Can Virtual Reality Help Children Learn Mathematics Better? The Application of VR Headset in Children’s Discipline Education

Problems in mathematics, especially those related to three-dimensional (3D) geometry and motion, are difficult for children. When they learn 3D geometry, children must continually convert between a 2D figure in the book and a 3D model in their mind. When they solve motion problems, for example, the ‘catching-up’ problem, children have to imagine the whole moving process in their minds, then establish the relevant abstract equation. However, a difficulty arises, one with two principal aspects. First, these problems require children’s spatial ability, their transfer ability, and abstract thinking ability, yet these are precisely their weaknesses. Second, the limitations of traditional teaching methods increase the learning challenges. It takes additional mental costs not only to learn 3D knowledge from 2D materials but to learning dynamic processes from static materials.

Virtual reality (VR) offers potent new possibilities for children’s learning in mathematics. For example, children can directly observe 3D models from all angles, and no longer need to convert between 2D figures and 3D models. Additionally, children can watch the movement of targets directly, reducing the demands on children’s spatial and imaginative abilities. VR offers a more direct and effective learning method for children, one that reduces learning difficulties and improves learning performance. In addition to scientific studies like mathematics, VR also offers opportunities in social studies, such as history and art. The ruins of historical sites can be reconstructed with VR; thus, children can visit sites that previously had only existed in pictures. With respect to art education, while traditional painting is limited to pen and paper, VR breaks out of the 2D-space boundaries and offers a 3D painting environment instead.

The present paper explores whether and how VR can improve children’s abilities to learn science and social studies. We observed ten children as they played with educational VR applications. Typical behaviors were recorded and analyzed. Next, we interviewed fourteen experts about their experiences in children’s education and about their opinions on applying VR to children’s education. These experts included six teachers, four parents and four experts in psychology, creativity training, user research and human computer interaction. We discovered that the advantages and potentials of VR for children’s academic education should be emphasized at the application design stage. Ultimately, we propose a series of instructional guidelines for the design of superior educational VR applications for children. The following sections describe the related work, user study, expert interviews, and design guidelines.

2.1 The Role and Potential of VR in Education

Previous studies indicated some of the advantages and potentials of VR in educating children:

First, it is important to arouse children’s interests and stimulate their intrinsic motivation for learning [1]. VR performs better than traditional education in generating learning interests; moreover, it is the children’s intrinsic motivations that ultimately lead them to change their behavior [2]. In addition, VR can help children to go outside of their comfort zones, challenging the boundaries of the self, which is an important part of education [2].

Second, VR can create fantastic situations that demand serious attention in education. These situations help feasibly teach concepts in unique and often creative ways [3]. They also induce children’s imagination, which is critical to creative work [4]. In addition, these simulated situations can enhance children’s attention, essentially guaranteeing a high-quality educational experience. The first person aspect, the 3D panoramic animation, and the speaking voice associated with VR situations all help to enhance children’ attention [5].

Finally, VR permits experiential learning. Children learn the knowledge necessary within the situation and then apply the knowledge learned to that situation. This can also train children’s comprehension as VR activities entail observation, communication and self-clarification [2]. Moreover, VR provides a safe environment for children to act vicariously and practice [5]. Furthermore, VR offers a cost-effective means of implementing and optimizing almost all conventional creativity enhancement techniques [6].

2.2 Educational VR Applications for Children

Several studies have designed educational VR applications or created virtual reality environments (VREs) for children.

Specifically, there are VREs designed to introduce abstract concepts to children. For example, the “Round Earth Project” transforms children’s mental model of the Earth’s shape, helping to teach them that the Earth is spherical [7]. Second, some VREs allow children to freely create new virtual objects. For example, an immersive multiuser learning environment called NICE allows children to create their own virtual garden wherein they control the weather conditions as well as the time, allowing the children to explore complex ecological interrelationships [8]. Third, VR is also closely associated with cultural education. Historical sites that no longer exist can be reconstructed using VRE [9]. As a result, students can visit and experience these sites, which previously could only be experienced in pictures of the past. Indeed, VR also offers many useful applications for tourism [10].

The purpose of this user study was to observe children’s behaviors and evaluate their performances while playing with educational VR applications. We observed ten children as they played with VR applications while wearing a VR headset. Their behaviors were also video recorded.

3.1 Materials and Tasks

Four educational VR applications were selected: a story-telling application, a physics learning application, a 3D painting application, and an engineering application.

The first application children played was Allumette, a story-telling application inspired by The Little Match Girl. Children were asked to retell the story and to answer several open-ended questions after having watched the VR film. This process helps to train children’s language ability as well as shape their values. The task took approximately 20 min.

The second application was Galileo’s Ideal Lab, a physics learning application that uses a virtual image of Galileo to teach children about the force of friction. Children were first asked to read written learning materials about friction and then answer five questions on paper before watching the VR class. Next, after watching the VR class, children re-answered the five questions. Finally, the children were asked to talk about their learning from the written materials, the traditional class, and the VR class. This task took approximately 20 min.

The third application was Tilt Brush, a 3D painting application that provided a 3D environment for painting with different virtual paintbrushes and special effects. Children had five minutes to practice and fifteen minutes to paint a future city. They were also asked to think aloud while painting. The experimenter asked questions like “what are you painting?” or “what is it used for?” to help the children think aloud. This task took approximately 20 min.

The fourth application was called Water Bears and is an engineering application that provides a 3D environment for connecting pipes that guide water to its destination, which trains children’s comprehensive abilities. Children could use only a limited number of pipes of different types to solve a puzzle, and they were encouraged to use as few pipes as possible. This task took approximately 30 min (Figs. 1 and 2).

Materials: four educational VR applications

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A child is playing the VR application

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3.2 Results

Trial-and-Error.

The children followed an iterative trial-and-error process until a satisfactory result was achieved. In Tilt Brush, the children frequently used the eraser to erase their unsatisfactory drawings at the beginning because they were unfamiliar with the paintbrush. In Water Bears, children continued using trial and error until they figured out a feasible solution. Ultimately, this process of trial and error helped the children to work out a correct solution more quickly when they encountered a similar problem later.

Empathy.

Children showed empathy behaviors when they played with these applications. In particular, six children re-told stories using emotional words to describe the mental states of the virtual character while retelling the story, and two children in Allumette patted the virtual character to comfort it when it was sad.

Interaction.

Children interacted with the virtual characters even though they received no feedback. In Allumette, a boy waved his hand to a leaving ship, and a girl talked to a virtual character. In Galileo’s Ideal Lab, children instinctively nodded when the virtual teacher asked a yes-no question. Meanwhile, in Water Bears, children tried to catch the flying water bears with their hands.

Creativity.

Children exhibited their creativity while playing Tilt Brush. In the absence of an experimenter’s instructions, the children tried different paintbrushes, as well as a rich selection of materials for their drawings. One child used the flame paintbrush to draw a river in blue and a flame in red. Another child used a metallic paintbrush to draw the rail. One child drew a smart city teeming with high technology. Examples from other children included the drawing of an ice-cream house, a lotus house, and a letter house.

4.1 Method

A total of fourteen experts with diverse backgrounds were interviewed. The experts included: six primary and junior high school teachers, who taught science, technology, mathematics, arts, and language. Next were four parents who attached great importance to their children’s education and development. Additionally, the group included a doctor of psychology, who was insightful with respect to the fostering of children’s creativity; an entrepreneur, who had worked for several years on children’s creativity training programs; an interaction designer; and a user researcher with a rich background in human computer interactions.

Due to the diverse nature of the expert backgrounds, their interviews were conducted in a semi-structured format. In the interviews, the expert introduced his or her background, then shared their experiences and insights regarding the education of children. Ultimately, they expressed their opinions about applying virtual reality to children’s academic/disciplinary education and creativity enhancement.

4.2 Results

VR Makes Abstract Knowledge Easier to Learn.

Scientific studies involve abstract knowledge, which is difficult for children to learn. Four experts stipulated that “they took great efforts to solve this difficulty by making abstract knowledge concrete, visual and realistic” (P1, P3, P5, P6). VR helps facilitate these goals.

First, VR supports a 3D visual representation. For example, it can rapidly generate a specific geometric model, allowing children to observe the model from all angles, and can even help children establish geometric equations. When talking about the application of VR to mathematics teaching P3, a mathematics teacher noted.

“If children can observe a model from all angles or make a model by themselves, the learning outcomes will be much better. In addition, some mathematical thinking modes can be taught using a virtual reality environment. Four important math thinking modes include symbolic-graphic combination, classified discussion, transformation, and equation.” (P3)

Second, VR helps make abstract knowledge concrete. It can simulate natural phenomena and allow children to learn from observation.

“VR can simulate phenomena which cannot be simulated in the real world, thereby diminishing the learning difficulty for children. In addition, VR can solve the limitations of experimental equipment as it can provide countless pieces of equipment while reducing their operational difficulty.” (P5)

Third, VR can create situations that are realistic, mimicking real life situations, and enabling children to acquire knowledge from concrete examples. Additionally, VR can teach children how to apply the same knowledge in different situations, which is an important transferring ability. Three experts mentioned knowledge transfer or transfer ability in their interviews.

“Children are more likely to face difficulties in situation transferring.” (P1)

“Transforming is a comprehensive ability. For example, transforming an engineering problem into a math problem. The greatest success in education is a student’s ability to apply what they learn in class to solve real problems in life.” (P3)

“VR enables children to receive more external stimulus, which in turn, will provide useful memories to be recalled to solve problems in the future.” (P12)

VR Enhances the Achievability in Scientific Studies.

Children care about whether or not they can do well in scientific studies, and they seek a sense of achievement in learning. A good learning experience is related to solving a difficult problem, while small breakthroughs lead them to try more challenging problems and gain even more knowledge. There is also a vicious cycle in which children give up scientific studies they find too difficult. VR can provide the necessary guidance and the timely feedback in the problem-solving process, breaking a complex problem into several simpler ones. The provision of continuous feedback not only reduces a problem’s difficulty but also allows children to accumulate a sense of accomplishment instead of frustration.

“Children are likely to be confused or even lost in a virtual environment without guidance; however, too many instructions may also hinder children’s creativity. Heuristic-based tasks can help children to explore a virtual environment step by step. A small cue may give children an aha experience, which is critical in creativity education.” (P13, P14)

VR Makes Social Studies More Interesting.

Children care more about their own interests than about their performance in social studies. VR has many elements to make social studies more interesting, such as verisimilar situations, virtual characters, and even special visual and sound effects. VR can create fancy and aesthetically pleasing situations that not only attract children’s interests but also excite their imagination. Indeed, virtual characters and their images can refer to animals, plants, even cartoon figures. They can stimulate children’s interests and act as children’s mentors. Three experts spoke highly of applying VR in education.

“Experiencing is the best way to learn. Experiencing virtual reality is much better than learning from pictures or videos. VR allows children to see the desert and gobi from a first-person perspective, which makes it easier to feel its drought and desolation.” (P1)

“An English context is required for listening and speaking practices, and virtual reality is able to provide a more vivid and flexible context for children to practice English listening and speaking.” (P2)

“VR offers more space for children to create. Traditional paintings are limited to two dimensions, but VR allows three-dimension drawing. Children are no longer limited to pen and paper; their possibilities are dramatically extended.” (P4)

VR Allows More Active Activities for Children.

It is in the nature of children to be active. Children prefer active tasks, such as crafts, sports and performances. In contrast, they do not like purely mental activities, such as playing piano, learning English and reading. For example:

“As long as they are allowed to move, children have a higher degree of enthusiasm and will be more active.” (P1)

“A hands-on experience enables children to learn easier and better.” (P6)

“Children prefer construction activities rather than mental activities for two reasons: First, construction activities give children hands-on experiences. Second, there is a real product of their own work, which gives them a sense of achievement.” (P11)

VR makes active activities more convenient. The materials, tools, even the instructors become digital in a VR environment, and as such, they are all continuously available. Moreover, VR environments are safe environments. For example, “some operations, like cutting and sawing, are dangerous in a traditional environment but are safe in a virtual one” (P11). Finally, VR provides more context for active activities. For example, “children who like taekwondo can fight with virtual taekwondo players to promote their skills” (P4).

5.1 Guideline 1: Make Full Use of VR’s Advantages in Education: 3D Environments and Abundant Situations

The advantages of VR in children’s academic/disciplinary educations lie mainly in the 3D environments and the abundant situations. VR is an effective method for teaching children knowledge that requires spatial abilities, such as 3D geometry, architecture, and space motion. VR can construct a 3D model and allow children to observe, operate, and calculate with this space. This more “tangible” model reduces learning difficulties. VR is also able to construct numerous and lifelike simulations which enable children to learn on their own from the experience itself. Additionally, these abundant situations help children to realize that knowledge learned in one situation can be used in another, thus cultivating their knowledge transfer ability.

5.2 Guideline 2: Stimulate Children’s Intrinsic Motivation for Scientific Studies

Children seek a sense of achievement in scientific studies. Therefore, applications related to scientific learning should make efforts to stimulate children’s intrinsic motivations. The application should have a hierarchy of different difficulty levels. Children could then practice, make progress and experience successes. For the tasks to be appropriate, they must seem challenging but actually remain within the children’s abilities. Children must expend considerable effort to complete the task, but they gain a sense of accomplishment upon completing it. Next, there should be clear goals for children. Different types of applications have different appropriate goals, such as finishing a specific task, reaching a higher level, or creating a satisfactory product. Finally, extrinsic motivation can also enhance intrinsic motivation. For example, virtual bonuses, material rewards, and even encouraging words can motivate children to make efforts.

5.3 Guideline 3: Balance Social Studies with Children’s Interests

Children are driven more by their personal interests than by an interest in excelling in social studies. Therefore, it is necessary to balance social studies with children’s interests. Again, children like active activities but dislike purely mental ones; as a result, rich interaction approaches should be offered. VR allows for multimodal interactions, which are effective for enhancing children’s attention and their enthusiasm for learning. Additionally, the application can combine the following interaction forms: story-telling, scene-exploring, task-executing, and creating freely.

5.4 Guideline 4: Trial and Error Is an Important Way of Learning for Children

Trial and error is the typical learning style of children, and is itself an important form of learning. Therefore, educational applications should emphasize error-tolerance instead of error-prevention. Children should be encouraged to make different attempts and be allowed to make mistakes. As a result, what they learned in the application leaves a profound impression on them. In addition, heuristic guidance should be provided as part of the problem-solving process. Without guidance, children are likely to be confused, even lost, in a virtual environment; however, too many instructions may also hinder the children’s creativity. Thus, heuristic guidance is appropriate. A small hint can help children to organize their thoughts and take an additional step forward. Finally, informative feedback is also necessary if children are to successfully complete the task or create a work.

5.5 Guideline 5: Social Needs of Children Should Be Satisfied

Children value social activities. Consequently, including them in educational VR applications is a sound pedagogical principle. In addition, these interactions are critical to developing children’s capacity for collaboration as well as their ability to work with others, to have social-emotional control and to form social communities. As a result, multiplayer applications are good choices for children. It is also a good idea to offer a social platform to children. A platform not only breaks spatial and temporal boundaries, but enhances communication among innumerable users while increasing children’s interests and their dedication to the application. Lastly, a platform for exhibiting one’s work is attractive for children. They tend to like all kinds of galleries in which they can present themselves and display their creations. VR essentially offers children a much larger platform, even a worldwide platform, for the exhibition of their works.

5.6 Guideline 6: Children Should Always Be Clear About Answers to Who Am I? Where Am I? and What Should I Do?

Self-role and self-perception are essential to the VR environment. When children are immersed in a VR environment, from their perspective, three questions emerge: Who am I? Where am I? What should I do? (the 3W’s for short). A good VR application makes sure that children know their self-roles and can accurately perceive themselves. This helps them to understand both what is going on, and be fully immersed in the virtual situation. Otherwise, children are likely to feel confused and to perceive chaos. In terms of the 3W’s, the first improves empathy and the immersion experience, while the other two prevent children from losing themselves in the virtual environment.

This paper examines the use of a VR headset for children’s subject matter-specific education. First, we selected four representative educational VR applications and observed ten children as they wore their VR headsets while playing with these applications. Second, fourteen experts with diverse backgrounds shared their experiences and insights with respect to children’s learning and education. As a result, a series of design guidelines emerged and are summarized below.

First, the advantages of VR in children’s discipline education chiefly emerge via two aspects: the 3D environment and abundant situations. Second, applications related to scientific studies should make efforts to stimulate children’s intrinsic motivations, while applications related to social studies should balance the factual knowledge with children’s interests. Third, applications should emphasize error-tolerance rather than error-prevention. Fourth, applications should support a social function to satisfy children’s social needs. Finally, answers to the following questions should be clear to the children: “who am I”, “where am I”, and “what should I do”.