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Background Study: The research discusses the need for a paradigm shift in engineering education current practices to accommodate the digital native students. The paper emphasizes the importance of integrating disruptive technologies, namely Virtual Reality (VR) through Head Mounted Displays VR (HMD VR) and Desktop Based VR (DB VR) and comparing it with the traditional teaching methods. The research focuses on second‐year undergraduate students enrolled in a concrete structures course. Objectives: The objective of the study is to analyse the impact of DB VR and HMD VR on students' motivation, performance and workload in comparison with traditional 2D drawings. The study also aims to investigate how simulation sickness and system usability could impact students' motivation and performance when interpreting concrete structures. Methods: The study divided second‐year civil engineering students into three groups, 2D, DB VR and HMD VR. The performance and motivation levels of students were assessed based on the number of mistakes identified and an intrinsic motivation survey. Furthermore, data on system usability and simulation sickness were collected. Spearman rank correlation was conducted to analyse the relationships between the variables tested. Results: The results have shown that students' motivation and performance were much higher when using VR in general and HMD VR specifically, students' efficiency and accuracy were also observed. On the other hand, usability was found to be moderately correlated with motivation, with students rating HMD VR as the most usable approach. A moderate inverse correlation was observed between simulation sickness and motivation, indicating that higher simulation sickness led to lower motivation levels. Conclusion: The study concludes that integrating VR in general, DB VR, or HMD VR into a concrete structures course for undergraduate students can significantly improve students' performance and motivation. Furthermore, enhancing usability of any of the methods used can also improve the performance and motivation. On the other hand, simulation sickness inversely affects motivation and performance, therefore, VR developers and educators should not neglect it. Lay Description: What is already known about the topic: Traditional teaching methods in engineering education require improvement.Integrating digital technologies into engineering education enhances performance.Digital technologies can potentially enhance motivation. What this paper adds: Compares traditional teaching methods for concrete structures interpretation with virtual reality.Establishes correlations between motivation, performance and usabilityIntroduces how desktop‐based VR and head‐mounted display VR can produce varying results. Implications for practice and/or policy: Decision‐makers can use the information to integrate updated pedagogy into engineering curricula.Allows for further exploration of different digital technologies that can be used for concrete structure interpretation.Allows instructors to introduce virtual reality in their courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite its obvious relevance to computer science, computational thinking (CT) is transdisciplinary with the potential of impacting one's analytical ability. Although countless efforts have been invested across K‐12 education, there is a paucity of research at the postsecondary level about the extent to which CT can contribute to sustainable learning outcomes. Objectives: The current study examines how a series of Arduino‐based robotics learning activities capture the fuller essence of concepts related to CT. Methods: College students (n = 50) completed a series of six robotics learning activities. Think‐alouds, student reflections and performance scores were used to assess students' CT through a robotics challenge in virtual and physical learning environments. Results and Conclusions: Students verbalized CT concepts related to algorithmic thinking much more than abstraction, problem decomposition and testing and debugging. Students exposed to active learning performed better in a virtual robotics challenge compared to their peers in a traditional‐oriented classroom. Students' scores on the physical robotics challenge increased as a function of the number of references they made to CT concepts during the think‐alouds. It is possible to design pedagogical experiences that tap into various dimensions of CT at incremental levels of complexity through a series of Arduino‐based robotics activities. With the integration of an online simulation, students can visualize and transfer their CT skills between a virtual and physical learning environment, thus leading to more sustainable learning outcomes. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Computational thinking (CT) is the conceptual foundation for problem‐solving.CT shifted from unplugged to plugged activities.CT concepts can be fostered through educational robotics. What this paper adds: A multi‐dimensional approach to assessing CT.Applications of CT provide insights into skill transfer.An integrative theoretical approach to study the 'how' and the 'what' of CT. Implications for practice: Educational robotics activities can cater to a fuller range of CT skills.Virtual simulations with constructive feedback are beneficial for students in traditional settings.Mixed learning environments contribute to making links between lectures and labs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous work has identified that the benefits of learning with videogames and learning from simulations. However, recent meta‐analytic work has also identified that little research directly compares learning with videogames and learning with simulations. Objectives: This study examines two learning technologies and their corresponding pedagogical approaches and compares them for learning the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics topic of electric charges. Methods: Participants were randomly assigned to either an intervention using a computer simulation for inquiry‐based learning or a computer videogame for game‐based learning. Their learning gains, self‐reported emotional state and experienced cognitive load were recorded. Results: We found that both learning environments improved conceptual learning, and there were no statistically significant differences between the two conditions. Participants did perceive the game‐based environment to be more engaging as well as more frustrating. We also found that cognitive load did not predict learning—however, different types of cognitive load correlated with different emotions. Overall, participants in both conditions were engaged and perceived understanding of the topic, yet they also experienced both confusion and task‐unrelated thoughts. Takeaways: When learning with simulations and videogames, educators need to align intended learning outcomes with pedagogical approaches enabled by technology. In addition, a balance between principles of multimedia learning to reduce or prevent extraneous processing, and scaffolding to reduce negative effects of learning with technology, need to be considered. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Research on the use of computer simulations for learning has identified positive learning effects regarding achievement outcomes, inquiry skills and noncognitive outcomes.Research on the use of videogames for learning has suggested learning benefits, such as improved working memory, development of creativity skills and achievement outcomes.Recent meta‐analytic work has identified that there is little research that directly compares learning with videogames and learning with simulations. What this paper adds: Learning benefits of difficult Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) concepts may be different for game‐based learning (GBL) than inquiry‐based learning (IBL).Positive emotions can be experienced when learning via GBL than when learning via IBL.Students, who experience more positive emotions may also achieve higher learning gains.Students' cognitive load may be different when learning with GBL than when learning via IBL.Students experiencing high cognitive load (i.e., intrinsic and extraneous) may show lower learning gains.Students experiencing high cognitive load (i.e., intrinsic and extraneous) may show higher level of mind‐wandering, frustration, or confusion. Implications for practice and/or policy: Learning with simulated inquiry base environment and game base environment improved conceptual learning.GBL was more engaging and more frustrating for students, when learning with computer videogames.Cognitive load did not predict STEM learning with technologies.Different cognitive load correlated with different learning emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning a foreign language requires interaction with language input while involved in a task. Given that problem‐based learning (PBL) offers hands‐on application in realistic contexts, and that virtual reality (VR) enables learners to interact with multiple modalities of information, this study examines how the integration of VR technology into PBL contexts affects students' motivation for, problem‐solving during, and vocabulary acquisition in learning English as a foreign language (EFL). A total of 84 engineering majors who enrolled in a course of English for specific purposes were randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a control group. Students in the experimental group participated in a VR‐assisted PBL context, in which they were to view a PBL scenario using VR technology and then to create VR videos about solving the given problems. Those in the control group participated in a PBL context without the use of VR technology for viewing and solving the identical scenario. After the intervention, all the students wrote a problem‐solving analysis, took a vocabulary knowledge test, completed a learning motivation questionnaire, and participated in individual interviews. The results showed that the students in the experimental group significantly outperformed those in the control group in terms of vocabulary acquisition, and were more motivated to learn English related to their future careers, whereas there was no significant difference in the problem‐solving performance of the two groups. Implications of these findings highlight the value of engaging EFL learners in immersive environments for contextualized learning through the integrated use of VR and PBL. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic?: Virtual reality (VR) technology has been shown to enhance students' knowledge and skills in STEM fields.Problem‐based learning (PBL) has been widely used in medical education but not so much in foreign language education.English as a foreign language (EFL) students usually have very limited access to the target language beyond the classroom, thus lack a motivating reason for them to learn English after graduation. What this paper adds?: The VR‐assisted PBL approach proposed in this study was found to significantly enhance the EFL students' specialized vocabulary knowledge.The VR‐assisted PBL approach was found to motivate and sustain the EFL students' interest in career English.Exposing the EFL students to PBL contexts was capable of developing their problem‐solving performance, regardless of VR integration. Implications for practice and/or policy: The proposed approach has the potential to facilitate student learning in EFL education, particularly English for occupational purposes.EFL educators may apply the VR‐assisted PBL approach to narrow the gap between language classrooms and workplace contexts by immersing students in authentic contexts that were relevant to their occupational knowledge and workplace English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]