^{This project was developed as part of “fuels – Future Learning Spaces” in 2024 .}

The immersive 360° lab tour offers an innovative and interactive learning scenario for pupils. The Biology Learning Lab at the Technical University of Darmstadt can be experienced virtually using a VR headset. With this new offer, pupils can explore the laboratory as a 360° environment at school and experience a realistic, immersive learning world.

Following the successful development of the application in 2023 , the project was brought to school in spring 2024. A didactic concept was developed and tested in a pilot phase in close collaboration with teachers from one of our partner schools.

Pilot project in year 7

The pilot project was carried out with Year 7 pupils. The integration of the immersive 360° lab tour is particularly suitable for this year group, as the Hessian core curriculum provides for the introduction of research equipment to gain knowledge in biology lessons. At the partner school, science lessons in this year group are also taught on an epochal basis, which enables smaller class sizes and thus promotes practice-orientated learning.

To seamlessly integrate the project into the school routine, a lesson plan with three consecutive sessions has been developed. Each session lasts for a double period. To support and ensure the results, a script has been created to guide the pupils through the individual lessons.

Project Schedule

First Session: Immersive 360° Laboratory Tour
The first session takes the pupils into the virtual lab using VR headsets. This double lesson is divided into three sections: Onboarding, tutorial on handling and the actual 360° lab journey. First, the VR headset and its handling are introduced in a specially produced video. The pupils then use the VR headset in teams of two, with one person taking the virtual lab tour and the other acting as an accompanying person. They document the functions of the explored laboratory equipment in the script.
The tutorial, which starts in the VR headset, helps pupils to familiarise themselves with the 360° environment and understand how the controllers and buttons work. During the lab tour, a total of 23 lab devices and their possible uses are explained with the help of multimedia content such as videos and audio files. Interactive elements such as quizzes also contribute to gamification.

Second Session: Expert Roundtable
This session serves to consolidate and expand on the learning results from the first session. At the beginning, a guessing game is carried out to activate knowledge, in which the pupils complete the script. The teams of two then present selected laboratory equipment in short presentations with the help of posters. Any open questions are noted down so that they can be put to the university experts on the third day.

Third session: Practical application
In the last session, the theoretical knowledge is applied in practice. The TU Darmstadt team will bring along various small devices that have already been presented in the virtual lab. The pupils now have the opportunity to work with these devices and gain practical experience.
During the pilot phase, there was great enthusiasm for working with the devices, with many pupils recognising the devices and finding them easier to use thanks to the VR training. Alternatively, this session can also be replaced by a visit to the learning lab.

Future prospects of the project

The project received consistently positive feedback from pupils and teachers. Due to its great success, the programme will not only be continued, but even expanded. There are plans to run the project with an entire 7th grade, consisting of five school classes, in January 2025.

#Size --> Spaces
#Tag --> at school
#Technologie --> 360° in combination with VR Headset
#Didactic --> orientation, serious game, explorative
Learn more about the fuels taxonomy

Dr. Guido Klees / Director Learning Lab
Dr. Kirsten Santelmann / Learning Lab
Markus Weber / Projektleitung fuels – E-Learning Group – TU Darmstadt