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Exploring the Social Interaction of Autistic Students of Elementary and Junior High School Students Through the Teaching of Social Skills and Learning Process in Virtual Reality

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Abstract

With the development of global technology and teaching trends, digital technology teaching has become a common phenomenon today. This study uses the virtual reality social skills course to teach ten autistic students for Elementary and Junior High School, with the theme of “One Art Tour with Students” and four key points in the 12-year National Basic Education Curriculum. In virtual reality situational teaching, through t test analysis, it is found that inappropriate social behavior is obviously improved, and environmental adaptability is also greatly improved. Through interviews, parents and teachers believe that children’s social skills have improved. In addition, the research found that some problems must be noticed in the actual teaching process, including (1) black picture in virtual reality; (2) students control the handle controller in the virtual reality; and (3) definition of virtual space. The situations mentioned above should be handled with caution, they may affect the effectiveness of students' learning and involve the safety of the teaching process. These findings are suitable for virtual reality teaching and operation of students with autism, so opinions are provided to the field scholars as a reference.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) (MOST 109-2511-H-007-009- MY1). The name of the project is “A study related to the effectiveness of constructing and applying Virtual Reality Teaching System to the social skill training for students with autism”.

Funding

This study was funded by Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST 109-2511-H-007-009-MY1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Special Education, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu City, Taiwan ROC

    Ying-Ru Meng

  2. Department of Education Psychology and Counseling, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu City, Taiwan ROC

    Chia-Chi Yeh

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  1. Ying-Ru Meng
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  2. Chia-Chi Yeh
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Correspondence to Chia-Chi Yeh.

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This article is part of the topical collection “Applications of Cloud Computing, Data Analytics and Building Secure Networks” guest edited by Rajnish Sharma, Pao-Ann Hsiung and Sagar Juneja.

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Meng, YR., Yeh, CC. Exploring the Social Interaction of Autistic Students of Elementary and Junior High School Students Through the Teaching of Social Skills and Learning Process in Virtual Reality. SN COMPUT. SCI. 3, 55 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42979-021-00914-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42979-021-00914-z

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