Virtual environments in biology teaching
- 1 September 2003
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Journal of Biological Education
- Vol. 37 (4), 176-181
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00219266.2003.9655879
Abstract
This article reports on the design, development and evaluation of an educational virtual environment for biology teaching. In particular it proposes a highly interactive three-dimensional synthetic environment involving certain learning tasks for the support of teaching plant cell biology and the process of photosynthesis. The environment has been evaluated using a sample of 37 in-service teachers. Their attitudes towards virtual reality for educational use were positive. Almost all the teachers managed to integrate the process of photosynthesis inside the virtual cell and answer the relevant questions. One problem was that the teachers were unable to answer questions beyond the certain learning tasks, indicating that any educational software should also involve an integrated approach to the subject under study.Keywords
This publication has 20 references indexed in Scilit:
- VRML — enhanced learning in biology and medicineFuture Generation Computer Systems, 2000
- Interactive multimedia and model-based learning in biologyInternational Journal of Science Education, 2000
- Virtual biology in the CAVETrends in Genetics, 2000
- EIKON: Teaching a high-school technology course with the aid of virtual realityEducation and Information Technologies, 2000
- As ‘process’ as it can get: students' understanding of biological processesInternational Journal of Science Education, 1999
- The use of computer games as an educational tool: identification of appropriate game types and game elementsBritish Journal of Educational Technology, 1999
- Photosynthesis and 'inverse respiration' in plants: an inevitable misconception?International Journal of Science Education, 1999
- Virtual reality in medicine and biologyFuture Generation Computer Systems, 1998
- Virtual Reality in ChemistryJournal of Molecular Modeling, 1997
- Quantitative Training for Life-Science StudentsBioScience, 1994