VR shows where pupils should sit

Virtual reality helps a study find out whether the seat at school has an influence on the students' grades. The result shows that the closer you are to the teacher, the better your grades.

Where did you sit most often at school? At the front, at the back or even in the middle? And what were your average grades? Wasn't it always said: the nerds sit in the front, the class clowns in the back? The LEAD (Learning, Educational Achievement and Life Course Development) research team at the University of Göttingen wanted to find out whether there is actually a connection between where students sit in class and their grades. University of Tübingen know. Their study was published in the journal Learning and Instruction.

Same teaching situation, different seating

Under the direction of Dr Karl Guido Rijkhoek, a virtual classroom was created for the study. All 81 participants in the Study The participating children (grades 5 and 6) were given virtual reality goggles for the study. This meant that they all saw exactly the same teaching situation - but from different seats: Either at the front near the teacher or at the back in the last row. A lesson in mathematics was on the agenda. Which students learned better?

Das Experiment zeigte ein deutliches Ergebnis. „Nach der gemeinsamen Mathematikstunde im virtuellen Klassenzimmer lösten die Schülerinnen und Schüler der vorderen Sitzreihen Mathematikaufgaben schneller als die der hinteren Reihe“, fasst Erstautorin Friederike Blume, die im Bereich Schulpsychologie forscht, zusammen. Auffällig dabei: Jene SchülerInnen, die der Lehrkraft am nächsten waren, schnitten ab besten ab.

Teachers to walk through the classroom more

The reason for the poorer performance of the pupils in the back rows is the distraction of their classmates, for example by the whispering or fidgeting of the other children.

„Wichtig ist nun, zu überlegen, wie in einem echten Klassenzimmer alle Kinder gleichermassen von der Nähe zur Lehrkraft profitieren können“, sagt Blume. Die Lehrer könnten sich demzufolge während des Unterrichts bewusst öfter durch das Klassenzimmer bewegen oder die Sitzposition der SchülerInnen während eines Schuljahres wechseln.

Source: brigitte

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