Fokides, E.; Vlachopoulou, C. Little Learners Go 360: Evaluating the Impact of 360° Videos on Kindergarten Students’ Understanding of Wild Animals. Appl. Sci.2024, 14, 5996.
Fokides, E.; Vlachopoulou, C. Little Learners Go 360: Evaluating the Impact of 360° Videos on Kindergarten Students’ Understanding of Wild Animals. Appl. Sci. 2024, 14, 5996.
Fokides, E.; Vlachopoulou, C. Little Learners Go 360: Evaluating the Impact of 360° Videos on Kindergarten Students’ Understanding of Wild Animals. Appl. Sci.2024, 14, 5996.
Fokides, E.; Vlachopoulou, C. Little Learners Go 360: Evaluating the Impact of 360° Videos on Kindergarten Students’ Understanding of Wild Animals. Appl. Sci. 2024, 14, 5996.
Abstract
In recent years, 360o videos have gained the attention of researchers investigating their educational potential. Given the ongoing debate about their impact on learning, particularly with young students where existing research is minimal, a comprehensive study was conducted to evaluate their effectiveness relative to other media forms. The study involved 44 kindergarten students learning about wild animals over nine sessions. The 360o videos were compared to printed materials and conventional videos to measure knowledge acquisition, motivation, enjoyment/positive feelings, immersion, and ease of use. The findings suggest that, compared to printed materials, 360o videos enhance knowledge acquisition. However, this advantage does not extend to comparisons with conventional videos. Similarly, while enjoyment and motivation were higher for 360o videos compared to printed materials, they did not surpass those associated with conventional videos. Despite their potential, 360o videos were deemed the least easy to use, likely due to the employment of low-cost HMDs. Immersion emerged as the only factor where 360o videos excelled, demonstrating a notable influence on learning outcomes. The implications of the study are also discussed.
Keywords
360o videos; kindergarten students; teaching of wild animals
Subject
Social Sciences, Education
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
