The Effects Of Desktop Virtual Reality Technology On Learning Outcomes Of River Geomorphology

Spatial capability plays a crucial role in education using virtual reality technology.According to the competency-compensator hypothesis in cognitive load theory,learning environments based on virtual reality provide external support for learners with low spatial ability,reducing their cognitive load when building mental representation models,and thus enabling them to gain more learning benefits.The competency-as-enhancer hypothesis holds that multi-channel learning provided by virtual reality imposes extra cognitive load on learners with low spatial ability.In order to verify the learning effect of using desktop virtual reality technology and its relationship with cognitive load,and to study the influence of learning style based on desktop virtual reality technology on learners with different spatial abilities.This study takes the use of desktop virtual reality technology as the independent variable,the cognitive load of students as the mediating variable,the spatial ability as the moderating variable,and the learning effect as the dependent variable to build a moderating intermediary model,to explore the influence of the use of desktop virtual reality technology on the learning effect of students.Specifically,2(high and low spatial ability)×2(learning mode based on picture observation and learning mode based on desktop virtual reality technology)was used in the intergroup experimental design.A total of 119 senior one students from Suzhou Affiliated High School of Xi ’an Jiaotong University participated in this study.Based on the pre-test results,they were assigned to the experimental group or the control group with the same level of prior knowledge and spatial ability.After completing the experimental process with different learning styles,the posttest was conducted,and the difference between the post-test and pre-test was used to measure the students’ learning effect.The findings are as follows:(1)the use of desktop virtual reality technology significantly improves the learning effect.Students with low spatial ability perform better in virtual reality learning than students with high spatial ability;(2)Students’ cognitive load partially mediates the influence of desktop virtual reality technology on learning effect.By using desktop virtual reality technology,students’ cognitive load is reduced and learning effect is improved;(3)The mediating effect of desktop virtual reality technology on learning effect through cognitive load was not significant.However,it was found that only when the level of spatial ability was average or low,the use of desktop virtual reality technology affected learning effect through cognitive load.When the level of spatial ability was high,the mediating process was not obvious.Based on the above research results,four suggestions were put forward,including using desktop virtual reality technology to reconstruct teaching activities,exploring personalized design-assisted desktop virtual experiment activities,designing desktop virtual reality teaching content guided by cognitive load theory,and alleviating gender differences in students’ spatial ability through spatial teaching.This study reveals the internal process of the influence of the use of desktop virtual reality technology on the learning effect,provides an explanatory perspective of the influence of the use of desktop virtual reality technology on the learning effect through cognitive load,and provides an important reference for improving the learning effect of the use of desktop virtual reality technology through the adjustment of spatial ability and cognitive load.