of immersive learning and the cognitive-affective model of immersive learning which was developed by Makransky and Petersen (2021), and proposes that the structured immersive setting facilitates both cognitive and affective learning. The research suggests that low-cost smartphone based VR is a scalable, equitable, and pedagogical effective intervention in improving STEM education in resource limited rural environments.