USE OF VIRTUAL REALITY IN A PHYSICS COURSE FOR ENGINEERING STUDENTS

Abstract

The purpose of all graduation profiles of engineering programs is for future engineers to have the skills to identify, formulate, and solve problems. However, to propose and develop a solution to a complex problem it is necessary to understand and visualize it properly. In a physics course, the idea of the direction of the magnetic field is traditionally explained using an arrow with a dot at the beginning and a cross or tail at the end. The student is left with the task of imagining the arrow, to determine if the direction of the magnetic field “enters” or “exits”. For this reason, in the Electricity and Magnetism course in which 108 students from the second year of engineering participated, an activity was designed so that, through virtual reality, students can better visualize the abstract concepts of physical phenomena, favoring thus a deeper, interactive and meaningful learning experience. We show that there is an improvement in the understanding of the direction of the magnetic field and an adequate interpretation of the magnetic force in different situations