Abstract:

The advances in digital technologies over the last few decades have intrinsically changed society, reshaping the way people interact in many different areas. However, for Brazilian basic education, the speed of this development diverges, especially in public schools. At the same time, several Brazilian researchers report that Physics in High School is still mostly focused on expository, passive and little interactive classes, making a science that is based on the observation and description of natural phenomena in an accumulation of equations and numbers disconnected with the reality. However, it is important to encourage practice in Physics, so that students can experience and apply what is presented in the classroom. Even so, several factors make it difficult to implement practical classes, such as the lack of structure, equipment and qualified personnel in educational institutions, which was further aggravated by the COVD-19 pandemic, which forced social distancing. Technologies that allowed virtual activities to be carried out remotely have never been more necessary. Therefore, an emerging questioning of these factors leads to how we can develop tools for interactive and immersive educational practices that can be used regardless of the users' location. This work arises from this question, in which we have already created and published results on remote experimentation and 3D simulators. This experiment consists of the decay of the intensity of incident radiation from a source as a function of its distance, that is, the propagation of radiation. On the other hand, in this work, we aim to develop a replica of the system and the laboratory, which allows the immersion and interaction of the student with a Virtual Reality (VR) environment, being compatible with active methodologies centered on the student. So, we created a methodological process divided into four stages, the first being a search for references of similar works, in order to raise the main procedures and technologies used. The second stage is responsible for graphic development, observing the guideline of the best possible quality in relation to the lowest cost; the third step consists of developing the functional part of the virtual environment and the last step is responsible for publishing the VR application. Partial results are satisfactory, the current cost is US$ 85, with the creation of the functional prototype composed of the VR replica of the environment and experiment, in which we highlight as positive points the good graphic quality, the 6 degrees of freedom, interactive controls, three distinct locomotion possibilities and a high sensation of immersion in the environment. Although still in the test version, it is possible to conclude that the software has proved to be efficient in providing a perspective of the experiment similar to the real one, therefore, having a great potential to help in moments when it is not possible to use the real experiments in person, or to complementing activities.

Keywords:

Virtual Reality, Educational Software, Teaching Radiation Propagation.