5.3. Implications and future research
Immersive simulation, as the study findings suggested, helps to create a joint problem space and plunge learners in active interpersonal and simulation-learner interactions for experiential learning. Learning artifacts in an immersive simulation, including the simulation system input and output as well as peer interaction/feedback, have presented a multi-embodiment and a shared representation of the targeted concepts and science system for collaborative learners. On the other hand, immersing learners in a system may fails to provide an exocentric perspective for learners to perform purposeful reflective thinking about the interactions with and dynamics of the simulation system. A corresponding design proposition is to create a simulation-based learning space that will award and scaffold learners to co-explore the system and content via not only firstperson role-play experiences, but also observatory or reflective evaluations (e.g., peer- and self-critiques). The study found that a regular classroom set-up can work as an equally effective and cost-efficient alternative to a surrounding, exclusive-space set-up for 3D science simulations. A design inference, based on the study findings, is that the learning effectiveness of an immersive simulation (especially in the context of conceptual understanding) relies on the functional fidelity more than sensory and psychological ones. In this study, both contexts of the 3D simulations generate similar learning interactions and actions e the way that learners interact with their peers and the simulation environment is generally the same). Hence the level of the functional similarity between the simulated task and the real-world operation in both simulation settings remains similar, which explains the equality of learning effectiveness of the two simulation settings. Still, much work remains to be done to determine the best ways to use immersive simulations in collaborative learning settings, and to examine the design of physical, functional, and psychological facets of the simulation fidelity to build learning-constructive immersion. Future research should further investigate the aforementioned research issues by involving a larger study sample, and focusing on evaluating procedural and ill-structured problem solving in addition to conceptual understanding as the learning outcomes.
