Diálogos entre las experiencias con realidad virtual y las actividades prácticas para favorecer el pensamiento de diseño

Abstract

In this research, we studied what types of dialogues between virtual reality and material experiences were necessary to promote design thinking, in relation to problem solving in the environment of high school students. Design thinking encourages students to integrate knowledge for problem solving, promoting confidence in creative problem solving in an innovative way (Li,2022). However, in public schools in Latin American countries, the availability of technology laboratories and materials for practices and prototype design is limited, (Reveduc,2019). On the other hand, virtual reality is a technology that has already been studied in different educational applications with quite promising results, (Samar, 2022). This research contributed to the knowledge about how design thinking can be promoted with virtual reality experiences and practical activities, in public school environments in developing countries such as Colombia. In the research, a didactic proposal was designed with virtual reality experiences and practical activities included in the five phases of the D.school design thinking model (2023). The didactic proposal was implemented in the selected population, to later evaluate whether design thinking was favored. The research population was 238 students from public high schools in Colombia and 5 teachers from the technology and computer science area. The research was based on the constructivist paradigm, with a mixed approach, with a design-based research methodology, (Plomp, 2010). Quantitative and qualitative instruments were used. The quantitative instruments used were the design thinking scale, applied to students, an instrument designed by Luecha (2021), and validated by 138 teachers in the STEM field on the Asian continent, and a follow-up rubric questionnaire completed by the participating teachers. Regarding the qualitative instruments, a questionnaire was used for the semi-structured interviews with teachers and a questionnaire with open questions for students. The dimensions with the best results were those of full attention in the process, where convergent and divergent thinking processes were carried out to find solutions to. the identified problems. Positive results were also observed in the dimension of learning orientation, where the realization of learning experiences was promoted. And a favorable result was achieved in the dimension of creative confidence related to the processes of creating models and changes in them, through iterations in the solutions. Likewise, teachers showed a positive contribution of virtual reality, especially in the stages of prototyping and evaluation of solutions.