Design, evaluation, and conceptual impact of a immersive virtual reality serious game for teaching projectile motion

Immersive virtual reality (IVR) offers new opportunities in physics education by enabling experiential learning environments, and its integration into serious games facilitates conceptual reinforcement through active engagement and situated learning. This study presents the design, iterative refinement, and evaluation of an IVR serious game for teaching projectile motion, analyzing its impact on user experience and conceptual understanding through a user- centered design (UCD) approach. The serious game was developed through two playtesting sessions involving physics professors and undergraduate students, whose feedback guided improvements in content, mechanics, and usability. A pilot study was conducted with 17 students using the Meta Quest 2 headset, and the evaluation included the Virtual Reality Neuroscientific Questionnaire (VRNQ), a perceived motivation scale, and a conceptual pre- and post-test. The iterative UCD process enhanced gameplay, immersion, and instructional clarity. Students rated the experience positively in terms of usability and motivation, while learning gain analysis showed an average normalized gain of 0.68 (Hake), a large effect size (d = 2.83), and an increase in students reaching the conceptual competency threshold from 12 to 100%. These results support the potential of Parabolic Basketball VR as an immersive and pedagogically grounded educational tool, demonstrating how user-centered, iterative development can contribute to. measurable learning gains and positive user engagement, and highlighting its value as a complementary strategy for enhancing conceptual understanding in physics education.