Learning Labs and Virtual Reality. The Metaverse to Enhance Learning

Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) is one of the scientific and technological frontiers of our era, a new mode of knowledge that puts the person at the center, becoming the highest point of approach of technological interfaces towards a progressive incarnation. This research is based on the prototype construction of a VR laboratory teaching project, in which, through an immersive experience, students will be able to experience simulations of different educational moments in kindergarten. The virtual environment is built with 360°video that allows students to look in all directions, to facilitate the exploration of the environment, observe the individual reactions of the children, decide where to place themselves in the space. We investigate the relationship between experiential teaching through VR and learning and if mnestic skills were implemented through this approach. Exploration of a new environment promotes memory formation through the concept of novelty mediated by hippocampal dopamine and has also shown that new environments not only promote learning in these environments but can also promote long-term enhancement for events occurring before/after exposure to the novelty. In fact, a new episode’s memory is formed immediately after the experience and can last a lifetime. The hippocampal network plays a key role in the rapid acquisition of a memory of a once-in-a-lifetime experience, in which the novelty component of the experience promotes the prompt formation of the memory. Furthermore, dopamine has been documented to be the neuromodulator most implicated in novelty signaling [1], and the dopaminergic system is closely related to learning [2].