This study analyzed the effect of VR use on learners' learning immersion and learning satisfaction according to the learner's cognitive style in real-time online earth science classes. The purpose of this is to maximize the effectiveness of the class by providing the basic data necessary for the effective design and utilization of VR by earth science professors who conduct real-time online classes.
The research questions set to achieve the purpose of this study are as follows.
Research Question 1. Is there a significant difference in learning immersion and learning satisfaction according to the use of VR in real-time online earth science classes for Chinese middle school students?
Research Question 2. Is there a significant difference in learning immersion and learning satisfaction according to cognitive style in real-time online earth science class for Chinese middle school students?
Research Question 3. Is there a significant difference in learning immersion and learning satisfaction according to the interaction between VR use and cognitive style in real-time online earth science classes for Chinese middle school students?
For the study, 161 learners from Xingtai Second Middle School located in Xingtai City, Hebei Province, China were selected as experimental subjects. Among them, 40 people participated in the preliminary experiment, and 121 people participated in the main experiment. The test subjects were classified into two types based on the results of measuring their cognitive styles. Among them, 57 people had a gut-independent cognitive style and 64 people had a gut-dependent cognitive style. In order to balance the number of learners by cognitive style type in each group, 61 people were assigned to the VR-using group and 60 people to the non-VR group.
All the experimental procedures of this study were conducted through Voov Meeting software, a real-time online video conferencing platform in China. The learner runs Voov Meeting software with a smartphone, and the instructor runs Voov Meeting software with a PC. In a class using VR, learners put their smartphones into Google Cardboard according to the instructor's instructions to learn the contents of the VR video. The instructor played the VR video through the screen sharing function of Voov Meeting. In a class that does not use VR, learners learn general videos according to the instructor's instructions, and there is no need for Google Cardboard. The instructor played the general video through the screen sharing function of Voov Meeting. After a total of four experimental groups were given real-time online earth science learning, learning immersion and learning satisfaction were measured. All collected data were coded using MS-Excel 2010 and then processed using SPSS 26.0 program.
The research results are as follows.
First, there is a statistically significant difference in learning immersion and learning satisfaction according to the use of VR in real-time online earth science classes for Chinese middle school students. Learners who learned using VR showed higher learning immersion and learning satisfaction. When using media when Earth science classes are conducted through real-time online, instructors should choose or develop VR as much as possible.
Second, there is a statistically significant difference in learning immersion and learning satisfaction according to cognitive style in real-time online earth science class for Chinese middle school students. The long-term dependent learners showed high learning immersion and learning satisfaction. For field-dependent learners, the instructor must enrich and provide stimuli from the external environment, for example, VR images.
Third, there is a statistically significant difference in learning immersion and learning satisfaction according to the interaction between VR use and cognitive style in real-time online earth science class for Chinese middle school students. According to the interaction between VR use and cognitive style, the group with the highest learning immersion and learning satisfaction was the field-dependent learner group using VR, and the lowest group was the field-independent learner group who did not use VR.