Providing K-12 students with proper science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education is important to ensuring an innovative and prosperous economy. A highly skilled STEM workforce can lead to increased productivity and competitiveness, which can lead to a host of new ideas being researched and developed. STEM workers make added-value products, build bridges and roads, and conduct lifesaving medical research, among other important activities. The use of virtual reality (VR) technology for both education and workforce training has grown in recent years. VR technology can accelerate these processes at maximum efficacy and minimum costs and can have a significant impact on productivity gains, earnings, new jobs, innovation through research and development, and high-growth industries. This paper presents the development of a series of VR modules using the Unity game engine, the HTC VIVE Pro VR headset, and the Hi5 VR glove for the purposes of K-12 STEM education. Specifically, these developed modules have been designed to instruct K-12 students on topics related to motion and heat, with future goals to expand the modules to cover topics related to light, magnetism, electricity, radioactivity, sound, and waves. This paper will cover the methodology and design considerations that went into developing these modules, with a focus on how these modules relate to various learning strategies as well as with existing research on the use of VR in K-12 education.

Kouroush Jenab, Donald Staub, Mark Rajai PDF (233 K)
Abstract: Students at risk of dropping out of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs often display signs that indicate they are at risk. A need exists to identify at risk STEM students early and to develop and implement effective intervention strategies that utilize the Total Quality Management (TQM) approach. Most of all, a database system is needed to track this early intervention process, if retention rates are to be improved. To address this need at a small community college in North Carolina, a system was developed and underwent a pilot study in Fall 2009 and Spring 2010. The two pilot groups were compared to the two control groups to identify differences in retention, course credit completion rates, and grade point averages (GPA). The first pilot group displayed no significant differences, while the second pilot group displayed significant differences in most of the areas analyzed in the study, indicating a database system can be used to improve STEM student retention. While the second of the two pilot groups displayed promising results, managerial and logistical issues, such as less than optimal instructor involvement, impeded success were identified. This paper will describe the design, implementation, and the preliminary results of this study and outlines the need for further research that confirms these preliminary findings.