Effects of a virtual reality-based pottery making approach on junior high school students’ creativity and learning engagement

ABSTRACT

Pottery making in technology education aims to foster students’ practical and creative ability. In a typical pottery making class, students receive the teacher’s instruction on the fundamental techniques used in pottery making and have opportunities to practice. It is meaningful to construct an observation-doing-reflection process for students in a pottery making class to promote their learning experience and performance. Therefore, in this study, a Virtual Reality (VR)-based pottery making approach was applied to technology education in a junior high school to examine its effects on students’ creativity and learning engagement. A total of 97 seventh graders from three classes participated in pottery making in class. One class of 34 students was assigned to be the experimental group learning with the VR-based approach, while the other two classes were assigned to be the control groups, with 30 students learning with the paper-and-pencil approach and 33 students with the clay-based approach. The results showed that the students learning with the VR-based approach were not only more creative in terms of their products, but also had higher cognitive engagement than those in the control groups. Moreover, the VR-based approach improved the students’ behavioral, emotional and social engagement compared to the paper-and-pencil approach.

KEYWORDS:

• Pottery making
• creativity
• learning engagement
• virtual reality
• active learning

Acknowledgements

This study is supported in part by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (19YJC880028).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study is supported in part by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (19YJC880028).

Notes on contributors

Jue-Qi Guan

Jue-Qi Guan is a lecturer at the Department of Educational Technology, Zhejiang Normal University. Her research interests include technology enhanced learning and smart learning environment.

Liang-Hui Wang

Liang-Hui Wang is an associate professor at the Department of Educational Technology, Zhejiang Normal University. His research interests include technology enhanced learning, learning analytic and evidence-based education.

Qu Chen

Qu Chen is a lecturer at the College of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University. His research interests include geography education and active learning.

Kai Jin

Kai Jin is a graduate student at the Department of Education Information Technology, East China Normal University. His research interests include learning sciences and smart learning environment.

Gwo-Jen Hwang

Gwo-Jen Hwang is a chair professor at the Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. His research interests include mobile learning, digital game-based learning, flipped classroom and AI in education.