This study proposes a rigid-body tracking based virtual avatar application method to increase the social presence and provide various experiences of virtual reality(VR) users in an immersive virtual environment. The proposed method estimates the motion of a virtual avatar through inverse kinematics based on real-time rigid-body tracking based on motion capture using markers. Through this, it aims to design a highly immersive virtual environment with simple object manipulation in the real world. Science experiment educational contents are produced to experiment and analyze applications related to immersive virtual environments through virtual avatars. In addition, audiovisual education, full-body tracking, and the proposed rigid-body tracking method were compared and analyzed through survey. In the proposed virtual environment, participants wore VR HMDs and conducted a survey to confirm immersion and educational effects from virtual avatars performing experimental educational actions from estimated motions. As a result, through the method of utilizing virtual avatars based on rigid-body tracking, it was possible to induce higher immersion and educational effects than traditional audiovisual education. In addition, it was confirmed that a sufficiently positive experience can be provided without much work for full-body tracking.