Direct future VR/AR-supported K-12 STEM research and development toward underexplored subjects, immersive devices, senior high schools and 21st-century skills¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 review), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

The review derives future research agendas from its findings: developing VR/AR materials for underexplored K-12 technology and engineering learning, researching immersive devices whose environments students perceive with "a much higher degree of realism and stronger involvement", extending research to senior high schools where abstract concepts and experiments dominate, and studying impacts on higher-order thinking and cooperative abilities, which only 9% and 2% of gathered studies respectively addressed.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Research designs and devices must fit the K-12 STEM context as reviewed; technology companies and researchers are expected to develop more advanced, useful and easy-to-use AR/VR devices to meet evolving STEM learning requirements.

Constraints¶

• The review notes only a small share of gathered studies addressed higher-order thinking skills and cooperative abilities, so the evidence base for those areas is thin.

Target Learners¶

• K-12 students, particularly senior high school students and minority and female students underrepresented in STEM

Target Learning Goals¶

• STEM subject and integrated STEM learning, including design thinking, scientific inquiry, and 21st-century skills

Claims¶

• Non-immersive devices, especially smartphone/tablet-based AR, dominated VR/AR-supported K-12 STEM studies; immersive AR was rarely used [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Haozhe Jiang, Deqi Zhu, Ritesh Chugh, Darren Turnbull, Wu Jin. (2025). Virtual reality and augmented reality-supported K-12 STEM learning: trends, advantages and challenges. Education and Information Technologies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-024-13210-z