Activities for pedagogical purposes are implemented following instructional techniques; being these in turn part of the strategies; Therefore, in education there is a great diversity of educational resources that are used in the teaching and learning processes, that are part of a remarkable contribution. In Mexico, at the basic and upper secondary levels, the educational model is currently based on competencies. Where it is sought that the student has the necessary tools to face the situations of daily life, so the use of Virtual Reality (VR) would allow students to find themselves in virtual immersive situations similar to the real ones and prepare for the real world. The VR opens an option in the teaching-learning process that allows students to live experiences that they may not be able to live in the real world, but in a virtual world they can experience it.
In general, mathematical skills have become the most difficult skills seen by students [
With the great technological development that has occurred in recent years, we can see how technology has led to what some authors call the new "social revolution", with the development of "the information society". With this, we want to refer to the fact that the raw material "information" will be the engine of this new society, and around it, new professions and jobs will arise, or existing professions will be adapted. We see a clear example in education where technology is used to a greater extent every day, where ICTs allow the development of new electronic teaching materials that use different media.
For this reason, the work of the classroom and outside of it in education has undergone important
changes thanks to the inclusion of ICT in education. According to the OECD report [
2022 Copyright for this paper by its authors.
One of the many sections of technology is Virtual Reality, technology that is considered new;
however, it has been in use since 1965 when the first case was built and the first program was created
[
Allowing in each area an advance and understanding of the processes in an interactive and immersive way; by the very nature of technology; which allows its use in a natural way in the teaching-learning process, where it is sought to obtain new tools to benefit the fulfillment of competences in the students.
The basis of most Virtual Reality applications focuses on using the theory that directly experienced
knowledge is better retained than when listening to or observing a situation; This theory uses the concept
of knowledge in the first person[
The implementation of didactic learning methods has been tested in a large number of works.
According to a study by Bloxham and Wileman [
Taking into account these possibilities, not only is it possible to improve the teaching-learning process, but it would allow students to have the opportunity to live experiences that in many cases they already have at an adult age or many occasions such situations cannot be experienced; An example is being able to interact with ecosystems, animals, plants, cities that are not in the student's place of origin.
In Mexico, the teaching-learning process is undergoing a series of reforms that seek to privilege the
achievement of skills by students and that they achieve a construction of their knowledge through lived
experiences [
The model for the development of virtual reality applications in learning determines the necessary
elements for the development of virtual reality educational environments to be used in the
teachinglearning process of the students. Scenarios are designed primarily that allow a playful environment for
students that by integrating components such as; rules, achievements, prizes, 3D models, interaction,
and immersion, allow achieving the skills and learning objectives set by the teachers, with special
emphasis on facilitating the explanation of complex or abstract concepts [
Analysis of learning objectives
Stage Design
Implementation
Scenery Virtual used by students
For the first phase corresponding to the analysis of learning objectives, it is proposed as a phase of analysis of requirements, where the goals, educational needs and competencies that are desired to be fulfilled in the student's learning are defined. In order to be included in the script of the virtual reality educational environment. In the second phase; stage design; It will be the modeling and creation phase of each of the virtual reality elements that allow the fulfillment of the learning objectives set out in the previous phase; to carry out the development of the application and to be able to fulfill the necessary elements for virtual reality applications. In the last phase corresponding to the implementation, the interpretation of the learning objectives and the design of the scenario for the realization of the technical specifications required by the system take place, obtaining as a result the virtual scenario that is the set of elements that implement the requirements and models obtained in the previous phases, with which the student will have the interaction to fulfill objectives and develop skills in their learning process.
For virtual reality applications, the objective is to give the user the sensation that he is in the place that the virtual world shows, so we require a set of elements that allow said sensation. Among the main elements that virtual reality applications have are those shown in Figure 2 and described below: • Script: based on the goals set in the learning objective analysis phase, it will guide the user to meet goals and develop skills. • Materials and textures: Digital components for the construction of objects for the virtual world, providing characteristics and realism to the objects. • 3D Models: Objects that will model reality on the virtual stage for interaction with the user. • Scenario: definition of the place and/or environment where the student is for the fulfillment of objective. • Immersion: defines the level of immersion that the user will have in virtual reality, use of glasses, helmets, 360 audio and video components that allow students to feel in the virtual world. • Interaction: components for the identification of the student in the real world and transfer actions and movements to the virtual world. Use of monitoring system and controls to carry out actions.
The sum of the above elements make up the virtual reality educational environment, where through
the implementation of video, audio and user monitoring resources, they will contribute to the degree of
immersion that the student can have. The virtual reality educational environment will allow students to
carry out practical activities of their skills in a safe environment, becoming excellent educational tools
[
The set of components mentioned above can increase the school development of students, improving
their cognitive skills, obtaining skills defined by the education model and improving attention and
concentration in solving specific problems due to its playful nature [
Following the proposed model, the table of key learnings for integral education was carried out
together with the teachers (table 1) that according to the “Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP)”
establish the competencies that basic education students must comply [
Analyze sequences of numbers and figures with arithmetic and geometric progression Formulates first degree expressions to represent properties (perimeters and areas) of geometric figures and verifies the equivalence of expressions, both algebraically and geometrically (analysis of figures).
Locates objects and places whose location is unknown, by interpreting spatial relationships and landmarks.
Represents and describes orally or in writing routes to go from one place to another in their immediate environment (classroom, home, school) or in their community.
Read, interpret and design sketches, plans and maps to communicate orally or in writing the location of beings or objects and routes.
Solve situations involving the location of points on the Cartesian plane.
Reproduces models with shapes, figures and geometric bodies.
Build configurations with shapes, figures and geometric bodies.
Construct and analyze geometric figures, particularly triangles and quadrilaterals, by comparing sides, angles, parallelism, perpendicularity, and symmetry.
With the selected skills and the expected learning, defining the requirements established by the teachers, a selection of virtual reality applications was made that allow students to develop and fulfill the skills of geometry and special thinking. The list of applications, skills and description of the scenario is shown in the table 2.
In the present work, the general model for the development of virtual reality applications to be used in the teaching-learning process and a review of virtual reality applications that allow the development of geometry and spatial thinking skills are taken as a starting point. As future work, the model will be taken to adapt it in the development of virtual reality applications that allow to fulfill the competences of geometry and special thinking in basic education, implementing virtual reality applications developed and existing in the market with kindergarten students and primary schools in the state of Aguascalientes.