Abstract:
This study examines the use of virtual reality (VR) in programming, specifically in
visualization of sorting methods. Addressing students’ needs to better understand
and implement sorting methods, “VR sorting” application was developed to
visualize the bubble sorting and selection sorting abstract methods in the VR
environment. The effects of visualization were evaluated drawing on an extended
taxonomy, specifically developed by the authors of this study. The results indicate
that VR might significantly enhance students’ understanding of sorting tasks,
further allowing them to employ these skills in practice. Specifically, 76.9% of
students, who studied sorting methods in virtual environment drawing on “VR
sorting” application, demonstrated higher outcomes in implementing sorting
tasks. VR visualization of sorting methods, differs from existing ways of visualizing
learning in the context of constructivism. Since VR allows the student to construct
the algorithm himself directly interacting machine memory in the form of cells
where the data is stored and managing the progress of sorting. These results shed
some light to future research avenues on VR enabled constructive visualization.
