Seeing differently. Pre-post preliminary evidence of improved conceptual understanding of an engine through a 360° virtual environment

Abstract

The teaching of engine-related contents in engineering programmes often requires students to understand spatial, functional and thermodynamic relations that may be difficult to grasp through lectures and conventional teaching materials alone. In this context, visual digital resources may help students approach such contents in a more intuitive and understandable way. Specifically, the aim of the present study was to examine whether the use of a 360º virtual environment was associated with objectively measured changes in students’ conceptual understanding of the engine, implemented identically at the University of Cádiz (Spain) and Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico). The focus was therefore placed on objective pre-post learning performance rather than on students’ post-experience evaluation of the resource. To tackle it, three objective learning questions were administered before and after the activity, and a total learning score was calculated from the number of correct answers obtained in each questionnaire. In total, 40 pre-experience and 40 post-experience questionnaires were analysed, evenly distributed between Cádiz and Monterrey (20 in each group). Results indicate that learning scores were significantly higher after the experience than before it when the total sample was considered. This same pattern was observed when each university was analysed separately, with significant differences between the pre- and post-experience measurements in both cases. By contrast, no statistically significant differences were found between the two universities either before or after the activity. As a whole, the findings suggest that this educational innovation may contribute to improving students’ short-term conceptual understanding of the engine, showing a consistent pre-post pattern across two different institutional contexts. The contribution is therefore centred on objective evidence of conceptual learning, rather than on students’ perceptions of the pedagogical value of the resource. These preliminary results may be of interest to teachers and researchers working on technology-enhanced learning, engineering education, and the teaching of contents that are difficult to communicate through traditional resources alone.