Using Virtual Reality in Teaching Secondary School Physics

The use of Virtual Reality (VR) in education has been depicted as an interesting and promising area where constructivist learning theory can be put into practice. This paper describes a work-in-progress project attempting to take advantage of the current VR technology for constructivist learning practices in the teaching of secondary school Physics. The project involves the creation of 3D VR environments for use on the World Wide Web where learners are exposed to virtual physical environments. These environments incorporate rich and meaningful physical phenomena and relationships so that learners can navigate and explore freely, view from different perspectives and visualize the various physical concepts and relationships which otherwise can be difficult to visualize using traditional teaching material in the form of texts and graphics. This paper also discusses the initial reactions from learners as well as colleagues teaching on the subject.