Эволюционные, когнитивные и семиотические основания обучения в виртуальной реальности

Abstract

The article addresses the classical epistemological debate on direct and indirect realism from educational perspectives relating to the studies of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Real­ity (AR). Recently, D. Hoffman introduced the Interface Theory of Perception stating that senses and thoughts mediate and represent reality similar to interface of computer represent­ing hidden process in a computer. Hoffman goes further and compares the nature of cogni­tion with production of virtual reality. Studies of VR partly confirmed such statements. For instance, due to an interaction of our mind with computer-generated objects (signs), move­ment and acceleration in VR during a virtual free fall from a parachute experienced as real. By using the Interface Theory of Perception and semiotic theory, the paper examines how the signs and interactions in VR scenarios can replace/construct studied realities and be used for learning. It is argued that VR allows building for learners ‘developmental niches’ to ex­perience and acquire new skills or conceptual knowledge. Overlays or signs augmented on these VR environments give ‘semiotic scaffolding’ for learners who re-construct studied social realities or receive instructions for the acquisition of professional skills. These results were investigated in three types of VR environments with different degrees of semiotic scaf­folding and evaluated by experts in cultural education. It is shown that VR provides learning environments similar to the real world and provided semiotic scaffolding reduced the cogni­tive loads in these developmental niches. VR environments for professional learning as well as for general education can benefit from using semiotic scaffoldings in virtual apprentice­ship and professional instruction. Augmented Reality could also scaffold and speed-up sci­entific discoveries through the effective integration of researchers into the ‘collective me­mory’ (global databases) and technically scaffolded processes of recognition.