Specific Motivational Effects on Students after Experiencing an Imaginative VR “Molecular World”

Virtual reality (VR) experiences are well-documented for increasing student motivation, but studies often stop short of providing important details about the link between the kinds of experiences and types of motivation. For example, do realistic VR simulations work better than VR imaginary worlds at increasing subject matter interest? Pedagogically, it is of interest to determine if there are divergent effects on students when interacting with different types of VR experiences. This study uses quantitative analysis of pre-post survey data to bring clarity to the motivational aspects of different types of chemistry-based VR experiences. Eighty 8^th-12^th grade students interacted with a VR chemistry lab simulation and either a traditional “ball-and-stick” physical manipulatives intervention or a VR molecular world intervention. The students who experienced the imaginative VR world had significantly greater increases in their agreement with the statements "I like my science class" and "I am interested in careers that use technology".