Exploring Attitudes towards Augmented or Virtual Reality for Biology and Mathematics Teachers in Dutch Secondary Education

Abstract

This research investigates the underlying reasons which secondary school biology and mathematics teachers have for their attitude towards the use of Augmented and Virtual Reality in class. It draws on an analysis of 12 semi-structured interviews with teachers from two different rural schools, during which their pre-existing knowledge, current attitude and future views on AVR are discussed. After analysis of the results several conclusions can be drawn for this exploratory research. The pre-existing knowledge of AVR of the investigated teachers was little, several teachers did not have a visual representation of how an AVR application would look like. The perceived advantages and obstacles in the use of AVR have been listed. These advantages and obstacles can give insight into the reasons why teachers possess a certain attitude towards the use of AVR in education. The main advantage of AVR in education lies, according to the participants, in the idea that AVR might help explaining spatial figures, to help students visualise. AVR might also offer a more dynamic view on teaching methods, and students could get, what they call, a learning experience. There are, however, also several obstacles which have been mentioned: participants indicated the balance of time and energy invested did not weigh up against the learning gain paired with AVR and they indicated that current used methods already suffice and do not necessarily need an innovative technology. For mathematics another obstacle comes up, because these teachers observe their curriculum not far-reaching enough to fully exploit the possibilities of AVR in education. Participants also elaborated on their future views on AVR in education, here the idea of teaching from one central point, while students viewing through their device was put up. Several conditions have been named during the interviews for AVR to eventually work in education, mobile phones should be put to use more instead of being an irritation factor and if AVR would be integrated into the teaching method, teachers would be more inclined to use it. When combining the results on pre-existing knowledge, current attitudes and future views during the research, it became clear that the investigated teachers were open to the idea of a new technology but the practical side of the implementation of AVR remained an obstacle. This research provides more specific information on teachers’ attitudes towards AVR in education, however further research can be focused on exploring teachers’ attitudes when these teachers have a broad view of AVR in education. When teachers have a clear example of an AVR application including the possibilities for their subject, even more specific and to the point answers can possibly be found to understand the underlying reasons for their attitudes.