Investigating Interactivity and Storytelling in Immersive Virtual Reality for Science Education

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dc.contributor.authorZhang, Leien
dc.contributor.committeechairBowman, Douglas A.en
dc.contributor.committeememberTucker, Thomas Jamesen
dc.contributor.committeememberJones, Caroline N.en
dc.contributor.committeememberPerkinson, Justinen
dc.contributor.committeememberOgle, J. Todden
dc.contributor.departmentHuman Developmenten
dc.date.accessioned2022-01-20T09:00:50Zen
dc.date.available2022-01-20T09:00:50Zen
dc.date.issued2022-01-19en
dc.description.abstractImmersive and interactive storytelling in virtual reality (VR) is an emerging creative practice that has been thriving in recent years. Educational applications using immersive VR storytelling to explain complex science concepts have very promising pedagogical benefits because on the one hand, storytelling breaks down the complexity of science concepts by bridging them to people's everyday experiences and familiar cognitive models, and on the other hand, the learning process is further reinforced through rich interactivity afforded by the VR experiences. However, it is unclear how different amounts of storytelling and interactivity in an interactive VR storytelling experience may affect learning outcomes due to a paucity of literature on educational VR storytelling research. This dissertation aims to add to the literature through an exploration of interactivity and essential storytelling elements in educational VR storytelling experiences and their impact on learning. We designed a working prototype of interactive and immersive VR storytelling experience, Immunology VR, that focuses on the learning of specific immunology concepts: neutrophil transmigration and killing mechanisms. Based on the initial prototype, we further developed six variations that allowed us to conduct two major experiments below. Our first experiment explored designs of three different levels of interactivity, low, medium, and high, in the VR storytelling experiences and their effects on immunology learning. We found subjective evidence to support our research hypothesis that increased level of interactivity will lead to increased engagement in VR learning. Our finding suggests that interactivity is a key design element in VR learning design for effective learning and should be considered in all VR learning applications. Our second experiment focused on the designs of the level of storytelling richness and their effects on learning. Specifically, we designed three storytelling conditions, minimal storytelling, basic storytelling, and advanced storytelling, and investigated how each of them affected immunology learning. Subjective evidence from our user interview data suggested that participants from higher levels of storytelling conditions were more likely to perceive storytelling elements as the most useful features in the VR experience that helped with their learning. It is also suggested that higher levels of richness in essential storytelling elements may trigger certain emotions and empathy in more users and positively affect their learning.en
dc.description.abstractgeneralImmersive and interactive storytelling in virtual reality (VR) is an emerging creative practice that has been thriving in recent years. Educational applications using immersive VR storytelling to explain complex science concepts have very promising pedagogical benefits because on the one hand, storytelling breaks down the complexity of science concepts by bridging them to people's everyday experiences and familiar cognitive models, and on the other hand, the learning process is further reinforced through rich interactivity provided by the VR experiences. However, it is unclear how different amounts of storytelling and interactivity setup in an interactive VR storytelling experience may affect learning outcomes due to a paucity of literature on educational VR storytelling research. In this dissertation, we explored interactivity and essential storytelling elements in educational VR storytelling experiences and their impact on learning.en
dc.description.degreeDoctor of Philosophyen
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.othervt_gsexam:33715en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/107808en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectVirtual Realityen
dc.subjectImmersive Storytellingen
dc.subjectInteractivityen
dc.subjectScience Educationen
dc.titleInvestigating Interactivity and Storytelling in Immersive Virtual Reality for Science Educationen
dc.typeDissertationen
thesis.degree.disciplineIndividual Interdisciplinary PhDen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.leveldoctoralen
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen

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