2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Virtual reality (VR), one of the leading technologies in immersive learning, has the potential to transform the teaching of mechanical engineering by providing interactive, 3D learning environments. Traditional teaching methods in mechanical engineering often rely heavily on theoretical concepts and offer limited practical demonstrations. However, giving students hands-on experience with advanced machinery, such as scanning probe microscopes (SPM) and transmission electron microscopes (TEM), poses significant challenges. These challenges arise from factors like cost constraints, limited availability, and safety concerns. These machines are prohibitively expensive to acquire and maintain, making it impractical for many educational institutions to provide widespread access. Even when such equipment is available, the limited number of units often restricts students' opportunities for meaningful hands-on experiences. Moreover, operating these sophisticated machines requires extensive training, and improper use can pose risks to both students and equipment. Consequently, institutions are often cautious about granting unrestricted access. Collectively, these limitations hinder the depth and quality of the learning experience, preventing students from fully exploring and understanding complex mechanical systems and materials in practical settings.

VR addresses these challenges by providing virtual learning environments where students can visualize complex mechanical systems and investigate engineering materials at the atomic level without the need for costly equipment or risk. This technology can be seamlessly integrated into engineering materials classes to facilitate the visualization and interaction with both microscopic and macroscopic material structures. With VR, students can explore crystal lattices, grain boundaries, and molecular structures in detail, gaining a deeper understanding of how elements function as building blocks and how materials differ at the atomic level. This immersive exploration enables students to analyze materials in ways not possible within current physical settings. Through VR, students can also visualize various crystal structures, such as body-centered cubic, face-centered cubic, simple cubic, and hexagonal close-packed formations, as well as observe different types of dislocations and phase diagrams.

In this study, two groups of students enrolled in engineering materials classes participated in an experiment to evaluate the impact of VR on enhancing their understanding. The first group studied atomic structures of materials using traditional theoretical textbooks, while the second group utilized VR to visualize these structures in an immersive environment. Both groups were assessed using the same set of questions, allowing for a direct comparison of the effectiveness of each learning method.

The test results revealed a significant difference in performance: the non-VR group achieved an average score of 67%, whereas the VR group scored an impressive 91%. This substantial increase highlights the effectiveness of VR as a learning tool. Additionally, survey results supported these findings, with over 90% of respondents reporting that VR significantly enhanced their understanding of crystal structures compared to traditional methods.