@article {, title = {Go green: Evaluating a VR application on biodiversity in German secondary school classrooms}, journal = {Instructional Science}, year = {2025}, abstract = {

One discussion in the context of education for sustainable development centers around the importance of suitable teaching materials for promoting pro-environmental attitudes. Especially applications that let learners travel to otherwise difficult to reach places seem promising for digital sustainability education that is both accessible and socially just. Applications for German-speaking learners are however rare, and it has often not been checked whether those that exist are fit for classroom use. Therefore, this paper focuses on an investigation of the Virtual Reality (VR) learning application \"On Biodiversity\’s Tracks\", developed by greenpeace, with a focus on the environment of the Amazon rainforest. In an experimental study, (1) VR-based and (2) traditional lesson conditions were compared in terms of their effects on self-appraisal of knowledge, interest, and attitude. Pre- and post-questionnaires were used to uncover between-subject and within-subject effects. 172 students at eight secondary schools in Germany were recruited. The results revealed that both experimental conditions were effective regarding increase of self-appraised knowledge. An increase in interest was barely found in either condition. Changes at the attitudinal level could mostly not be discovered. Further analyses highlighted that, unlike the experimental conditions, there were significant differences in self-rated learning outcomes between the types of schools. In general, our results indicate that VR learning applications can contribute to the teaching of topics such as sustainability and biodiversity in a target group-oriented and meaningful way. However, further research is needed to adequately assess VR learning effectiveness, especially regarding affective learning outcomes, due to their importance for sustainable behaviors of subsequent generations.

}, keywords = {biodiversity, media pedagogy, sustainable development goals, virtual reality}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-024-09697-1}, author = {delsa and Kristian H. Tr{\"a}g and Lara Kirner} } @article {, title = {Virtual reality and affective learning in commemorative history teaching: Effects of immersive technology and generative learning activities}, journal = {Journal of Research on Technology in Education}, year = {2025}, chapter = {1-21}, abstract = {

Learning with virtual reality (VR) can be highly motivating and conducive for cognitive and affective learning outcomes. For commemorative history education, VR enables novel experiences of testimonies co-created by survivors, witnesses, and museums. VR technologies allow learners to feel immediacy and an emotional connection to digitally reconstructed spaces and events of the past. While VR has proven to enhance affective learning outcomes by provoking emotions, interest, or motivation, its perceptual richness may also lead to distraction and cognitive overload. Generative learning activities can alleviate some of the limitations of learning with VR by helping learners to focus on the learning material. This study examines a highly engaging and historical immersive VR application and thereby investigates the effectiveness of the generative learning activities of self-explaining and drawing. Seventy-four undergraduate students explored a three-dimensional representation of the room where Anne Frank, a Jewish girl, was hiding during World War II. For the two experimental conditions, students had to either create drawings of Anne Frank\’s room and their own room or verbally explain how Anne Frank\’s living conditions would feel for them. For the control condition, students did not engage in a subsequent activity. Based on generative learning theory, we predicted that students engaging in generative learning activities would display higher posttest scores in knowledge and perspective taking than the control group. No such effects were found. Although the VR experience itself increased the ability to empathize with Anne Frank across all groups, it did not contribute to knowledge building. The study results indicate that even without any additional activity, VR can convey highly emotionally engaging testimonies and enables role taking, which suggests that VR is in particular suitable for affective learning.

}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2025.2461524}, url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15391523.2025.2461524}, author = {delsa and Kristian H. Tr{\"a}g and Lilly Kaninski and Lara Kirner and Michael Kerres} } @conference {, title = {Gestaltung immersiver Lernszenarien: Generative Aktivit{\"a}ten beim Lernen mit dem Anne Frank VR House}, booktitle = {Workshops der 22. Fachtagung Bildungstechnologien (DELFI)}, year = {2024}, pages = {13-20}, publisher = {Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Informatik}, organization = {Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Informatik}, address = {Fulda}, abstract = {

Das Lernen in immersiver virtueller Realit\ät (VR) kann motivierend und f\örderlich sein, aber es kann auch zu Ablenkung und kognitiver \Überlastung f\ühren. Generative Lernaktivit\äten k\önnen einige der Einschr\änkungen des Lernens mit immersiver VR abschw\ächen, indem sie den Lernenden helfen, sich auf das Lernmaterial zu konzentrieren. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht die Wirksamkeit von zwei generativen Lernstrategien: Selbst-Erkl\ären und Zeichnen. W\ährend bisherige Studien zu generativen Lernaktivit\äten eher kognitive Lernziele adressierten, wurden die Aufgaben in dieser Studie so formuliert, dass Bez\üge zum Selbst hergestellt und so affektive Ziele wie die Perspektiven\übernahme in den VR-Protagonisten eher erreicht werden k\önnen. Vierundsiebzig Bachelorstudierende erkundeten den Raum, in dem Anne Frank sich vor den Nationalsozialisten im zweiten Weltkrieg verstecken musste, in einer immersiven VR-Umgebung. F\ür die experimentellen Bedingungen wurden die Studierenden nach der VR-Erfahrung entweder aufgefordert, Zeichnungen von Anne Franks Zimmer und ihrem eigenen Zimmer zu erstellen oder zu erkl\ären, wie sich Anne Franks Lebensbedingungen f\ür sie anf\ühlen w\ürden. F\ür die Kontrollbedingung nahmen die Studierenden an keiner Lernaktivit\ät teil. In diesem Paper werden die Ergebnisse deskriptiver Analysen der generativen Lernaktivit\äten vorgestellt und diskutiert.

}, doi = {10.18420/delfi2024-ws-02}, author = {delsa and Kristian H. Tr{\"a}g and Lara Kirner and Lilly Kaninski} } @article {, title = {Studie: Wie lernt sich{\textquoteright}s mit der Greenpeace-App?}, journal = {on. Lernen in der digitalen Welt }, volume = {16}, year = {2024}, pages = {36-37}, url = {https://elibrary.utb.de/doi/pdf/10.5555/on-16-2024_15}, author = {delsa and Lara Kirner and Kristian H. Tr{\"a}g and Heinen, Richard} } @conference {, title = {Artenvielfalt im Unterricht - Ergebnisse qualitativer Befragungen von Sch{\"u}ler:innen zum Einsatz von XR}, booktitle = {DELFI}, volume = {DELFI 2023. Die 21. Fachtagung Bildungstechnologien der Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Informatik e.V. }, year = {2023}, pages = {89-98}, publisher = {Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Informatik}, organization = {Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Informatik}, address = {Aachen}, abstract = {

Im Fokus des Papiers steht die Untersuchung der von greenpeace entwickelten XR-Lernanwendung \“Der Artenvielfalt auf der Spur\” mit Fokus auf der Umgebung des Amazonas-Regenwaldes. Die Aussagen von acht Fokusgruppen mit Sch\üler:innen der siebten bis neunten Klasse deutscher Schulen wurden qualitativ ausgewertet. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Sch\üler:innen bedeutsam ihr Wissen zu Biodiversit\ät anreichern konnten. Ferner gaben die Sch\üler:innen an, sich im Nachgang mit assoziierten Inhalten (z.B. Arten- und Klimaschutz) auseinandergesetzt und eigene Verhaltensweisen reflektiert zu haben. In allen Fokusgruppen wurde deutlich, dass die Lernanwendung sowohl die Einstellungs- als auch die Verhaltensebene positiv beeinflussen konnte. Insgesamt wurde die Lernanwendung von den Sch\üler:innen positiv bewertet, was sie auf die erlebten Lernprozesse wie physische und soziale Pr\äsenz und der Verarbeitung von audio-visuellen Reizen zur\ückf\ührten.

}, keywords = {Artenvielfalt, Augmented Reality, Biodiversit{\"a}t, Extended Reality, Fokusgruppe, nachhaltige Entwicklung, virtual reality, XR}, doi = {10.18420/wsdelfi2023-24}, author = {delsa and Kristian H. Tr{\"a}g and Lara Kirner} }