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“It’s Like I’m Really There”: Using VR Experiences for STEM Career Development

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Abstract

Research suggests that the likelihood of students entering into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers can be increased by promoting and maintaining students’ interest in STEM during middle school years, a critical developmental stage when students’ interests begin to solidify. One way to attract students to STEM is through technology-enhanced learning environments and experiences, which can spark and cultivate the long-term interest needed to pursue STEM careers. Virtual reality (VR) can potentially increase access to such STEM-related experiences for all students due to its educational and technological affordances. Currently, there has been little exploration of the intersection between VR and career development for K-12 students. This study, therefore, aims to address this gap by exploring the use of VR 360 videos for STEM career exploration. Data were collected using focus group interviews with 39 primarily Latinx middle school students who participated in the summer enrichment program. These interviews were conducted immediately after a VR 360 video activity that featured female characters and/or characters from racial minorities in order to best support students who are underrepresented in STEM fields. The findings support the potential of VR as a tool for career development as long as content, possible physical side effects, and scaffolding are considered. The implications for research and practice are discussed.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. AISL-1713547.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jacobs Institute for Innovation in Education, School of Leadership and Education Sciences, University of San Diego, San Diego, USA

    Yang Jiang & Yaoran Li

  2. Learning Health Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

    Vitaliy Popov

  3. Mathematics and Computer Science Department, College of Arts and Sciences, University of San Diego, San Diego, USA

    Perla L. Myers

  4. Department of Industrial Engineering, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, University of San Diego, San Diego, USA

    Odesma Dalrymple

  5. School of Leadership and Education Sciences, University of San Diego, San Diego, USA

    Joi A. Spencer

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All procedures performed in this research, involving human participants, were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee (Review Board of Social Sciences at University of San Diego, IRB approval number IRB-2018–468). An informed consent was obtained from all individual participants or anonymous data collection was used.

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Appendices

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Interview question

Theoretical link

1)  What thoughts and feelings did you have during the VR experience?

Social cognitive career theory (SCCT): learning experiences and outcomes expectations

2)  What did you learn about jobs from the VR experience?

(a)  How did the VR experiences teach you this?

(b)  Did this make you want to go into this job more?

SCCT: self-efficacy and outcome expectations through vicarious learning

3)  What kind of job do you want to have?

(a)  Did you want this job before you saw the VR experience? Why?

(b) Did the VR experience make you want this job even more?

SCCT: self-efficacy, outcome expectations interests, choice goals, choice actions

Possible selves: hoped-for occupational and educational selves

4)  Can you imagine yourself in this job?

(a) YES

i)  Please describe how you imagine yourself in this job

i)  Did the VR experience help you imagine yourself in the job?

(1)  If so, why?

(2)  If not, why not?

(b)  NO

i)  Why can’t you imagine yourself in this job?

SCCT and possible selves

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Jiang, Y., Popov, V., Li, Y. et al. “It’s Like I’m Really There”: Using VR Experiences for STEM Career Development. J Sci Educ Technol 30, 877–888 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-021-09926-z

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