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Abstract: The aim of the Master’s thesis was to evaluate the current and potential applications of virtual reality technology in chemistry and chemical engineering, as well as to evaluate the use of virtual reality for educational purposes. First, we made an overview of the numerous applications of the virtual reality technology with a specific focus on its current use in the chemistry and chemical engineering fields, including research and educational environments as well as industrial applications. It was found that the use of virtual reality technology is growing in all areas, with training, remote collaboration, and interactive learning being the most prominent fields. To assess the effectiveness of virtual reality as an educational tool, we performed a study with second year students of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering programs at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Maribor. Students were divided into two groups, one undertaking a training on the proper use of fume hoods in virtual reality and the other group performing the same training in a real chemical laboratory. Students from both groups took a knowledge evaluation test and a personal experience survey after the training. The test results have shown that virtual reality can be just as effective or potentially even more effective than conventional training in the chemical laboratory. The average score of the virtual reality group was 2.5% higher than that of the group performing conventional training in a chemical laboratory, although we did not confirm a statistically significant difference between the scores. We also prepared a personal experience survey to evaluate the students’ personal experience and interest in using virtual reality as an educational tool. It was observed that there is a lot of enthusiasm from the students for the use of virtual reality technology and that the group performing the training in virtual reality reported a significantly better subjective experience scores, and due to fewer reported distractions remained more focused on the training content compared to the group that underwent the training in a real chemical laboratory. The results of the Master’s thesis suggest that virtual reality presents an effective alternative to traditional live training methods. Future research should be conducted with larger groups focusing especially on the long-term retention of the acquired knowledge and on the application in real-world scenarios, such as laboratory exercises, device training, and safety procedures training, to fully reveal the potential of virtual reality for educational purposes.
Keywords: virtual reality technology, Meta Quest, correct use of fume hoods in virtual reality, correct use of fume hoods in a chemical laboratory, R programming language
Published in DKUM: 20.11.2024; Views: 0; Downloads: 0

Abstract: Possible responses to the extremely complex and delicate question of the influence that exercises on the development of a child as a unique personality, on the child's psycho-social development and on the education of a child generally may be provided by serious research of a cohort sequential design, either in research programmes in the field of educational sciences or of other social disciplines. The present paper confronts some dilemmas of the modern world. Particularly those between the educational values, families and schools and education supplied (imposed) by virtual reality that promotes the social standardization of behaviour and the perception of values and of the world around us. The aggressiveness of the mass media in presenting as and without an often results in a virtual life for a child, with virtual friends, education and even virtual families. In the time of developing technology, an important question arises: how to deal with such a situation. Do we direct young people to carefully select from what modern virtual reality has to offer and how do we do that?
Keywords: virtual reality, education, values, environment, school
Published in DKUM: 10.07.2015; Views: 1333; Downloads: 202
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