#834: From Solo to Collaborative: Design Affordances in Multi-User Immersive VR Simulations for Transforming Science Learning

Immersive virtual reality (IVR) shows promise for science learning by enabling visualization of microscopic phenomena and dynamic processes. However, research has focused predominantly on individual learning experiences, overlooking the social nature of learning. This study investigates the collaborative affordances of multi-user IVR for science education through participatory design, involving six teams of undergraduate students and educators who co-created IVR learning simulations. Findings revealed seven science learning affordances: microscopic visualization, spatial relationships, scale traversal, representational connections, perspective-taking, temporal phenomena, and procedural skills—which multi-user IVR amplified through embodied communication, role-taking that grounds collaborative discourse, and distributed perspectives that require coordination. Analysis of designs highlights how narrative structures establish group-worthy joint tasks, fostering six collaborative activity types. Variations in structuring collaborative processes emerged from play-level scripts with undifferentiated roles, and scene-level scripts with defined roles enhancing interdependence. Results provide design insights for leveraging IVR’s spatial and embodied features in collaborative science learning.