Analysis of Virtual Reality Teaching Methods in Engineering Education: Assessing Educational Effectiveness and Understanding of 3D Structures

Abstract

Traditional teaching methods that use 2D videos or 3D simulators may have limitations in engineering education when covering complex concepts or complicated 3D structures. To address this problem, virtual reality (VR) has been introduced as a highly immersive teaching method that can increase students’ learning and understanding of 3D structures from multiple perspectives. The purpose of this study was to quantify how teaching methods that use VR can increase learning efficiency and comprehension of 3D structures. We used quiz and 3D reconstruction to assess the quantitative learning effects of VR and 2D videos on a total of 40 students. Training that used VR yielded a 12% improvement in post-test quiz scores and a 13% improvement in 3D reconstruction test scores compared to the traditional method. User evaluations confirmed that VR increased engagement by 11.9%, immersion by 18.6%, motivation by 10.3%, cognitive benefits by 9.3%, and perceived learning effectiveness by 8.7%. These results confirm that VR is more effective than traditional learning methods to aid general memorization and understanding, and specific comprehension of 3D structures.