Title: A virtual reality design for learning the basic concepts of synchrotron light source

Authors: Wernhuar Tarng, Chih Ming Lin, Yen Tzu Liu, Yu Neng Tong, Kuan Yeu Pan

Addresses: Graduate Institute of Computer Science, National Hsinchu University of Education, 521 Nanta Rd., Hsinchu 300, Taiwan. ' Department of Applied Science, National Hsinchu University of Education, 521 Nanta Rd., Hsinchu 300, Taiwan. ' Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd., 1127 Heping Rd., Bade, Taoyuan 334, Taiwan. ' Chung Hsiao Junior High School, Hsinchu, Taiwan. ' National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, 101 Hsinan Rd., Hsinchu Science Park, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan

Abstract: This study investigated the virtual reality technology to develop a virtual synchrotron light source model and its learning contents for applications in the curriculum of science and life technology in elementary and junior high schools. The objective is to increase the interest and effectiveness of young students in learning this advanced technology and its applications. The factors of student age, gender and correlation with the performance in previous science courses were also investigated to see if they would affect the learning effectiveness. A teaching experiment was conducted and the results showed that the model was effective in helping students understand the basic concepts of synchrotron light source and its applications. Student age and gender had no obvious influence on the learning achievement, but a significant positive correlation was found between students| performance in their previous science courses and the learning achievement. Also, the questionnaire results revealed that most students were very interested in using the virtual light source model and its learning contents.

Keywords: synchrotron light sources; virtual reality; VR; scaffolding; learning effectiveness; modelling; elementary education; junior high schools; science education; student gender; student age.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCSE.2011.042021

International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering, 2011 Vol.6 No.3, pp.175 - 184

Received: 02 Dec 2010
Accepted: 25 Feb 2011
Published online: 18 Mar 2015 *

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