Learning Basic Electronics in Virtual Reality
After interviews with about 25 Science teachers in the Ga-East District, Basic Electronics was identified as one of the monstrous topics teachers have to confront recurrently — term after term. Science teachers in Junior High School across spectrums of age, experience, and gender identified this topic as one of the most challenging topics they have to teach to students.
The top challenges teachers highlighted as factors contributing to making this topic difficult include:
- Absence of relevant hands-on teaching and learning material (TLMs) — primarily circuitry components like batteries, diodes, resistors, capacitors, LEDs, etc — to adequately demonstrate Basic Electronics concepts to learners.
- Teachers who choose to improvise around TLMs, by sourcing components from old electrical devices, often encounter the challenge of circuits not behaving in accordance with their lesson plan expectations either resulting from malfunctioning circuitry components or incompatible parts
- Some teacher’s candidly revealed that they struggled with the teaching of Basic Electronics resulting from the fact that they themselves are not entirely familiar with the concepts. This revelation was in-line with earlier insights gotten from Practical Education Network (PEN).
Moving Forward
Tools of the 21st century such as smartphones and IoT devices are made possible because of advances in electronics and connectivity. As human societies tilt towards more and more automation it becomes imperative that teachers & learners in Ga-East District are equipped with the relevant electronics aptitudes to participate in shaping this future.
How might we better equip teachers & learners in Ga-East District pick up the relevant aptitude in Basic Electronics?
Based on our earlier proposed solution — informed by our pilot study and indicated in our earlier blog post — we will take on the challenge to build a Basic Electronic Virtual Reality experience that attempts to resolve the unique challenges teachers in Ga-East face in teaching Basic Electronics.
Basic Electronic in Virtual Reality
In order to facilitate mastery of Basic Electronics concepts among teachers and learners in the Ga-East district, we strive to provide a teaching and learning aid that:
- increases teachers and learners desire to learn Basic Electronics
- increases teachers and learners mastery of the Ghanaian J.H.S curriculum concepts in Basic Electronics
- facilitates the opportunity for learners to acquire 21st-century skills relevant to Basic Electronics such as initiative, persistence, social & cultural awareness, etc.
We seek to deliver on this by integrating the following features into a single VR experience:
- Interactive Demonstrations that simulate circuit & circuitry components in virtual reality using video game techniques. This will allow teachers and learners alike to manipulate discrete circuitry components and observe their behavior.
- Animated 2D Video Lessons will be used to explain key Basic Electronics concepts as well as shape student learning context using storytelling woven with factual information.
- 360 Visualisation that simulates the internal functioning of circuits or circuitry components that are otherwise not visible to help learners consolidate knowledge of concepts in Basic Electronic e.g. the flow of current from one end of a battery terminal through another, passing through a resistor
- Adaptive Exercises will be used to intelligently diagnose and remedy learners’ knowledge gaps in Basic Electronics using visually-heavy multiple-choice exercises.
- Game-Based Learning Techniques will be used to weave all the above features together in a manner that blurs the line between learning and entertainment thus increasing learner’s motivation to engage and re-engage — if need be — with complex Basic Electronics concepts.
Validation
To ensure that our proposed solution delivers on our expected outcome series of usability testing will be conducted over the course of the development process with teachers and learners to guarantee that this solution is effective in meeting our 3 goals — desirability, mastery, and 21st-century relevance.
