The Investigation of Mobile Virtual Reality Application Instructional Content in Geography Education: Academic Achievement, Presence, and Student Interaction

Abstract

In this study, we created an interactive Virtual Reality (VR) instructional application for geography education. The sample consisted of 9th grade students as 20 students in the control group and 20 students in the experimental group. Expository Instruction Methods, one of the traditional teaching methods, were applied to the control group, and the teacher on the slide explained the “Shape and Movements of the Earth” as the subject. The students in the experimental group used the VR-based interactive teaching environment we designed for the same subject under the supervision of a teacher. We explored the relationship between students’ level of presence and their academic achievement and received students’ opinions. The students’ academic scores in the experimental group were higher with a statistically significant difference than the control group, and we found that the motivation was higher in the experimental group. The research aims to show the effect of using VR interactive teaching materials in geography education, specifically for “Shape and Movements of the Earth”.