In recent years, there have been very important advances in graphic computing and technology related to the capture and representation of real objects in both 2 and 3 dimensions. One of these technologies is virtual reality, which can be incorporated into common tasks in research laboratories, especially in laboratories related to color vision and lighting research. To incorporate virtual reality devices into research tasks, newly developed applications must be validated with existing and known tests or techniques. The objective of this work was to study the validity of a commercial VR system for research and diagnosis in color vision. We carried out a comparative study on the behavior of these immersive systems for viewing 3D scenes in real time using a color vision test. In particular, we implemented a virtual version of the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue test and compared the results obtained by 17 normal and 3 defective observers in both the physical and virtual tests. The results show that the functionality of both tests is very similar and that the diagnosis of both methods is equivalent. Detailed analysis of the results of both tests indicates that there is a slight difference in scale between the two tests. This difference in scale indicates a greater difficulty in the case of the virtual test but does not affect the final diagnosis. This could be due to the greater difficulty in using a head-mounted display (HMD).

The aim of the present research was to compare two methodological tools with two groups of pre-university secondary education students (17-18 years old). The experimental group worked constructing concept maps using the jigsaw technique (experimental teaching approach, ETA) on the topic of radioactivity in five sessions of their physics course. The control group worked on the same subject in a traditional teaching method (lecture-based teaching approach, LTA). The research design was quasi-experimental, with 28 students of a school in Extremadura (Spain). The results of a pre-test and a post-test were compared for the two groups. The working hypotheses were: (a) students who work collaboratively in constructing concept maps using the jigsaw technique perform better in learning the topic of radioactivity; and (b) this method fosters a positive attitude of the students towards how the topic is taught. With respect to Hypothesis (a), the results appeared to show an improvement in learning in the experimental group, although without reaching statistical significance. Neither were there any statistically significant differences between the post-test results of the two groups. With respect to Hypothesis (b), most of the experimental group students found the method to be very encouraging; despite the insecurity they felt with something new that they were not used to. The experimental group's pre-test and post-test results were strongly correlated (r=0.707), so that the ETA can be regarded as fairly effective since the students learnt more meaningfully and with less effort. Keywords: collaborative learning, concept map, jigsaw technique, teaching radioactivity, physics education.

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