Decoding Scientific and Embodied Representations Through Gestures: Mechanisms of Exploring Dynamic Models With VR (Virtual Reality) Simulations (Poster 5)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Friday 9:50 a.m.
  In Poster Session: Learning Across Modalities: Movement, Gestures, Videos, and Images

Abstract

This study examines the effect of a virtual reality experience designed to address a complex scientific concept on learners’ explanations of the topic through gestures. While a group of undergraduate biology students (n=30) engaged in a VR simulation about the target topic, another group (n=12) only engaged with course materials. We analyzed how their explanations were punctuated by different types of gestures along with the gesture’s semantic meaning. VR participants gestured more to represent additional structural components, model behavior processes, and system complexities, while students who created complex ‘air diagrams’ were influenced by an interactive simulation experience (both VR and desktop). The exploratory study contributes to the growing literature on how engagement with VR simulations can influence visuospatial scientific thinking.

Authors

• Michelle Lui, University of Toronto

• Rhonda McEwen, Victoria University

• Martha Mullally, Carleton University