Abstract
Preparing pre-service teachers to teach in a technology driven world requires them to gain digital competencies to face the challenges of the 21st century classroom. However, Universities in South Africa, are governed by policy dictates of Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications (MRTEQ), which limits Teaching Experience to being school based. There is lack of empirical research exploring the influence of using Immersive Reality (IVR) in science teaching at universities. To address this gap this research identifies and outlines how using Immersive virtual reality headsets enhances pre-service teacher’s content knowledge on the topic of photosynthesis. A true experimental research design was conducted to measure if academic performance and engagement with technology improved understand the content. This study is guided by the research question: How can the use of immersive virtual reality-based headsets be used to train preservice teachers to improve professional understanding of content? This study follows Shulmans (2005) pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) as its theoretical framework however, it is enhanced with the inclusion of technological, pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) (Niess, 2009). The results reveal that using IVR as a learning supplement to the conventional method of teaching content could improve student’s learning, particularly for low spatial ability students. This study provides empirical evidence for IVR’s use in science education. Furthermore, it sheds light on the need for improvement to the MRTEQ policy to include the use of digital tools when training teachers. It also elucidates how to implement an IVR- based classroom for formal educational purposes.
Presenters
Nageshwari Pam MoodleyStudent, PhD, University of the Witwatersrand, Gauteng, South Africa
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Technology, Immersive, Virtual Reality, Teacher Education, Science Education, Headsets
