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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: The substantial growth in gamification research has connected gamified learning to enhanced engagement, improved performance, and greater motivation. Similar to gamification, personalized learning analytics dashboards can enhance student engagement. Objectives: This study explores the student experiences and academic achievements using a gamified dashboard in a large, introductory STEM course. Methods: We examined two groups of students enrolled in different sections of a one‐semester‐long physical geology course with a total enrollment of 223 students. The only difference between the groups was that one had access to the dashboard. The data collection included students' assignments, overall performances, and exam scores. Students in both sections completed a Science Literacy Concept Inventory survey at the beginning and end of the term. Additionally, students completed an end‐of‐term survey containing open‐ended questions on their experience and interactions with specific elements. Results: Students shared mostly positive comments about their experience with the dashboard, and the final grade of students with access to the dashboard was 13% higher, on average, compared to their peers in the non‐dashboard section. Conclusion: With low costs and little time invested, gamified dashboards could have a significant impact on student performance in large STEM lecture courses. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Leaner dashboards that provide personalized feedback are linked to improved student performance in undergraduate STEM courses. However, students may be reticent to adopt dashboards, especially students in the middle range of the performance distribution, for whom the impact of the dashboard may be most significant.Prior research on gamification in STEM courses suggests that adding gameful elements like progress trackers, badges, and rewards can increase students' engagement in undergraduate coursework.The combination of personalized learning in dashboards and the motivational experience of gamification should boost student engagement, dashboard adoption, and ultimately foster academic achievement. What this paper adds: In this paper, we examine the differences in academic performance between students with and without access to a gamified learning dashboard in an undergraduate Geology course.We observe that students with access to the dashboard (the treatment group), outperform students without access (the control group). The greatest benefit is observed for students who use the dashboard more frequently.Students reported that the progress tracker, the badges, and the rewards all incentivized their use and provided useful feedback about their performance. Students who did not adopt the dashboard expressed a need for more detail about the tool and its purpose. Implications for practice and/or policy: Instructors and instructional designers for large enrollment undergraduate STEM courses should consider the affordances of gamified learner dashboards for increasing engagement and for providing synchronous feedback about learners' strategies in the course.Aligning the dashboard to the content of the curriculum—by ensuring that badges reflect key concepts‐ encouraged participation and helped students identify the utility of the tool. Dashboards should be personalized to individuals and to the course.Adding gameful elements in a low‐cost intervention for increasing adoption and engagement of dashboards in large enrollment introductory courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The number of artificial intelligence (AI) literacy studies in K‐12 education has recently increased, with most research focusing on primary and secondary education contexts. Little research focuses on AI literacy programs in early childhood education. Objectives: The aim of this mixed‐methods study is to examine the feasibility of an AI literacy program called "AI4KG" and explore how it might affect kindergarteners' perceptions of robots and attitudes towards engineering and science. Methods: A total of 26 child–parent dyads recruited from a Hong Kong kindergarten were involved in this study, consisting of 26 children (Mage = 4 years, SD = 0.28) and their parents. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through surveys and interviews designed to explore children's perceptions of robots and attitudes towards engineering and science, and parents' perceptions of the AI4KG intervention. Results: It is found that children have increased their perceptions of robots after the AI literacy program, but the AI4KG curriculum had no significant effects on kindergarten children's engineering and science attitudes. Most parents (22 out of 26) agreed that their children's AI knowledge, AI skills, and AI attitudes have been enhanced after learning through the AI4KG curriculum. Conclusions: This study suggests that the AI4KG curriculum is potentially effective in promoting early AI literacy and favourable attitudes towards the technology, but further research is needed to develop age‐appropriate measures and assess its long‐term impact on children's education and career paths. Lay Description: What is currently known about this topic?: AI literacy is becoming important as AI transforms society, but few studies have explored AI literacy in early childhood education.Prior research found AI activities can positively influence older children's views of robots and engineering. What does this paper add?: It evaluates an 8‐week AI literacy curriculum called AI4KG for kindergarteners in Hong Kong.The curriculum used tools like Teachable Machine and taught concepts through play and storytelling.It improved children's perceptions of robots but did not significantly impact engineering/science attitudes.Parents perceived improvements in children's AI knowledge, skills, and attitudes after the curriculum. Implications for practice/policy: The curriculum provides an example for developing age‐appropriate AI literacy activities.More rigorous research on impacts over time is needed, but results suggest potential benefits of AI literacy in early childhood.Policymakers could consider incorporating AI literacy into kindergarten curricula to prepare children for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aims to establish the mechanism by which virtual reality (VR) media characteristics affect learning transfer in a VR‐based job‐training environment. The two main determinants of learning transfer are the technology and the learner, but not many studies have considered both factors simultaneously. Objectives: This study aims to ascertain the mechanism by which VR media characteristics affect learning transfer with flow as a mediator, and to explore whether presence moderates the effect of VR media characteristics on flow. Methods: A survey of semiconductor facilities engineers who received VR‐based job training was conducted. A total of 106 responses were used in the statistical analysis. A path analysis was conducted to determine the promotional mechanism that connects VR media characteristics, flow, and learning transfer. Results and Conclusions: The results were as follows. First, VR media characteristics had a positive impact on learning transfer. Second, flow acted as a mediator in the relationship between VR media characteristics and learning transfer. Third, presence played a moderating role in the relationship between VR media characteristics and flow. Key takeaways: This study is significant as it identifies elements to consider in relation to both the technological and learner aspects of VR while designing a VR‐based job‐training programme. A corporation should consider VR media characteristics from a technological perspective, and flow and presence from a learner's perspective. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Corporations provide virtual reality (VR)‐based job training because of its positive impact.Interactions between the VR environment and learners impact flow.Presence is important as learner's subjective awareness affects efficacy. What this paper adds: VR media characteristics influence learning transfer in VR‐based job training.VR media characteristics affect flow, which, in turn, affects learning transfer.Presence moderates the relationship between VR media characteristics and flow. Implications for practice and/or policy: VR media characteristics influence learning transfer in VR‐based job training.VR media characteristics affect flow, which, in turn, affects learning transfer.Presence moderates the relationship between VR media characteristics and flow. [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]

The main objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of immersive virtual reality (VR) as a medium for delivering laboratory safety training. We specifically compare an immersive VR simulation, a desktop VR simulation, and a conventional safety manual. The sample included 105 first year undergraduate engineering students (56 females).  We include five types of learning outcomes including post‐test enjoyment ratings; pre‐ to post‐test changes in intrinsic motivation and self‐efficacy; a post‐test multiple choice retention test; and two behavioral transfer tests. Results indicated that the groups did not differ on the immediate retention test, suggesting that all three media were equivalent in conveying the basic knowledge. However, significant differences were observed favoring the immersive VR group compared to the text group on the two transfer tests involving the solving problems in a physical lab setting (d = 0.54, d = 0.57), as well as enjoyment (d = 1.44) and increases in intrinsic motivation (d = 0.69) and self‐efficacy (d = 0.60). The desktop VR group scored significantly higher than the text group on one transfer test (d = 0.63) but not the other (d= 0.11), as well as enjoyment (d =1.11) and intrinsic motivation (d =0.83). Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter: Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly being used to deliver learning and training material.One field where the affordances of VR are particularly relevant is in safety training.VR provides the opportunity for trainees to safely act out realistic scenarios where making the right decisions is pivotal and training in real life would otherwise be impractical or impossible.Most studies that investigate the effectiveness of learning with VR do not include behavioural transfer tests. What this paper adds to this research: This study used a broad array of assessment methods to evaluate the effectiveness of safety training delivered with three different instructional media: an immersive VR simulation, a desktop VR simulation, and a conventional text‐based safety manual.There were no differences between conventional and VR training on a retention test.The immersive VR group significantly outperformed the conventional group on two behavioural transfer tests, perceived enjoyment, and increase in intrinsic motivation and self‐efficacy.The desktop VR group scored significantly higher than the conventional group on one behavioural transfer test, perceived enjoyment, and increase in intrinsic motivation.The results suggest that behavioural measures of transfer in realistic settings may be necessary to accurately assess the instructional value of VR learning environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have shown that educational robotics (ER) may impact student learning, especially in relation to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) areas. In the STEM framework, particularly for younger children, the "E" and the "T" are considered to be missing letters, because few studies have concentrated on teaching and evaluating technology and engineering through ER activities. This study aimed to develop and test the efficacy of an ER protocol to teach robotics in a sample of 389 students, hypothesizing that girls would be as successful as boys. A Robotics Questionnaire assessing the basics of robotics was developed for this study. A Wilcoxon nonparametric test was performed in order to evaluate improvements (p < 0.05). A Mann–Whitney nonparametric test was performed in order to test the presence of gender differences (p < 0.05). Data indicated significant improvements for all the age ranges considered. No gender differences were found. In order to evaluate the efficacy of a didactic intervention utilizing ER, it is important to assess the impact on children's technological and engineering (robotics, in particular) knowledge. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Studies have shown that educational robotics (ER) has a potential impact on student learning.In the STEM framework, the "E" and the "T" are considered the STEM missing letters.What this paper adds: This study aims at developing and testing the efficacy of an ER protocol to teach robotics.The hypothesis that girls will be equally successful than boys is explored too, and no gender differences were found.Implications for practice and/or policy: Our results suggest that ER can be utilized to learn robotics, bringing technology in the schools.ER could be considered as a tool able to contribute to girl's involvement in STEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]