Virtual Reality for Teaching the Structure of Substances – a Teaching Aid or Headache?

Although virtual reality (VR), as we know it in the modern sense, has been with us for more than five decades, it is only in the last five years or so that the technical possibilities of its presentation have advanced so much that VR could become available to the public and becoming a meaningful teaching aid. VR adds, compared to traditional forms of teaching using the Internet and Communication Technology (ICT) means, not only the possibility of a very high-quality spatial perception and thus a more vivid presentation of complicated systems demanding spatial imagination but also a very important possibility of interactivity with a three-dimensional artificial generated environment. In the teaching of chemistry, virtual reality is a suitable area for understanding the structure and properties of substances. It is a fundamental and indispensable area, but individual topics connected with substance structure and properties repeatedly cause problems for students. Their misunderstanding or the creation of misconceptions prevents them from understanding and correctly interpreting connected topics. On the other hand, despite its benefits, some people using VR report headaches, eye strain, dizziness, or nausea. Hence, there is a question of whether its disadvantages do not outweigh the possible benefits resulting from the visual presentation of the curriculum. Concerning what has been said, this contribution aims to indicate the possibilities of using virtual reality in teaching chemistry, namely in topics related to the structure and properties of substances. For this purpose, a set of learning materials/activities in the Nanome software was created. These materials are focused on topics connected with crystallography, structures of crystals, structures of various inorganic and organic substances, conformational analysis, and the structure of biomolecules or reaction mechanisms in organic chemistry. These materials were used concerning appropriate curriculum teaching for several groups of university and secondary school students. Technical, didactic, and health aspects of using VR in education were monitored during the lesson. Some connected aspects were also surveyed in the questionnaire distributed to students after the activity implementation. Students' intrinsic motivation was also monitored after the implementation of the lessons. The results of our study indicate that virtual reality appears to be a suitable tool for teaching chemistry and for topics related to the structure and properties of substances. The students in our survey rated this teaching as interesting, immersive, and illustrative, with the overwhelming majority of students supporting the introduction of VR into chemistry teaching. The evaluation of the motivation of the participating students also showed that the teaching has significant motivational potential. On the other hand, many difficulties and limits will still have to be overcome and solved for the smooth implementation of VR in teaching. In particular, relatively rapid fatigue occurs when working with VR. A significant part of the respondents participating in education with VR reported headaches and eye or neck pain.