Abstract:

Advances in virtual reality (VR) technology have opened up new possibilities for teaching complex subjects such as anatomy and physiology (A&P) in STEM education. The incorporation of VR into teaching A&P offers several potential advantages: VR facilitates better spatial understanding, creates realistic and dynamic simulations that replicate physiological processes, and offers accessibility and inclusivity benefits. Due to the lack of studies on virtual reality in STEM higher education, this pilot study aims to investigate whether students learn Anatomy and Physiology more effectively when mastering a module through a VR experience than through traditional laboratories.

A total of 70 undergraduate and graduate students at a small women liberal art's college in Atlanta participated in this pilot study. To conduct the study, we collected pre and post tests measures consisting of questions related to four different modules: lymphatic, respiratory, digestive, and renal. Students were randomly assigned to a VR group or a non VR group during each laboratory session. The measures were taken on qualtrics, an online survey tool. Students’ responses were transferred to Excel. Once in Excel, data was cleaned and then transferred to SPSS where data was further coded into numeric variables. Descriptive statistics and group means were first conducted. Groups were then statistically analyzed using a nonparametric statistical test, the Mann Whitney test, to see if the students in the VR group significantly learned more than the students in the non-VR group.

Although our results showed that the students in the VR group did not have significantly higher post-test scores compared to the students in the non-VR group, the VR groups scored slightly higher in the last two modules: digestion and renal. This suggests that once students become accustomed to the VR tool, the integration of VR to teach A&P seems to have great potential to revolutionize the educational system in STEM curricula. VR should be considered a complementary tool to traditional teaching methods, rather than a complete replacement, until more research is done on how to maximize the positive impact of VR systems on learning.

Keywords:

Virtual Reality, Education, STEM, Anatomy, Physiology.