Upper Primary Students Constructing and Exploring Three Dimensional Shapes: A Comparison of Virtual Reality with Card Nets

A grade six/seven class which constructed and explored 3D shapes worlds with the VREAM program was compared with a grade five/six/seven control group which constructed and examined shapes from card nets. Students were tested on visualizing appearance of shapes from alternative viewpoints, recognition of shapes in the environment, and writing shape names, before and after the learning phase. Ease of using Virtual Reality (VR), and student engagement with VR were observed informally. VR had little impact on shape visualization and name writing, but strongly enhanced recognition. Students had no major difficulty in using the VREAM program, and enthusiasm for VR was unanimous and sustained.