Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant weaknesses in the distance education ecosystem. As a response, this period highlighted the need to address these shortcomings by exploring the benefits of disruptive technologies such as Immersive Virtual Reality, with a focus on the "learning by doing" teaching methodology. Through an iterative, user-centered approach, a Virtual Reality application has been developed to teach basic programming concepts visually, fostering skills such as problem-solving and computational thinking.

The application presents a series of highly visual exercises that progressively increase in complexity as users advance through different levels, reinforcing learning in an intuitive and engaging manner. Additionally, to promote teamwork—an essential skill in the programming field—the application includes a final collaborative activity where users must work together to solve a coding challenge.

Designed for higher education and vocational training, this application serves as an entry point for both educators and students into the world of programming through an immersive, dynamic, interactive, and engaging experience. To assess its effectiveness in enhancing study engagement and learning outcomes, the application was tested by 50 participants, yielding highly positive results. As future work, the application is proposed to be expanded to other STEM fields.

Keywords:

Block Programming, Virtual Reality, Education, Learning-by-doing.