Experience in Teaching Science in Virtual Environment 155 88

Abstract

Labs are needed in science education, and schools usually lack appropriate conditions to provide active learning activities with experience. In schools, the lack of labs for science education is usual. The new technologies of 3D virtual worlds allow the user, through immersive virtual worlds, or metaverses, to experience situations similar to those possible in a real environment. A solution to the lack of labs is the virtual labs, which consist of virtual representations that reproduce the environment of a real lab. These are applications based on simulations, offering computational representations of reality. The simulation of concrete and real situations gives the student the opportunity to experiment, actively participating in the learning process by performing experiments that would otherwise not be possible due to safety issues (possible damage to students or the environment) or economy (cost of components involved and derived from the creation and operation of the lab). These virtual labs can be implemented on personal computers that exist in schools or even in the student's home. Users can work in the virtual lab, through their avatars, using experiments provided there, as well as acting collaboratively.