Education and Training

Virtual reality has the potential to change how science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) topics are learned. It allows students or trainees to learn in the context of immersive simulations and “brain training” games. These educational scenarios include “travelling” inside the human body, manipulating virtual models of molecules, or playing immersive educational and brain training games. Work in this area is aimed at generating evidence-based principles for the design of instruction and training in virtual reality. 

Selected Publications

Makransky, G., Terkildsen, T. S., & Mayer, R. E. (2019). Adding immersive virtual reality to a science lab simulation causes more presence but less learning. Learning and Instruction, 00, 000-000. doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2017.12.007

Parong, J., & Mayer, R. E. (2018). Learning science in immersive virtual reality. Journal of Educational Psychology. PDF

Barrett, T. J., Stull, A. T., Hsu, T. M., & Hegarty, M. (2015). Constrained interactivity for relating multiple representations in science: When virtual is better than real. Computers & Education, 81, 69-81. doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.09.009

Stull, A. T., Barrett, T., & Hegarty, M. (2013). Usability of concrete and virtual models in chemistry instruction. Computers in Human Behavior, 29, 2546-2556. PDF