Improving the interactivity of chemistry in junior and senior secondary schools in Ghana through virtual reality
Date
2016-04
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Virtual Reality has been around since the 1960’s but it was a very expensive technology until
Oculus and Google released the Oculus Rift and the Google Cardboard VR headset in 2015
respectively. These releases have made virtual reality more affordable and there has been an
increase in apps and materials to develop content. The Virtual Chemistry Lab is a mobile
application in VR that aims to allow to students simulate experiments in a virtual lab via the
Google Cardboard.
The focus of the project is to improve the interactivity of chemistry in Senior Secondary
Schools in Ghana. The current Integrated Science and Elective Chemistry syllabus assigns a
lot of time on practical sessions. However, this has not been the case in some Ghanaian schools
due to many challenges such as the lack of infrastructure and resources in many rural parts of
Ghana.
This paper outlines the various tools and processes used in building and testing the Virtual
Chemistry Lab. It also outlines the challenges encountered during the development of the
application and how they were solved to achieve the desired outcomes. It will discuss the
feedback received from the users who were interviewed and tested the application.
Finally, this paper will evaluates the application and discuss the future of virtual reality in
education in Ghana.
Description
Applied project submitted to the Department of Computer Science, Ashesi University College, in partial fulfillment of Bachelor of Science degree, in April 2016
item.page.type
Applied project
item.page.format
Keywords
virtual reality, Virtual Chemistry Lab, Ghana, senior high school