Development and evaluation of a cospaces edu-based virtual reality environment to support conceptual understanding of solid geometry

Source abstract

Background: Junior high school students often experience difficulties visualizing three-dimensional objects, distinguishing surface area from volume, and connecting two- and three-dimensional representations. However, evidence on CoSpaces Edu-based VR for supporting conceptual understanding of solid geometry remains limited. Aims: This study aimed to develop and evaluate a CoSpaces Edu-based VR environment to support eighth-grade students’ conceptual understanding of solid geometry. Method: This Research and Development study employed the ADDIE model. The media was reviewed by two experts and piloted with 45 eighth-grade students selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected using expert validation sheets, a student response questionnaire, and six-item pretest and posttest instruments. Analyses assessed validity, student-perceived practicality, instrument reliability, and changes in conceptual understanding. Results: The media obtained an average Aiken’s V of 0.78, indicating very good validity, while student responses yielded a practicality score of 87.85%, categorized as very practical. The student response questionnaire showed high internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.94), while the pretest and posttest yielded KR-20 coefficients of 0.68 and 0.60, respectively. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed a significant pretest–posttest difference (p < 0.001) with a large effect size (r = 0.85). The average normalized gain was 53.78%, indicating limited relative improvement. Conclusion: The developed environment showed preliminary classroom usability and changes in conceptual-understanding scores, but the limited normalized gain indicates that conceptual improvement remained partial.