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Virtual reality (VR) is used across the educational spectrum (higher education, high school, primary school, and even pre-school); however, primary school teachers' perceptions of using VR in their classrooms require further research. A brief review of the literature of 100 existing articles related to teaching within the primary school context was conducted. The articles were obtained by performing a word search within Google Scholar, with the keywords 'virtual reality primary school teachers 2018 - 2023'. Teachers indicated both hesitance and enthusiasm for incorporating VR. The findings of this study indicated that only a low number of articles (n = 11) addressed VR and primary school teachers, compared to the total number of articles reviewed (n=100). Researching VR and teaching assists in supporting the wider fringe aspects of e-learning practices, such as VR. It advances the compass of e-learning knowledge by integrating immersive learning tools into the primary school classroom.

Despite the widespread integration of technological tools in pre-service English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) education, there has been a dearth of research investigating the effects of the latest virtual platforms on pre-service teachers' competence in lesson planning, perceived presence, and perceptions, particularly in relation to high- and low-achieving pre-service teachers. This study, accordingly, investigated the potential benefits of utilizing innovative online learning platforms, specifically Gather, in teacher preparation education. Through a mixed-methods, quasi-experimental, within-subjects design, 46 English-major junior students enrolled in a pre-service EFL course at a private university in central Taiwan were assigned two lesson planning tasks, the first involving in-class discussion and the second utilizing Gather for interaction. Based on their performance in the first task, the students were divided into two groups: high achievers and low achievers, each comprising 23 students. Analysis of their performances, responses to the Multiple Presence Scale, and reflective journals indicated that both groups demonstrated improvement in lesson planning and reported positive experiences in the virtual learning environment, particularly in terms of physical presence, social presence, and self-presence. Moreover, the students expressed a preference for online learning facilitated by Gather. Notably, while both groups acknowledged the perceived presences in Gather, high achievers exhibited significantly higher levels in all three aspects of presence, suggesting a stronger sense of immersion in the virtual learning setting, akin to face-to-face classroom meetings. These results suggest that platforms like Gather can enhance lesson planning outcomes, foster engagement, and serve as a valuable alternative to traditional videoconferencing tools in teacher preparation education.

This study aimed to create a game as scaffolding in 3D virtual worlds to enhance linguistic communication skills (LCS) in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Two ADHD children participated in the 17-week study. In 8 of the 17 weeks of the study, they logged in 3D virtual worlds to learn LCS through play twice a week, one hour every time. Before, after, and five weeks after the 8-week treatment, both children took the receptive and expressive vocabulary test (REVT). The REVT scores and their learning processes were recorded and analyzed. Both children's opinions on the learning activities in the VR environment were obtained through interviews after the treatment. The results showed that both ADHD children made a great improvement in LCS and learning behavior. They enjoyed the learning activities with high motivation. Limitations and suggestions for future research are also provided.

This study aims to make a bibliometric analysis of the augmented reality articles carried out with the experimental method between 2012 and 2022 in the Scopus database. To realize the aim of the research, 255 articles published between 2012-2022 were reached. The bibliometric data of 255 articles from the Scopus database were analyzed using VOS viewer 1.6.18 software and visualized with the Tableau software. According to the research findings, 255 articles were produced by researchers from 49 different countries. According to co-authorship networks, six different clusters were formed. National Taiwan University of Science and Technology is the leading institution in AR research with the experimental method. The 255 articles reviewed were published in 159 different journals. Interactive Learning Environments journal ranks first with 13 publications by far, while Computers and Education journal stands out with 878 citations in terms of the number of citations. When the keywords used in the articles were examined, it was seen that the concepts of virtual reality, mobile learning, motivation, and cognitive load came to the fore. The results obtained within the scope of the research were shared by discussing with other study findings obtained from the literature.

STEM education is a crucial learning area to understand important concepts and gain 21st-century skills in different disciplines, explore scientific knowledge, and solve problems in daily life. However, research in STEM education is scarce on extended reality technologies. This research examined the effects of extended reality integrated STEM on students' learning response and performance. A quasi-experimental research design was used to find answers to the research questions. The same lecture taught the experimental and control groups but preceded STEM experimental activities at a different time and with distinct instructional strategies and teaching aids. The participants were students in two classes at a university in Taiwan. The research results showed that students in the experimental group applying extended reality-integrated STEM had better learning responses than students in the control group using teaching materials. The results also showed that students in the experimental group learning with an extended reality system could apply the STEM curriculum knowledge acquired in classes and reflect the learning outcomes on the test assessment for better learning performance than students in the control group. In addition, the results revealed that good learning responses could enhance students' higher learning performance. In light of the results, educational implications are made.

Physical and virtual labs have unique capabilities that can influence how students learn from them. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of physical and virtual manipulatives on students' learning of heat and temperature and to examine the influence of various combinations of physical and virtual manipulatives. A total of 205 participants were divided into four groups: only physical manipulatives, only virtual manipulatives, physical-virtual manipulatives, and virtual-physical manipulatives. Students' knowledge acquisition was tested using Pretest--Post-test design. The results showed that physical and virtual manipulatives are as effective in facilitating students' learning of state changes, but virtual manipulatives are more beneficial to students' learning of thermal expansion and contraction than physical manipulatives are. Physical-virtual manipulatives are more effective than virtual-physical manipulatives or physical manipulatives alone are to promote students' learning of heat and temperature, but this effect is similar to that of virtual manipulatives alone. The results suggest that virtual laboratories can effectively model abstract concepts. The better effect of the physical-virtual operation sequence on learning does not depend on whether the two types of experiments are combined or on the sequence of operations but on the type of experiment when its advantages actually contribute to learning.

Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) is considered a central affective factor influencing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning. This study thus developed an online simulation game to create a virtually situated learning environment for reducing EFL primary school students' FLA levels and improving their English vocabulary learning. A total of 110 fifth graders from four classes participated in this study. Two classes were randomly assigned to the experimental group (N = 57) using the online simulation game, and the other two classes were the control group (N = 53) using onsite instruction. Each participant was then classified as a low, moderate, or high anxiety student based on the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). This study found that, compared to the onsite instruction, the online simulation game more effectively assisted the low, moderate, and high anxiety students in reducing their FLA. Situated learning in the online simulation game made a connection between English vocabulary learning and the real world explicitly and visibly, which could further promote their English vocabulary learning. In particular, the moderate and high anxiety students' English vocabulary learning was significantly improved after the online simulation game. These results suggest that an online simulation game can create a situated learning environment that helps reduce EFL students' FLA and subsequently facilitate their English vocabulary learning.

Training functional living skills is crucial for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) because they are directly related to their independence. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of an augmented reality (AR)-based video prompting (VP) teaching model on the learning of functional living skills among elementary school students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. A multiple-probe, across-subjects, single-case research design was adopted to recruit three participants, namely, fifth- and sixth-grade students with IDDs in a special education program in an elementary school in Taichung City. The independent variable was the AR-based VP teaching model, and the dependent variable was the participants' performance of functional living skills (cooking rice in a rice cooker). The results indicate that the intervention had immediate, maintenance, and generalization effects on all three participants. In addition, the participants noted that the teaching model relaxed and motivated them. The teachers also indicated that the teaching model motivated the students, resulted in positive learning outcomes, and strengthened the students' ability to learn independently. Through this AR-based VP teaching model, students with developmental disabilities can improve their functional living skills.

One issue facing teachers who implement model-based instruction within the school system is the tight curricular schedule. The 'lesson objective tension' calls for investigations to address instructional issues such as how to organise modelling-based instruction at the curriculum level which is across multiple units. We investigated the effect of the cyclic curricular design spacing out three modelling-based instruction units with virtual labs over three semesters, each involving 73, 181, and 150 junior high school students, respectively. Results indicate that, overall, the approach of modelling with virtual labs better promoted students' scientific literacy than the traditional instruction did. Specifically, students with low and moderate school science achievements benefitted more as shown in their scientific literacy scores than did the high achievement students. Furthermore, this study found that receiving one unit of modelling-based instruction may not be sufficient to promote students' scientific literacy, whereas the cyclic approach that suggests students receive two or more units of modelling-based instruction with virtual labs spaced over consecutive semesters had significant effects on promoting students' scientific literacy. The results provide insights into when and how modelling-based learning with virtual labs can promote scientific literacy at a curricular level.

The integration of augmented reality (AR) and game-based learning could increase interaction in educational games and provide more learning guidance in higher education courses. This study developed an AR educational board game that featured cognitive scaffolding, immediate feedback, and collaborative interaction. The study also analyzed and compared the competition- and collaboration-oriented mechanisms in the game. Participants of the study were 60 university students, who were divided into a competitive group and a collaborative group. We analyzed learners' psychological and cognitive differences in their learning effectiveness, motivation, flow, technology acceptance, learning anxiety, and gaming anxiety in the game. The results showed that both groups significantly improved in learning, and the competitive group had better learning effectiveness than the collaborative group. As for learning motivation, the competitive group improved in certain sub-dimensions, whereas the collaborative group improved in all sub-dimensions. Moreover, the collaborative group had higher scores in flow antecedent and perceived ease of use than the competitive group. The students had more smooth gaming experiences and perceived more clear feedback. Both groups showed lower gaming anxiety. These findings may have important implications for AR educational board game design.

Public speaking is considered the most anxiety-provoking speaking activity for English as a foreign language (EFL) learner. While traditional lecture-based classrooms hinder EFL learners' constant practice and frequent interaction due to large class sizes and limited time, recent developments in technology, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Automatic Speech Analysis, and Virtual Reality (VR), may enhance language learning by offering accessible and personalized learning experiences. This study aimed to investigate the effects of technology-enhanced learning on reducing EFL learners' PSA. Thirty-three university students were divided into three groups and received either lecture-based, mobile-assisted, or VR-facilitated instruction for four weeks. The students' perceived PSA levels were reduced in all three groups after their respective instruction, but only the VR-facilitated group reached statistical significance, and there were no differences in the three groups' final oral performances. However, the two technology-enhanced language learning (TELL) groups achieved more convergent performances on the Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety scale compared with the non-TELL group, which indicated that the impact of individual differences may have been compensated by technology assistance. The findings suggested that the instructional feedback generated by AI decreased the participants' PSA, although the irreplaceable role of teachers as facilitators was also emphasized, while the potential of using VR in teaching public speaking was evident.

In this paper, we discuss the teaching effects of augmented reality (AR) technology in German instruction. We conducted one prestudy and three formal studies on German learners in China's mainland and Taiwan region. In the formal studies, a total of 120 students participated in the survey, allowing us to compare the differences in interest in learning between AR picture books and traditional picture books. A total of 114 students took part in the survey, which enabled us to compare the contribution of AR picture books to teaching when students' satisfaction and German proficiency were different. To improve satisfaction, 514 students participated in the survey regarding the influence of the interactive narrative design effect and peer learning on satisfaction with using AR picture books. The results suggest that when learning German with AR picture books, satisfaction is the key construct that determines students' learning states.

The purpose of this study was to examine the studies related to augmented reality applications in sports science and to discuss the results based on this. Articles selected for analysis were found through searches journals in the Web of Science database from 1975 to 2018 were examined and searched using the keywords ("physical education" or "physical activity" or "sport$") and ("augmented reality"). As a result of the search, 44 articles were reached, and 11 articles were excluded from the research because they were not related to augmented reality applications or sports science. The publication classification form consists of the titles "Years, Authors Number, Country, Journals, Age, Sample Size, Variables, Sample Method, Research Method, Data Collection Method and Data Analysis Method." There are a limited number of studies where sports and augmented reality technology are used and interacted together. With the spread of the use of augmented reality and similar technologies in the field of sports sciences, it is thought that such fields as health and education will be positively affected.

This technical note provides descriptions on a collaborative research project between Université Paris 8/École Pratique des Hautes Études-Laboratoire des Usages des Techniques d'Information Numériques (Paris8/EPHE-LUTIN) and National Taiwan Normal University-Science Education Center (NTNU-SEC). This project, entitled "Franco-Taiwanese Research on Extended Reality Experience", is about research and development of new, innovative, performant eXtended Reality (XR) contents, methods, procedures, and services in order to enhance science teaching and learning and to bring subsequent great benefices to education. The aim of the collaboration is the making of eXtended Reality eXperience (XRX) for teachers and pupils of the 12-year basic education curricula. As a result of reaching our aim, we expect that the XR systems and instructional modules developed through our project will be learning efficient for the students acquiring knowledge and the know-how of Science Education.

This article discusses the effect of using a commercial off-the-shelf immersive virtual reality game on engineering students' reaction time, hand-eye coordination, and spatial skills. Fifteen (15) college engineering students in Northern Taiwan were conveniently recruited in a single group. Participants were tasked to play the game for 30 min during the intervention in one day. After the intervention, they were interviewed to explore more about their experiences. The approach showed significant improvement in hand-eye coordination with a large effect size. However, reaction time and spatial skills showed some mean differences, but they were not significant. The findings suggest that the adversary effect of cybersickness can be categorized as none to slight. Qualitative interviews were also conducted to gain better insights and explain the quantitative results. Most participants felt that the activities were fun and engaging. Therefore, it is suggested that the benefits of immersive virtual reality exceed their adverse effects.

This qualitative study aims to explore how the production of language learning materials using spherical video-based virtual reality (SVVR) affords pre-service teachers multiliteracy development while also attempting to discover their perceptions toward adopting this emerging technology for future language teaching. Data from multiple sources was collected from pre-service English teachers enrolled in a TESOL graduate program in Taiwan, including video-recordings of the participants' presentations on their final SVVR projects and their self-generated VR teaching materials/artifacts, with two one-to-one semi-structured interviews further analyzed based on thematic analysis. The major findings demonstrate that through conducting the SVVR project, participants learned: (1) to compose multimodal lessons; (2) to concretize intangible contexts for learning; and (3) to use space as a mode for teaching and learning. The authors presented insights into affordance of SVVR material production for their multiliteracy development of engaging pre-service English teachers, as well as their perceptions with regard to this SVVR hands-on experience. Moreover, the authors offer recommendations for putting such experience into practice.

Due to the outbreak of COVID 19, an online bilingual curriculum was conducted via "Google Meet." The learning material was developed and implemented by using a smartphone application, STEMUP, based on augmented reality (AR) and automatic speech recognition (ASR) technologies. This study investigated the oral performance and perceptions of learning with STEMUP of ninety non-English major students from several colleges at a technical university in Taiwan. Data were collected from pre- and post-tests and a questionnaire survey. Results indicated that students significantly improved their oral performance and recorded their positive perceptions. Students' oral performance significantly depended on their English proficiency. Their perceptions were not significant related to their English proficiency, gender, or college. Instant feedback and evaluation provided by ASR technology and online "Google" text-to-speech service both embedded in STEMUP helped students notice, modify and improve their listening and speaking skills. They were satisfied with the bilingual curriculum, which helped them increase understanding about content knowledge by the teacher's explanation in Chinese, and improve English listening and speaking skills by learning with STEMUP. This study is a good start in creating an interactive and communicative learning environment where translanguaging is effectively integrated with innovative technologies.

This review paper presents a systematic literature review on the use of Augmented Reality (AR) in engineering education, and specifically in student's spatial ability training, for the last decade. Researchers have explored the benefits of AR, and its application has been of increasing interest in all levels of education. Engineering students tend to have difficulties in acquiring visualization skills, and hence, AR is gaining momentum in enhancing students' learning achievements. This paper aims to present valuable information to researchers, tutors and software developers of learning technology systems concerning the advantages and limitations of AR in spatial ability training, the incorporation of adaptivity and personalization in AR applications as well as the aspects of spatial ability having been evaluated using AR and the prevalent evaluation methods for AR applications. To this direction, a total of thirty-two (32) studies were reviewed, having been published since 2010. The findings reveal an increase in the number of studies during the last three years. One major conclusion is the improvement of learners' spatial ability using AR in educational settings, and the noted challenge is the need for more learning content. One research gap that has been identified is the lack of personalization in the developed applications, offering space for future research. Concluding, this area is under-researched, and thus, there is scope for a lot of improvement.

This study examines how English-as-lingua-franca (ELF) learners employ semiotic resources, including head movements, gestures, facial expression, body posture, and spatial juxtaposition, to negotiate for meaning in an immersive virtual reality (VR) environment. Ten ELF learners participated in a TaiwanSpain VR virtual exchange project and completed two VR tasks on an immersive VR platform. Multiple datasets, including the recordings of VR sessions, pre- and post-task questionnaires, observation notes, and stimulated recall interviews, were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively with triangulation. Built upon multimodal interaction analysis (Norris, 2004) and Varonis and Gass' (1985a) negotiation of meaning model, the findings indicate that ELF learners utilized different embodied semiotic resources in constructing and negotiating meaning at all primes to achieve effective communication in an immersive VR space. The avatar-mediated representations and semiotic modalities were shown to facilitate indication, comprehension, and explanation to signal and resolve non-understanding instances. The findings show that with space proxemics and object handling as the two distinct features of VR-supported environments, VR platforms transform learners' social interaction from plane to three-dimensional communication, and from verbal to embodied, which promotes embodied learning. VR thus serves as a powerful immersive interactive environment for ELF learners from distant locations to be engaged in situated languacultural practices that goes beyond physical space. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

Logical thinking and reasoning of geometric space are among the key abilities of science and technology education. This research developed a framework of an alternate reality-based board game incorporating augmented reality (AR) exploration with multi-dimensional scaffolding, including "cognitive scaffolding," "metacognitive scaffolding," and "peer scaffolding." Features included alternate reality games, board games, and AR technology. An educational alternate reality game "Lost in Space" based on the above framework was developed, and scaffolding was designed to help players focus on spatial and logical thinking. Participants were 127 tenth-grade students from northern Taiwan. Empirical analysis was conducted with the aim of exploring the learners' learning outcomes, flow state, and perceptions of the multi-dimensional scaffolding as well as its usefulness. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the learning achievement of the students in the experimental group (using game learning) and the control group (using general teaching materials). However, students in the experimental group showed significant improvement in learning achievement after the game, while students in the control group showed no significant improvement in learning achievement. Moreover, experimental group learners could sense most of the cognitive scaffolding, metacognitive scaffolding, and peer scaffolding.

This study investigated the effects of teaching via virtual reality (VR) on creative design performance and creative experiential learning processes by using a pretest--post-test nonequivalent group design to sample 138 seventh graders from a junior high school in Taipei City. The main conclusions from this study are: (1) VR has significant positive effects on creative design processes, particularly in the "design and planning," "testing and revision" and "thoughts and appreciation" stages. (2) VR has significant positive effects on creative design outcomes, with high- and low-level effects on "creative design" and "functional appropriateness," respectively. (3) The learning process for VR and creative experiential learning shifts from "concrete experiences" to "reflective observations," "abstract conceptualization" and, finally, "innovative applications." Behaviors of "reflective observation" and "innovative application" are active and vital to the performance of creative processes and outcomes.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of augmented reality (AR) using a 3D app in a smartphone on students' learning outcomes and satisfaction in teaching angle measurement error to vocational high school students with different spatial ability. A quasi-experimental pretest/posttest was employed. There were 197 students from three vocational high schools in the southern, northern, and eastern part of Taiwan participated in this study. To minimize the biased result, we established one control group and one experimental group in each school. The experimental group used multimedia teaching tools and AR technology as a supplement, while the control group was taught by multimedia teaching tools only. We assessed some factors that possibly affect the learning outcomes and learning satisfaction, including different spatial abilities and different digital materials as teaching tools. Our finding highlights that different teaching materials influence students' learning outcomes and satisfaction, whereas spatial ability does not affect. Further discussion and implementation are also identified in this study.

The field of language education has experienced a rise in using virtual reality (VR) to support interactive, contextualized, and collaborative language learning in recent years. The current study investigates the effects of auditory, visual, and textual input on speaking and writing in English for Tourism Purposes (ETP) through immersive, scenery-based virtual reality (SBVR) dyadic learning. Adopting a framework on ETP sociocultural, linguistic, and formulaic competence, the researchers designed relevant learning content using audios, images, and verbatim onscreen text on "EduVenture VR" to create an interactive, simulated tour. Thirty-eight English as a foreign language undergraduates participated in this single-group quasi-experiment. Various data sources included speaking and writing pre-, post- and delayed post-tests, a post-intervention survey, and reflections about the VR learning experience. The study reported significant speaking gains in language accuracy, destination promotion, knowledge retention, and replication of ETP language, as well as significant writing improvement in using sophisticated vocabulary, knowledge retention, and replication of ETP language. The study concludes that SBVR warrants positive impact on improving productive ETP skills. Possible factors, limitations, and pedagogical implications for using scenery-based VR in dyadic learning for ETP are discussed. Finally, the study suggests future research directions to combine technology-enhanced language learning theories with multimodal input and material design supported by immersive VR to enhance language production for specific purposes.

This study investigated student engagement and focused attention in three co-creation environments (a paper-based environment, the 2D Jamboard platform, and the CoSpaces virtual reality (VR) platform). The study utilized a quasi-experimental research design with a total of 66 tenth-grade students including 34 males (52%) and 32 females (48%) from two English classes at a public senior high school in northern Taiwan. To assess the effects of the environments, the classes were divided into a control group, experimental group A, and experimental group B, with a valid sample of N = 22 in each group. The results showed that the three co-creation environments were not significant causal factors of either the learners' behavioral and cognitive engagement or their focused attention. However, co-creation in VR structure visualization indeed resulted in significant effects on emotional engagement due to its novel and immersive environment. For improved focused attention and engagement, especially in the behavioral and cognitive domains, the present study suggests that co-creation be implemented as a semester-long project to allow thorough discussion and idea synthesis and to avoid underestimation of the value and strength of co-creation tools.

The aim of this study is to use augmented reality and hands-on activity with phonics cubes to create an augmented reality English learning system named the Rolling Alphabet-AR System to investigate its impact on English learning, flow experience, and English self-efficacy for sixth graders. This study adopted quasi-experimental research on 114 sixth graders from Taiwan, which comprised experimental and control groups. The experimental group used the Rolling Alphabet-AR System to learn, and the control group used flash cards and picture cards. Before and after the experiments, these two groups took the Phonics vocabulary, flow experience, and English self-efficacy scales as pre- and posttests. The study was conducted 7 times in 7 weeks for a total of 280 minutes. The pre- and posttest results were analysed by independent sample t tests in SPSS 20.0. Using the Rolling Alphabet-AR System in English learning positively impacts English learning effectiveness and flow experience for sixth graders. This study combined AR learning with manual operations to prove that this combination can effectively improve students' English learning results.

This study aimed to foster development of the 21st-century five core competencies, including Creativity and innovation, Critical thinking and problem solving, Communication, Collaboration, and Computer-information literacy using Student-Centered Active Learning in an instructional design in which student groups created their own virtual reality content. Fifty humanities students participated. Mixed-methods data collection included a questionnaire, VR artifacts grades, student reflective journals, and focus group interviews. The most important findings were that (1) the instructional design of the study led to improvement in all of the five competencies of 0.01 significance or better (2) additional cycles of VR artifact production led to increases in empirical quality, and (3) the participants also found the hands-on VR creation projects to be distinctive and motivating. This VR content creation project provides detailed implications and guidance for instructors seeking to replicate a hands-on technology-oriented instructional design in order to strengthen the 21st-century core competencies.

Taiwan's vocational wood-furniture schools still focus only on the traditional manual training strategy, and so students' knowledge of the furniture-manufacturing process is fragmented. Moreover, they possess limited manual skills without learning the workflows and strategies of furniture production, which is inadequate for satisfying the direct work demands of the furniture industry overseas. In response, through virtual reality (VR) technology, this study employed simulations of the furniture production lines in a large Vietnamese furniture-manufacturing factory, enabling students to experience and observe the manufacturing process of furniture production through VR to overcome the limitations in the present teaching environment. In doing so, we recruited 29 freshmen majoring in a furniture-and-woodworking program and divided them into an experimental group (N=15) and a control group (N=14). They were trained with actual furniture production-process cases according to the furniture mass-production process, including paper-based tests, equipment configuration re-draws and production planning table writing. The results showed that the students in the experimental VR-training group had superior judgment concerning the concept of batch furniture production line. This indicates that applying VR technology to the vocational training of batch furniture production effectively enhanced the students' familiarity of the fast and dynamic production situation of furniture production lines.

This study was conducted to explore the effects of an augmented-reality (AR) creative project on English L2 learners' perceptions of creativity, as well as to investigate how to stimulate students' learning motivation. The AR project was developed and integrated into the course syllabus of a university English class, and 39 Taiwanese freshmen completed the project step by step. Data for analysis primarily emerged from the Preference Scale, the Instructional Materials Motivation Survey (IMMS), and an AR student survey. Following a pretest-posttest design, this study showed that the participants demonstrated a higher level of favorable perceptions of creative thinking, such as "preference for ideation" and "valuing new ideas," and a lower "tendency for premature critical evaluation of ideas," although these differences were non-significant. However, working on the project also led to a significantly higher level of self-awareness of being "too busy for new ideas." According to the results of the IMMS, "attention" yields significantly positive relationships with "relevance," "confidence," and "satisfaction." This finding suggests that the students who were more engaged tended to see the project as relevant to their needs; they were also more confident and had a more satisfying AR experience. Based on the results, pedagogical implications are discussed.

The crystal structure is an important topic in the STEM field and the basic knowledge to determine the material structure and its behaviour. There is a wealth of literature on three-dimensional (3D) and augmented reality (AR) technology to represent 3D crystal environments to provide a new way of visualisation and to foster spatial skills. This article aimed to develop and evaluate an AR system for teaching Bravais Crystals in Natural Science, especially the potential of AR as an innovative teaching tool to encourage spatial skills. The users were satisfied with the AR system (Mean = 4.3, SD = 0.49) to learn spatial representation techniques in a cooperative learning environment. The AR system provided excitement and motivation and was attractive and flexible while allowing the students to engage in independent learning.

Speaking is a challenge for most English learners owing to the lack of practicing environments and partners. The virtual reality (VR) technology has changed this situation by providing learners with rich opportunities for practice. In VR-based practicing environments, peer tutoring is a common strategy for promoting peer assistance. However, in conventional VR-based learning, students may merely follow the guidelines and content provided by the teacher without thinking about the meaning and reasons for the practice in the situated contexts, which generally leads to poor learning outcomes. To solve this problem, a progressive question prompt-based peer-tutoring approach in VR contexts (PQP-PTVR) is proposed to assist students' English-speaking development. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The experimental group used the proposed approach, while the control group learned with the conventional question prompt-based peer-tutoring approach in VR contexts (C-PTVR). The results showed that the experimental group achieved significantly greater improvement in speaking and self-efficacy than the control group. Concerning the participants' learning behaviors, the experimental group had more interactions and made more attempts to improve their speaking. This study contributes to the existing literature by proposing the PQP-PTVR approach to enhancing learners' speaking development, improving their interactions and self-efficacy.

The use of virtual reality (VR) as a medium for education can contribute to the learning efficiency of students. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of VR application in advanced biology courses, specifically in enhancing the comprehension and understanding of high school students toward the topic of human organs and other related systems. Four high school teachers and 138 high school students selected from three separate classes participated in this study. To determine the impact of VR education from both teachers' and students' perspectives, learning satisfaction and the effectiveness of instructional material were assessed with questionnaires. We found that from teachers' perspective, VR was an efficient teaching tool that enhanced students' attention and contributed to the improvement of learning outcomes. From the students' perspective, they were willing to use VR instructional material and were satisfied with this learning method. Applying VR technology in the classroom should be encouraged. However, some students identified dizziness as a concern when VR glasses were used for longer periods of time. Therefore, we suggest that VR glasses be limited to 30 minutes of use at a time.

Facilitating decision making in authentic contexts is an important educational objective of professional training. To enable learners to have more opportunities to practice in authentic contexts under the guidance of instructors, the flipped learning mode of shifting the lectures to be the pre-class activity with the presentation of digital media has gradually been receiving attention. However, the conventional flipped learning mostly uses videos to present teaching content. In such a learning environment with one-way information and lack of experience, it is not easy for most learners to experience the actual situation encountered in the nursing procedure, which affects their judgment and performance when dealing with actual scenarios. To solve this problem, the present study adopted spherical video-based virtual reality (SVVR) to provide an experiential learning mode in flipped learning. To verify the effects of this teaching mode, this study conducted an experiment in a blood transfusion safety training course. The experimental group used the SVVR-based experiential flipped learning (SVVR-EFL) mode, while the control group used the conventional flipped learning mode. The results showed that using the SVVR-EFL mode not only enhanced new nursing staff's learning achievement, but also increased their decision-making performance, meta-cognition tendency, problem-solving tendency and classroom engagement.

Background: Taiwan's higher education institutions prioritize interdisciplinary knowledge and cultural competence in cultural design, emphasizing the value of immersion in the local environment to develop cultural competence. However, challenges arise from the disappearance of traditional local lifestyles and limitations of traditional outdoor lectures such as group size and learning environment. Mobile augmented reality technology serves as a personal learning tool to overcome these challenges, enabling learners to uncover hidden knowledge in scenic locations and improving learning efficiency. Objective: The study utilized learning analytics to investigate the impact of using mobile augmented reality on enhancing learners' cultural competence. Methods: The study used both qualitative and quasi-experimental quantitative research to evaluate the effects of mobile augmented reality on cultural competence. A total of 78 third-year university students participated in the study, with 37 of them using mobile augmented reality to learn about culture. The researchers utilized both the Mann-Whitney U test and interviews to compare the effectiveness of mobile augmented reality with that of a 'real' tour guide in field courses. Results: The experimental results indicate that learners were able to continuously seek and find information about local culture through field exploration with mobile augmented reality, resulting in similar effects to those of attending a live lecture. Conclusions: It showed that incorporating mobile AR into field visits can create gamified and active learning scenarios that enhance immersion and drive active learning in local culture. The results in greater cultural knowledge and understanding, leading to the development of cultural competence in students.

This study integrated augmented reality (AR) and three-dimensional (3D) maps into mobile learning for library use instruction. To maximize the benefits of mobile library applications (MLAs), their technology acceptance was examined. Because of the e-learning context, the General Extended Technology Acceptance Model for E-Learning (GETAMEL) developed by Abdullah and Ward ([2016]. Developing a general extended technology acceptance model for e-learning (GETAMEL) by analysing commonly used external factors. "Computers in Human Behavior, 56," 238-256) was used. A total of 450 university students participated in this study. Structural equation modeling was conducted to identify factors influencing MLA adoption, to test the measurement invariance of the GETAMEL questionnaire and to compare the structural coefficients of GETAMEL between the AR and 3D map groups. The results showed that subjective norms, enjoyment, computer-related experience, self-efficacy, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness are essential for designing MLA. Moreover, the measures of the questionnaire had the same meanings across the two MLAs, and the impacts of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use on behavioral intention differed significantly across the two groups, suggesting that AR-based MLA suits people who are not familiar with libraries, whereas 3D map-based MLA suits people who want to find research materials immediately.

The main purpose of this study was to examine the differences in students' English vocabulary learning performance as well as the instructional materials motivation, comparing the traditional lecturing method and the Augmented Reality method. This study adopted an unequal pre-test and post-test experimental design. Overall, there were a total of 42 students in two fifth grade classes in an elementary school in Central Taiwan who served as the participants of this study. Data were collected by English vocabulary tests, an instructional materials motivation questionnaire, and structured interviews. Data analyses were mixed with the quantitative and qualitative methods. The results showed that the instructional materials motivation and performance of the students taught using AR were superior to those of students taught using the traditional lecturing method. In addition, the qualitative findings of this study identified the opportunities and obstacles when adopting AR and using the traditional lecturing methods to learn English vocabulary. These findings might provide useful insights toward the successful application of English instruction in the educational realm for elementary school EFL students and teachers in Taiwan.

Learning is mainly based on the students' mental activities. If they can learn spontaneously, it will help increase their interest and the effectiveness of the learning. Learning through playing will make it easier for students to learn spontaneously. The balance between gameplay and education in educational games is a key issue in designing such games. Designing educational games to be less complex and more casual makes it easier to balance education and entertainment. For courses with practical operational characteristics, combining a game with a virtual and real integration experience can increase both student interest and learning effectiveness. This research develops an augmented reality app, named "Mobile Plant", which is an app developed for the primary school plant curriculum, combining games and augmented reality to enhance students' interest in learning. A questionnaire shows that the game has positive results in terms of game difficulty and absorption of content.

Previous studies on the effectiveness of virtual laboratories for learning have shown inconsistent results over the past decade. The purpose of this research was to explore the effects of a virtual laboratory and meta-cognitive scaffolding on students' data modeling competences. A quasi-experimental design was used. Three classes of eighth graders from southern Taiwan participated in this research and were assigned to the Experimental Group ? (EG ?), the Experimental Group ? (EG ?), and the Control Group (CG). EG ? (n=25) received the virtual laboratory and meta-cognitive scaffolding in the teaching and learning. EG ? (n=28) received the virtual laboratory only in the teaching and learning. The CG (n=27) received the lecture with the cookbook laboratory. The teaching unit was Heat and Specific Heat, and the teaching time for the three groups was six lessons (of 45 minutes each). The Data Modeling Competences Test (DMCT) designed by the research team was used as the data collection instrument. The results showed that the virtual laboratory and meta-cognitive scaffolding had effects on students' data modeling competences. This research shows the importance of the meta-cognitive scaffolding strategy for virtual laboratories when conducting data modeling teaching.

The term "Virtual Reality" currently refers to a profound sensory immersion of the user in a synthetically generated virtual environment. It is foreseen that virtual reality will gain a substantial role in the instruction of science. In this literature review, the purpose was to investigate the research on the utilization of virtual reality in the science education context, according to several criteria. The articles published in peer-reviewed journals and academic conferences/symposiums that are available in the databases of ERIC, WOS, and Google Scholar have been reviewed. Consequently, a total of 30 eligible articles reviewed and findings presented under every respective criterion. Partially, findings revealed the dominance of journal article type publications, the USA and Turkey found to be most prominent origins, experimental studies being preferred mostly, undergraduate students and pre-service teachers were the most studied groups, the contexts of the studies were prominently general, and the learning outcomes investigated mostly.

This research aimed to develop a computer detective game for science education to provide students in experiencing real-world problem-solving after learning electricity-related knowledge, and to explore the effects of designing the guidance of process constraints and prompts into this game. To explore the effects of guidance, two different game tasks with and without the guidance of process constraints and prompts were integrated into this game. At the same time, to understand appropriate prompt guidance, two different versions of the first game task with and without real-time prompts were also designed. Two ninth-grade classes from a lower secondary school were randomly assigned to use different versions of game with different real-time guidance prompts. The research findings indicate that students had significantly better problem-solving performance in first game task with the guidance of process constraints and prompts than those in second game task without guidance. The results also indicate that the design of real-time prompts may not only enhance students' problem-solving performance and knowledge acquisition, but also lower students' cognitive load.

This research aimed to explore the effects of a virtual lab (VL) and a Microcomputer-based Lab (MBL) on students' performance in scientific modeling. A web-based virtual lab and a low-cost MBL were proposed to help first-year engineering students build scientific models. Empirical research was done in a slope motion experiment. The participants were 118 first-year engineering students in Taiwan, and they were divided into a VL group and an MBL group. From the results of the questionnaire, these groups of students thought that the systems were usable and easy to use, and they expressed positive attitudes towards the labs. The post-test's average score was higher than that of the pre-test for both groups, and the average posttest score of the VL group was better than that of the MBL group. From the students' learning sheets, many students successfully manipulated the experimental variables and built correct models after gradual revision of earlier models. According to the results of the empirical research, these systems helped the students understand the meaning of the experiment and increased students' interests with hands-on labs. A comparison of the results of these two groups suggests the integration of VL and MBL to facilitate students' learning.

Virtual Reality (VR) has been used to enhance EFL learners' speaking skills due to its immersive and interactive features. This study thus investigated the effects of VR on elementary school students' English-speaking performance and such affective variables as their willingness to communicate (WTC) and learning autonomy. Fifty-six EFL sixth graders participated in a tour in a museum. When learning and practicing dialogues and vocabulary related to the museum, students in the experimental group (n = 28) were guided with "Cospaces," a VR software package, with VR headsets, while their counterparts (n = 28) were guided with pictures only. Instruments included a validated speaking test on (1) pronunciation, fluency, and intonation and (2) grammar and lexical use, adopted questionnaires on WTC and learning autonomy, and semi-structured interviews. Results demonstrated that VR significantly increased students' grammar and lexical use in their speaking performance, but not their pronunciation, fluency and intonation, WTC, or learning autonomy.

This study explores whether learning approaches combining augmented reality and multidimensional concept maps (ARMCMs) would improve learning effectiveness, learning motivation, learning satisfaction, and cognitive load more than multidimensional concept maps (MCMs) and augmented reality (AR) learning do. The study employed a quasi-experimental design, and the subjects were 93 students from an elementary school in Taiwan. By dividing the students into ARMCMs group, MCMs group, and AR group, the results show that the learning with ARMCMs can provide better promotion on learning motivation and positive influences on learning effectiveness, learning satisfaction, and cognitive load.

Based on "Virtual Reality" (VR), this study constructed a teaching software of glacier terrain, which allows students to explore freely in virtual environment and the effect of different learning modes. This study also collected students' spatial ability and geographical learning achievement, and explored whether students' spatial ability and geographical learning achievement affects their learning effect. In this study, senior high school sophomores were selected as the experimental subjects. The students involved were divided into the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group students used VR glacier terrain teaching software to assist their course learning, while the control group students learned the geography course by means of traditional teaching methods. After the experiment, it is found that students in the experimental group performed better than those in the control group in the post-test, and students with high spatial ability and high geographical achievement performed better in the post-test. Through statistical analysis, it is found that "Spatial Visualization" in students' spatial ability positively affected their learning performance in virtual reality software. In the interviews and feedback sheets after the experiment, most students had positive attitudes towards using virtual reality assisted software for geography course learning. This study verifies the value of using virtual reality to assist geography course learning, and provides more references and suggestions for future researchers.

To explore knowledge co-construction patterns and learning motivation within virtual EFL co-creation environments, this study examined behavioral patterns and motivation in three different co-creation environments (paper-based, 2D digital, and 3D VR co-creation) through sequential behavioral analysis and ANCOVA. The study utilized a quasi-experimental research design with a total of 66 tenth-grade students from two English classes at a public senior high school in northern Taiwan. Based on the visualized behavior transition diagrams, the task-switching behaviors between dissonance identification and knowledge negotiation as well as the isolated behaviors of applying newly-constructed knowledge are the core of knowledge co-construction. Particularly, 3D VR co-creation was characterized by the highest number of higher level isolated acts and lower level circular continuity, both of which reflect VR co-creators' efforts to gain familiarity with advanced technology as well as the intention to exchange information and reach community consensus to overcome task complexity, form community consensus, and lower anxiety. Such behavioral patterns echoed the results of ANCOVA on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation; that is, on either intrinsic or extrinsic motivation, the influence of 3D VR co-creation was the greatest, followed by that of 2D digital co-creation and paper-based cocreation. For future co-creation instruction and research, it is suggested that the instruction of VR co-creation be invested with abundant time to allow mature higher level knowledge co-construction dialogues to occur. Moreover, to gain an even deeper understanding of the social structure embedded in knowledge co-creation, it is suggested that social network analysis (SNA) be employed in future research.

Many elementary school students find astronomical knowledge difficult to attain. Students cannot observe planetary motion in the universe, which makes the construction of astronomical knowledge abstract and incomprehensible for many students. To cope with this dilemma, this study proposed creative situated learning via augmented reality (AR) and developed an AR-based Cosmos Planet Go App to simulate the motion of planets in the universe. This allowed students to understand the characteristics and features of each planet through its simulated motion in the universe. This study adopted a quasi-experimental method and the qualitative analysis to conduct experiments on teaching astronomy in an elementary school in central Taiwan. The control group students were taught using traditional classroom narrative teaching, and the experimental group students were taught using the AR-based Cosmos Planet Go App. The results showed that students who learned with the use of the AR-based Cosmos Planet Go App performed significantly better than the control students on measures of learning effectiveness, learning motivation, and flow experience. Moreover, learning engagement, which occurs when students can use multiple perspectives to solve problems, is the most important element for evaluating the AR-learning environment in creative situations. This study extended the research field of digital technology-assisted learning to the discussion of integrated creative learning environment, which can be used as the basis and reference for scholars' research.

When it comes to traveling, more and more people are becoming interested in having profound experiences to the places they are visiting and the local inhabitants. However, there currently very few tour guides in Taiwan who are well equipped to promote preservation of the environment and sustainable development. In addition, Taiwanese students interested in the field have been found to rarely talk with foreigners about topics related to ecology or environmental protection even though they are popular issues around the world. This study centres on English for ecotourism that is supplemented by comprehensive project-based learning (CPBL) and augmented reality (AR) technology to explore how teaching such a course using AR technology impacts English for specific purposes (ESP) learning and sustainable development. Two classes of ninety-nine college students in total participated in the study. The research also involved a survey, comprised of three sets of questionnaires concerning student satisfaction with AR application, CPBL, and ESP learning. An independent t-test and an analysis of variance were completed to examine the variables of gender, class, and English proficiency level to understand the significance of student satisfaction. The results found that more tourists chose the AR versions of the brochures than the general versions. Satisfaction between both foreign language classes regarding CPBL and ESP learning was significant. Across the three different English proficiency levels, the mean level of student satisfaction for all three variables was highest in the high proficiency group. This study reveals that adopting an AR approach for CPBL and ESP learning could better achieve the goals of ESP teaching and sustainable development than the traditional English teaching model based on in-class lectures.

This study explored the effects of scenario simulation games and e-textbooks on the learning outcomes of elementary school students. The study subjects were 60 primary school students classified into two groups: The experimental group was provided with scenario simulation course materials, and the control group received e-textbook materials. The learning outcomes were compared between the two groups, which were further divided by ability level and gender. The female subjects in the experimental group showed slightly less improvement than the experimental group males, who showed significantly greater improvement than the female control group subjects. Use of the e-textbook had a less positive effect on learning outcomes than the scenario simulation game-based instruction.