Students’ motivational beliefs and strategies, perceived immersion and attitudes towards science learning with immersive virtual reality: A partial least squares analysis

Abstract Researchers have been devoted to exploring the impacts of immersive virtual reality (IVR) on education in recent years. However, efforts to probe the role of students’ learning traits such as motivated strategies for learning in their IVR learning have been limited. Most studies commonly analyzed learners’ perceptions of immersion with a single construct rather than with multiple constructs. Therefore, this study implemented immersive virtual field trips for science learning in three elementary classes (a total of 76 students) for understanding how students’ inherent self‐efficacy, intrinsic value and self‐regulation for science learning related to their perceived immersion (ie, basic attention, temporal dissociation, transportation, emotional involvement, enjoyment) and attitudes (ie, perceived usefulness and behaviors of IVR learning) when engaging in IVR learning environments. The reliability and validity of the constructs in the PLS‐SEM path modeling were first confirmed. This study further identified that motivation of intrinsic value and self‐regulation may play a dominant role in the students’ learning attitudes in IVR environments for science education. It was also verified that the students’ immersive experiences of attention and enjoyment significantly mediated their IVR learning. Notably, the students with lower levels of self‐efficacy may have been more immersed in IVR environments and further held positive learning attitudes. The findings of this study have implications for practicing IVR‐related learning activities in elementary classrooms with considerations of learners’ psychological characteristics and perceived immersion when confronting IVR technology. Practitioner Notes What is already known about this topic Students’ motivational characteristics influences their learning in online environments. Students’ perceived immersion in VR learning context is related to their learning perceptions and predict positive affection. What this paper adds Understanding the structural relationships among young students’ motivational characteristics, perceived immersion, and learning attitudes towards their IVR learning. Identifying a dominant role of motivation of intrinsic value and self‐regulation in students’ learning attitudes in IVR environments for science education. Verifying the mediating effects of immersion on the relationships between motivational characteristics for science learning and learning attitudes. Implications for practice and/or policy IVR‐related learning activities in classrooms may benefit the students with low level of self‐efficacy for science learning. Scaffolding approaches (e.g., prompts for observing virtual elements) might be considered to support those students with limited self‐regulatory skills to learn science in the context of IVR. The immersion factors of basic attention and enjoyment were highlighted when designing or implementing IVR learning activities in classrooms.