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RESEARCH PRODUCT

L’apprentissage en environnement virtuel : rôle du guidage et du feedback sur la compréhension des écosystèmes forestiers

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As part of the E-Fran project, we studied cognitive processes related to learning in order to optimize a virtual reality forest simulator. This thesis work resulted in four experiments involving a test of multimedia learning principles (Mayer, 2009, 2014,2021) in virtual reality, as well as the cognitive mechanisms underlying acquisitions in the forest ecosystem domain. Our first study focused on learning about the decomposition of organic matter with over 100 5th grade students. We created a 3D environment respecting the principle of semantic coherence in order to compare two groups of students who studied either the lesson according to a fixed semantically coherent presentation or the lesson according to a free, complete presentation. This study confirmed that fixed semantically consistent learning was preferable in complex VR learning with young students. In a second study on the same theme and with a population of 230 5th grade students, we tested the principle of temporal contiguity and the conditions for integrating verbal information (audio commentary) and visual information. The material proposed was identical to that of the first experiment but was presented in the form of a non-interactive video in which the audio was presented either 6 seconds or 2 seconds before or after the visual information. One group studied this video with synchronization (0 seconds) between the verbal and pictorial information. This allowed us to assess the degree of disruption of multimodal learning in a complex 3D environment when verbal and pictorial information are not presented simultaneously. The results indicated that a time lag of only 2 seconds between verbal and pictorial information significantly harmed comprehension and learning. This result provided insight into the design of our latest experiment on the importance of visual guidance, signalling, and feedback in an immersive virtual reality forest environment in which 360° information can be extracted from a multitude of elements. The experimental task, proposed to more than 100 last year students of an agricultural high school, involved a diagnosis of the ecosystem of forest areas in VR with a goal of building a public reception area. The results showed a significant positive effect of visual signalling and feedback on the diagnostic performance and on the retrieval in working memory of the relevant information needed to elaborate corrcet diagnosis.