Design thinking and virtual reality continue to infiltrate the K-12 landscape, with incredible promise for fostering deeper engagement with content. Design thinking in particular embodies maker education's beliefs in learning through building, but with the added caveat of solving real-world problems with the consideration of others' perspectives.…

The usefulness of virtual reality (VR) technology in physiology education is largely unexplored. Although VR has the potential to enrich learning experience by enhancing the spatial awareness of students, it is unclear whether VR contributes to active learning of physiology. In the present study, we used a mixed-method research approach to…

Recently, alternate reality games (ARGs) have been applied in museum learning to encourage learners' active engagement through playful problem-solving activities. However, most learners have insufficient prior knowledge and metacognitive skills to complete the learning tasks in such games. To support learning with ARGs, there is a need to provide…

The goal of this study was to examine the effect of engaging students in socially engaged art (SEA) education to create 3D virtual worlds for fostering creative problem-solving (CPS) skills. The study was conducted with 135 students (aged 16) of boys' high school in Korea who participated in the SEA program through four stages: Stage 1-…

Problem-based learning ignites hands-on exploration, ignites curiosity, and sparks lifelong problem-solvers. This Spotlight will help readers learn how virtual reality can be used for unique problem-solving and engagement; explore how students are publishing their research in peer-reviewed journals; uncover how after-school programs are helping…

Background: Virtual reality (VR) offers significant potential for hands-on learning environments by providing immersive and visually stimulating experiences. Interacting with such environments can bring numerous benefits to learning, including enhanced engagement, knowledge construction, and higher-order thinking. However, many current VR studies…

Higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) are reliable predictors of success in school and the workplace. A typical technique for encouraging higher-order thinking is to use instructional design interventions that engage learners in simple cognitive activities. Business simulation game (BSG) is one of the types of interactive learning environments that…

This research study examined the implementation of an extended reality (XR) lab on a community college campus to facilitate student and faculty access to immersive learning resources. The study, conducted during one skills day, involved 46 students and was designed to understand if integrating immersive VR into emergency medical technician (EMT)…

Our online programming language courses have been developed for youngsters who are interested in computer programming. The courses were gamified with some common gamification elements: points, badges, incentives, immediate feedback and leaderboard. The developed Learning Management System (LMS) for our learning portal provides the chance to…

This research aims to explore the latent effect of elementary student engagement in a Spherical Video-based Virtual Reality (SVVR) environment for a school-based course on higher level competence development. Student engagement and higher level competence development were investigated using a valid sample of 324 students from five elementary…

This paper discusses the potential of immersing foreign language learners in Social Virtual Reality (SVR) in an international seminar, designed by the authors, called SpEakWise VR, combining the tandem language learning paradigm with gamification in immersive virtual environments. SpEakWise VR builds on an existing telecollaboration (SpEakWise)…

The United States' Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) elevate engineering design to the same stature as scientific inquiry, calling on science teachers to engage students in engineering practices to solve real-world problems. In response, researchers and curriculum developers designed and studied Virtual Engineering Internships (VEIs) to…

This article provides the first review of the existing literature consolidating research into the use of virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies within K-12 educational environments. The review explores the peer-reviewed scholarly studies conducted between 2006 and May 2017, which involved the use of virtual reality (VR), augmented…

We report on a design-based research study that was conducted over three iterations. It chronicles the design, development, and implementation of School Scene Investigators, a forensic science game series for middle school students that utilizes mobile augmented reality. Played on mobile devices while exploring the school environment, School Scene…

In response to a need to equip youth to become successful contributors to our growing digital economy, educators and researchers are exploring ways to incorporate computational thinking (CT) for all across curricular domains. In this paper, we take a place-based approach to examine how and what CT practices youth learn through designing mobile…