Beyond Textbooks: A Study on Supporting Learning of Molecule Naming in a Virtual Reality Environment

Virtual reality (VR) applications promise to enhance learning experiences, with literature emphasizing game-based components, immersiveness, and exploration of inaccessible scenarios. However, effective learning through VR applications depends on technology design. This within-subjects study investigates a VR application targeted to learning molecule naming, following design principles for VR and knowledge construction. Our results show that participants (n=20) had a positive direct learning effect, as they scored significantly better in a knowledge test on molecule naming directly after the intervention compared to before. Further, a sustainable learning effect could be shown, as scores in the knowledge test after three weeks were significantly better than those before the intervention but did not differ from those directly after the intervention. Our contribution is demonstrating design guidelines for learning and knowledge construction in VR, specifically for chemistry, and showing that following such guidelines leads to an application that effectively supports learning.