Virtual Reality (VR) can be defined as an advanced interface that allows the user to move and interact in real time in a three-dimensional environment (KIRNER, SISCOUTTO, 2007).
One of the characteristics of VR is the possibility of creating virtual representations of real environments and situations. It also becomes possible to simulate dangerous or expensive situations safely and economically using virtual reality glasses (CARDOSO, 2002).
The idea of involvement is defined as maintaining attention on a set of stimuli from the human senses (touch, vision and hearing). It is linked to the ability of the virtual environment to make the user feel motivated and engaged when carrying out the activity, which is a recurring challenge in the educational environment (FREITAS, 2008).
The fact that they are interactive means that virtual environments are not designed to only allow passive viewing of the environment, but also to allow the user to interact with the environment and its objects, even controlling their own rhythm.
According to Kimer and Siscoutto (2007), the possibility for the user to interact with a realistic virtual environment in real-time, seeing the scenes change in response to their commands, makes the interaction richer and more natural, providing greater engagement and efficiency, especially when related to the characteristics and needs of special education.
Virtual Reality can be considered as one of the possibilities that technology offers to mediate educational processes aimed at attracting the student's attention, positively interfering with engagement in learning and retention of that learning (MARINS, HAGUENAUER, CUNHA, 2007).
Another characteristic of this technology that is of interest to Education is the fact that it adapts to different ways of learning, respecting characteristics, such as each person's learning pace. This is especially important for Inclusive Education, which aims to serve all students in their uniqueness.
For people who have difficulty understanding equations and theories, VR can be used to materialize their elements. For those who are visual rather than verbal and prefer graphs and images to explanations and formulas, VR is also useful due to its highly visual aspect.
For people who prefer to learn through exploration, VR can allow for detailed analysis that is often impossible through other means.
Finally, for those who prefer to learn actively, interacting with the environment, rather than obtaining passive and introspective learning, VR provides interactive environments, allowing direct manipulation with an environment that responds to the user's actions (BARILLI, 2007) .
Virtual reality is a powerful resource to assist in the development of people with disabilities, as it allows to offer a safe, repeatable and diverse environment during learning, respecting the pace of each student.
The literature recognizes the potential benefits of virtual reality in supporting the learning process, particularly related to social situations, in children with autism (Strickland et al. 2007). The realism of the simulated environment allows people with autism to learn important skills (Strickland, 2007).
Furthermore, virtual reality is often more suitable for learning than real environments, because:
1. Removes competing and confusing stimuli from the social and environmental context;
2. Controls time using short pauses to clarify to participants the variables involved in the interaction processes;
3. Allows students to learn while playing.Several authors (BELL; FOGLER, 1995; MANTOVANI, 2003; STANDEN; BROWN, 2006) point out advantages of using VR for educational purposes.
According to these authors, VR:
• Allows the apprentice to develop the work at their own pace;
• Requires interaction, requiring each participant to become active within a visualization process;
• Illustrates characteristics and processes, more powerfully than other multimedia media;
• Allows you to view details of objects;
• Allows you to view objects that are at great distances;
• Allows you to carry out virtual experiments, in the absence of resources to carry out a real experiment;
• Allows the learner to redo experiments in a timeless way, outside the regular class period;• Encourages creativity;
• It favors the fixation of content in the short and long term and creates a new individualized way of representing knowledge, providing better processing of information;
• Creates the opportunity to learn by making mistakes, but without suffering humiliation or disastrous consequences of mistakes made;Other benefits that can be observed with the use of Virtual Reality in education are (MARINS; HAGUENAUER; CUNHA, 2007):
• VR makes learning more interesting and fun, which increases student motivation and attention, and can even reduce school dropout rates.
• Cost reduction, when using the real object/environment is more expensive than the simulation;
• Increases knowledge retention through the feeling of realism;
• Improves the transfer of learning to the real world;
• Eliminates risks and dangers for the environment, the teacher or the learner, which means that VR-based simulations are increasingly being used in military training, medicine, aviation and in fields where decisions and actions of apprentices can be dangerous.
Finally, a study carried out by PWC (2020) evaluated the effectiveness of using virtual reality for skills training and showed that:
1. VR students learn 4 times faster than in the classroom.
2. VR learners are 275% more confident applying skills learned after training. Confidence is a key factor in success when learning social skills and VR allows practice in dealing with difficult situations in a safe environment.
3. VR students are 3.75 times more emotionally connected to content than students in traditional classes. When emotions are involved, people connect, understand and remember things more deeply. VR simulation-based learning provides the opportunity for individuals to feel as though they have had a meaningful experience.
4. VR learners are 4 times more focused than their e-learning counterparts, this is because VR simulations and immersive experiences require individuals' full attention and vision.
Therafy software was specially created to promote the development of people with disabilities, with the support of technology.
A team of experts in human development and immersive technology came together to build a platform completely adapted to the reality of people with disabilities, especially for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder, who have very specific characteristics in their relationship with sensory stimuli.
Our experiences and tests developed throughout 2021, 2022 and 2023 showed that students with disabilities learn to use virtual reality glasses quickly, interact efficiently and demonstrate engagement with the activity.
Furthermore, previous research has shown significant improvements in skill performance after using Virtual Reality. In addition to technology developing new educational and therapeutic possibilities, VR can also generate cultural and emotional intermediations and facilitate the development of logical and cognitive capabilities.
The Institute for Research and Treatment for Autism Spectrum Disorders (TRIAD, 2015) states that autistic children interact better with machines than with therapists.
Therefore, it can be said that digital games are important facilitators of school and extra-class activities, as they are intuitive, stimulating and easy to use.
In this way, the use of VR tools, added to knowledge about special education, is very promising and can help educators facilitate the development of people with disabilities, promoting improved quality of life and facilitating their integration into the family and society.
REFERENCES
BARILLI, E. C. V. C. Application of Virtual Reality Methods and Techniques to Support Distance Educational Processes that Require the Development of Motor Skills. Thesis (Doctorate in Civil Engineering - Computer Systems) 2007 262p. COPPE, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 2007.
BELL, J. T.; FOGLER, H. S. The Investigation and Application of Virtual Reality as an Educational Tool. In: Proceedings Of The American Society For Engineering Education Annual Conference, Anaheim, CA, June 1995.
CARDOSO, A. An Architecture for Elaborating Interactive Virtual Experiments supported by non-immersive Virtual Reality. 2002. 163p. Thesis (Doctorate). University of São Paulo - USP, São Paulo, 2002
FREITAS, M. R. LudosTop: Game Strategy and Virtual Reality with a view to developing logical-mathematical thinking. 2008. 137p. Dissertation (Master of Science). Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Federal University of Uberlândia. Uberlândia, 2008.
KIRNER, C.; SISCOUTTO, R. A. Fundamentals of Virtual and Augmented Reality. In: (org.). Virtual and Augmented Reality: Concepts, Projects and Applications. Pre-Symposium Book IX Symposium on Virtual and Augmented Reality. Editora SBC - Brazilian Computing Society, Porto Alegre, 2007.
MANTOVANI, F. VR Learning: Potential and Challenges for the Use of 3D Environments in Education and Training. In: Riva. G; Galimberti C. (Eds.) Towards Cyber Psychology: Mind, Cognitions and Society in the Internet Age. Amsterdam, IOS Press, © 2003 p. 208-226.
MARINS, V.; HAGUENAUER, C.; CUNHA, G. Virtual Reality in Education: Creating Learning Objects with VRML. Colabor@ - The Digital Magazine of CVARICESU. 4(15), 2007.
STANDEN, P. J.; BROWN, D. J. Virtual reality and its role in removing the barriers that turn cognitive impairments into intellectual disability. Virtual Reality. Springer. 2006 рр. 241-252.PWC. The Effectiveness of virtual reality soft skills training in the enterprise, 2020.
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