The Use of Immersive Technology in the Study of Mathematical Logics in

Secondary School

Vladyslav Ye. Velychko

1 a

, Elena G. Fedorenko

1 b

, Nataliia V. Kaidan

1,2 c

and Vadym P. Kaidan

3 d

Donbas State Pedagogical University, 19 Batiuk Str., Sloviansk, 64122, Ukraine

Limited Liability Company Technical University “Metinvest Polytechnic”, 80 Pivdenne Hwy, Zaporizhzhia, 69008,

Ukraine

University of Economics and Entrepreneurship, 13 Heroiv Maidanu Str., Khmelnytskyi, 29013, Ukraine

Keywords:

Mathematical Logics, Immersive Technology, Learning Tools.

Abstract:

The majority of information which a person perceives during their lifetime is received through the perception

of visual images. This rule is observed during the performance of any kind of activity. Therefore, not taking

into account the visual presentation of new knowledge during the learning process as well as its quality are

a mistake, which becomes an obstacle for the new generations to receive a quality education. Taking into

account the current realities and demands on the knowledge, skills and abilities acquired during the training,

the problem of using high-quality visual educational content is closely related to the development and use of

information and communication technologies. The work examines and analyzes the current state of the use of

immersive technologies in education, examines the possibilities and speciﬁcs of the use of virtual worlds in the

educational process. The practical results of approbation of virtual tools in the educational process are given.

A pedagogical experiment aimed at determining the effectiveness of immersive technologies in the realities of

Ukrainian education system has been launched.

1 INTRODUCTION

The tendencies of modernization of education depend

on the globalization processes in the world, the needs

of the labor market, external factors such as, for ex-

ample, the quarantine caused by COVID-19, and so

on. Considering this, the digitalization of the educa-

tion system opens up many prospects for quality im-

provement in the educational process. Thus, under

the conditions of the rapid development of informa-

tion and communication technologies (ICT), the ways

of teaching at schools of general education are chang-

ing.

For many years in a row, teachers have been us-

ing videos during classroom lessons to present the

theoretical part of the new material in the classroom.

Nowadays the ﬂipped classroom technology is gain-

ing popularity. The implementation of the technology

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9752-0907

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1897-874X

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4184-8230

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2008-3539

is not possible without the use of educational informa-

tion, which is based on video. However, the increase

in the level of learning with the help of electronic ed-

ucational resources based on the use of video clips

in the “Let’s Plays” genre cannot be seen. We note

that unlike previous generations of students who inter-

acted with websites, blogs, and educational channels

based on social media, the current generation learns

more through YouTube Let’s Plays and Twitch-based

video streams. The current younger generation does

not use books, web pages, or any of the technologies

traditionally used by older people.

The formation of a new format of digital literacy

is necessary for the participation of young people in

these, mostly special, educational environments. First

of all, it is the ability to record and edit videos, “cap-

turing” and broadcasting gameplay and other activi-

ties on the screen, a high level of technical communi-

cation, and the ability to inform and teach others by

performing complex tasks. The so-called immersive

technology, i.e. the technology that integrates the vir-

tual environment with the physical environment, be-

comes relevant, which allows users to naturally inter-

326

Velychko, V., Fedorenko, E., Kaidan, N. and Kaidan, V.

The Use of Immersive Technology in the Study of Mathematical Logics in Secondary School.

DOI: 10.5220/0012064100003431

In Proceedings of the 2nd Myroslav I. Zhaldak Symposium on Advances in Educational Technology (AET 2021), pages 326-337

ISBN: 978-989-758-662-0

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

act with the mixed reality, which includes two main

types of reality, as augmented (AR) and virtual (VR)

(Arbogast, 2019).

2 RESEARCH METHODS

In the process of the study, the theoretical and gen-

eral scientiﬁc methods were used to solve the tasks set

in the work: the analysis of psychological and peda-

gogical resources on the problem of the research to

understand the state of development of using immer-

sive technology in the study of mathematical logics

in secondary schools, the identiﬁcation of the areas of

research, the principles and approaches to the use of

immersive technology in teaching; a summary of na-

tional and foreign experience in the use of immersive

technology in secondary schools to identify the ten-

dencies of development, the clariﬁcation of the basic

conceptual and terminological framework, the estab-

lishment of the conceptual foundations of the study;

theoretical analysis, systematic analysis. In order to

solve the set tasks such empirical research methods

were used: the experimental study of the use of im-

mersive technologies in the study of mathematical

logics in the secondary school, the expert evaluation

of the results of the survey, the observation of the ini-

tial activities with the use of immersive technologies

in the educational activities.

3 LITERATURE REVIEW

Among the researchers, the problem of immersive

technologies in education was addressed by Babkin

et al. (Babkin et al., 2021), Burov and Pinchuk

(Burov and Pinchuk, 2021), Klochko and Fedorets

(Klochko and Fedorets, 2022), Kovalchuk et al. (Ko-

valchuk et al., 2020), Mintii (Mintii, 2023), Mintii and

Soloviev (Mintii and Soloviev, 2018), Shepiliev et al.

(Shepiliev et al., 2021). The concept of immersive

technologies is interpreted differently, so, for exam-

ple, Sokolyuk (Sokolyuk, 2021) deﬁnes it as a com-

plex of people’s sensations, which are located in an

artiﬁcially created three-dimensional world, in which

they can change their viewpoint, zoom in and out the

objects, and so on.

According to Sergeev (Sergeev, 2013), the expo-

sure of the subject to the environment of learning, in

particular to the immersive environment, and the ori-

entation in it allows us to examine the processes of

including the subject into the “worlds” of learning,

which can live according to their own laws and not

correspond to the worlds of physical reality. The re-

searcher speciﬁes three types of exposure: exposure

to the subjective world, exposure to the physical envi-

ronment and exposure to the virtual environment.

Among the investigators of the problem of edu-

tainment, which is learning through play, in mod-

ern pedagogy we can see such scholars as Bucking-

ham (Buckingham, 2013), DeVary (DeVary, 2008),

Kazanci and Okan (Kazanci and Okan, 2009),

Tokarieva (Tokarieva et al., 2019), Varina (Varina

et al., 2022). Addis (Addis, 2005), a professor at Boc-

coni University in Italy, points out that edutainment is

a speciﬁc activity that is based on learning and satis-

faction with one’s own curiosity.

Semerikov et al. (Semerikov et al., 2022) ana-

lyze the approaches to the deﬁnition of “immersive-

ness”, “immersive educational environment”, “im-

mersive approach in education”, “immersive educa-

tional resources” (IER), which were used to iden-

tify the relationship between the virtual environment

and the learning environment, which is being imple-

mented, the pedagogical aspects of learning in immer-

sive environments are examined.

Video games for education form an essential seg-

ment of educational content today. Digital-Game

Based Learning is becoming increasingly popular. A

study by Tokac et al. (Tokac et al., 2019) presents

the effectiveness of video games-based mathematics

training. In their work the researchers claim that

video games contribute to the improvement of math-

ematical knowledge in comparison with traditional

ones. Wouters et al. (Wouters et al., 2013) have stud-

ied the inﬂuence of “serious games” on learning in de-

tail. They have proved that those who learn through

serious games have learned more compared to those

who learned through conventional teaching methods.

Scientists have different opinions on the use of games

in teaching. One part of them says that for the success

of digital-game based learning it is necessary to have

“correct” games for teaching. Another part believes

that teachers should take an active role in developing

educational activities with the help of digital games

(Cayatte, 2014; Gallagher, 2014). Teachers should

adapt digital games as part of their teaching tools.

In the study by Chen et al. (Chen et al., 2020)

the effect of competition in digital game learning was

analyzed. According to the data obtained during the

research, competition in digital game-based learning

(DGBL) was effective for mathematics, science, and

language. It was effective for students of schools and

college students. The highest effect was observed dur-

ing the task performance in puzzle games, strategy,

role-playing games and modeling, but not in action

games. As a result, it was discovered that the com-

The Use of Immersive Technology in the Study of Mathematical Logics in Secondary School

327

petition in DGBL was equally effective for cognitive

and non-cognitive results.

Similar results of the research on the use of games

in K-12 mathematics education were acquired by

Byun and Joung (Byun and Joung, 2018). First of

all, this paper examines the current trend of digital

learning based on games by analyzing the research

on DGBL for mathematics learning and achievements

in mathematics learning. Secondly, the future direc-

tions of DGBL research in the context of mathemat-

ics teaching have been noted. Researchers have ana-

lyzed 296 studies, of which only 33 were identiﬁed as

empirical and were systematically analyzed to inves-

tigate current trends. In addition, due to lack of statis-

tical data, only 17 out of 33 selected studies were an-

alyzed to calculate the overall effect of digital games

on mathematics education.

A related study was conducted by Clark et al.

(Clark et al., 2016). The authors analyzed the pub-

lished results of research on the overall effect of dig-

ital games on learning outcomes from 2000 to 2012.

They took into account 1040 papers, of which only 69

had information about the unique empirical research

use of digital electronic games in education. A total of

6,869 respondents were involved in the selected stud-

ies. As a result the researchers concluded that games

as a medium certainly provide new and powerful op-

portunities, but it is the active creative activity in the

game environment that determines the effectiveness

of the learning environment.

Gunter et al. (Gunter et al., 2008) analyzed the

RETAIN model (Relevance, Transfer, Adaptation,

Immersion, Naturalisation) model, which is based on

the following positions: relevance represents the cor-

respondence of the materials to the students’ needs;

concordance – the necessity of presenting the aca-

demic content in accordance with the game plot; in-

tegration based on the existing experience of students

in other spheres, as well as the possibility of using

the knowledge in real life; adaptation – change of be-

havior as a result of integration from the virtual into

the real world; engagement – intellectual involvement

in the game process; implementation of the skills ac-

quired in the game and their use in real life.

Apart from the above-mentioned issues, the re-

lationship between game, pedagogical, and realistic

components in serious games is no less important.

Harteveld (Harteveld, 2011) says in his work that the

attributes of serious games are: pedagogy, low re-

source intensity, timeliness, harmony, experience, un-

ambiguity, research, game elements, attributes, inter-

activity, involvement, learning goal, goal groups, or-

ganization, reality and challenge. Pedagogy declares

the necessity of reﬂexion, but the game, ideally, en-

courages it. The highest results are achieved by learn-

ing by doing, which means that students must not

just read the text, but live the learning process inter-

nally. The low level of informational intensity of re-

sources allows children to form the ability to make

self-evaluations and make decisions.

An important issue is also the efﬁciency of digi-

tal learning on the basis of games. There is a vari-

ety of methods for evaluating DGBL, which leads to

controversy in determining the reliability and valid-

ity of certain methods. All et al. (All et al., 2016)

investigated various methods of assessing teaching

effectiveness, which were developed by experts in

the ﬁeld of psychology and pedagogy by means of

structured meetings in order to identify the most im-

portant methods for conducting DGBL effectiveness

studies. The suggested improvements in the method-

ology of determining the level of efﬁcacy relate to

the implementation of the intervention both in the ex-

perimental and control groups. The participants of

the experiment themselves determine which elements

should be omitted during the exercise (for example,

the instructor’s supervision, additional elements con-

sisting of essential information), and which elements

will be important (for example, procedural support,

training). The investigators determined the parame-

ters for which the similarity between the experimental

and control conditions (e.g., time of inﬂuence on the

workout, instructor, day of the day) can be achieved.

Regarding the testing of methods, the suggested im-

provements concern the exposition of participants to

the conditions (e.g., parameters to be taken into ac-

count when using blocked randomized design), the

general design (e.g., the need of an initial test and

a control group), and the test development (e.g., the

need to design and run a parallel test), the need for

an initial test and a control group) test development

(e.g., developing and running parallel tests) and test-

ing (e.g., next steps after at least 2 weeks of training).

Gamiﬁcation is the use of certain elements of

games in non-gaming practices. Salen and Zimmer-

man (Salen and Zimmerman, 2004) deﬁne a game as

a system in which players are involved in an artiﬁcial

conﬂict, which is deﬁned by the rules and is expressed

in a quantitative result. Gamiﬁcation is distinguished

from other game formats by the fact that its partici-

pants are focused on the purpose of their real activity,

not on the game as such. Game elements are inte-

grated into real situations to motivate speciﬁc forms

of behavior under given conditions.

AET 2021 - Myroslav I. Zhaldak Symposium on Advances in Educational Technology

328

4 RESEARCH RESULTS

The research of recent years shows that the market

value of educational software in 2018 was $2.3 bil-

lion, and by 2025 this number will be doubled. This

assumption indicates the active implementation and

use of software in all spheres of education and cul-

ture. And these interactive tools include immersive

technologies, i.e. the technologies of full or partial in-

clusion in the virtual world, as well as different kinds

of virtual and mixed reality. But ﬁrst we need to ﬁnd

out what kind of technologies allow to create modern

content, and what the difference between them is.

• Real reality (RR) – the objective reality in which

we are and which we perceive by our senses.

• Augmented Reality (AR) – the technology of vi-

sualization, which is associated with the combina-

tion of real world objects and information, com-

bined through the use of computers, is able to

project digital information behind the screens of

devices and connect virtual objects to the real en-

vironment. PokemonGO, which has been popu-

lar for a few years now, is a great example of AR

technology.

• Virtual Reality (VR) is a technology that trans-

ports people into a artiﬁcial world where the natu-

ral environment is completely altered. In general,

virtual reality means the creation of an imitation

of real world experience, in which people can en-

ter at any time with the help of technology.

• Mixed reality (MR) is the latest development in

the technology of virtual reality, which can cause

a variety of sensations. Mixed reality occurs not

only in the physical or virtual world, but it is a

mixture of the reality of our world and virtual re-

ality, which can be seen as a supplement to reality

and a supplement to virtual reality.

• 360-photos, video is a content consisting of one

360° or several stitched photos and videos. This is

the process of creating photos of a certain object,

which are taken from different sides and com-

bined into one package. Viewing 360-photo gives

you the opportunity to see a lot more details, so to

say to feel them at the physical level.

The use of immersive technologies opens up a lot

of new possibilities in teaching and education, which

are quite complicated, time-consuming or costly for

traditional approaches. They outline nine facts in

favor of immersive technologies, such as clearness,

concentration, maximum involvement, safety and ef-

fectiveness. With the help of AR and VR, learning

a subject is a much more effective way than standard

teaching. The majority of publications on this prob-

lem indicate the possibility of using VR and AR tech-

nologies in the educational sphere for the purpose of

visual modeling of educational material, supplement-

ing it with more knowledge, developing children’s

spatial ideas, skills of research and experimentation,

extensive projecting, which saves time on learning in-

formation, accelerates learning and makes this pro-

cess fun and active.

It is known that the number of different natural

and social sciences, which usually act simultaneously

as a consumer and provider of scientiﬁc and practi-

cal results for the ﬁeld under consideration – physics,

mathematics, linguistics, biology, psychology, etc.,

belong to the number of calculating sciences. An im-

portant place among computational sciences is occu-

pied by the relevant part of mathematics, which has

various names: theoretical informatics, mathematical

theory of calculations, cybernetics, etc.

The part of mathematics, which is a number-

ing science, is also not homogeneous. It includes

branches of mathematical physics, the theory of nu-

merical methods of differential equations, the theory

of mass maintenance, which is used for creating op-

erational systems, in the theory of games and so on.

However, the central place in this ﬁeld of mathemat-

ics, which is connected to the computational sciences,

belongs to mathematical logics and algorithm theory.

Often these two disciplines are combined under the

joint name “mathematical logics”, considering algo-

rithm theory to be a part of mathematical logics in the

broad sense of the word.

Since among mathematical disciplines mathemat-

ical logics is the only discipline that studies the rela-

tionship between texts and their meaning, The math-

ematical description of this relationship is of primary

importance when texts are transformed from a means

of communication between people into a means of in-

teraction with a computer.

Nowadays mathematical logics is becoming more

and more important, it is a theoretical basis for infor-

matics, which middle school students study in grades

10-11, so it is very useful to develop and reﬁne the

concepts of mathematical logics at an early school

age. It is necessary to introduce it to students as early

as possible, using it in practice. We therefore pro-

pose to introduce mathematical logical elements in

the school mathematics course. This approach can be

closely connected with the program of developmental

teaching, which is now being implemented in many

schools.

But many children ﬁnd it difﬁcult to learn math-

ematics at school and one of the reasons is the loss

of motivation for learning or the subject itself. To get

The Use of Immersive Technology in the Study of Mathematical Logics in Secondary School

329

rid of this problem, elements of mathematical logic

should be introduced in the primary and secondary

schools through educational games. In the process

of games children memorize different logical tasks,

which form certain logical operations without notic-

ing. Thus, the basis for learning the number of words,

one of the sections of mathematical logics, is laid.

Game techniques have always been used in school

education. Tests and examinations, passing from one

class to another, ﬁnal tests – all of these have elements

of the game, but they are not always valid. The prob-

lem is that classical educational methods often ig-

nore the simple but important fact that learning should

bring joy and satisfaction, should be entertaining. It

is known that the human brain is set up for the posi-

tive, that is, when instead of struggling with boredom

there is a drive and positive emotions, information is

absorbed more easily.

The main reason for play-based methods is to fo-

cus on mistakes. Teachers at school always focus on

mistakes, but rarely praise for correct answers or so-

lutions. The ﬁxation on mistakes causes students to

concentrate more on grades than on knowledge. In

computer games, on the other hand, faults are ac-

cepted and are the main tool for achieving success.

Let’s take the game Angry Birds, which at least once

played all modern children. It vividly demonstrates

how with each failure the player tries new variants

of successful achievement of the goal – to kill the

pigs. By playing, we know that there is nothing wrong

with failure – the sooner we do something wrong, the

sooner we can ﬁnd a good solution. Game is one of

the ways of motivation, the development of logical

thinking, but not universal peremptory mean. Gami-

ﬁcation without high-quality educational content will

not work.

In order for the learning process to be called gam-

iﬁable, it must contain the 4 characteristics that Mc-

Gonigal (McGonigal, 2010) revealed in her TED talk:

• clearly deﬁned goals that provide motivation to

participate in the game;

• logical and step-by-step rules that set the limits

and framework for achieving the goals;

• a stable communication system ensuring that the

objectives can be achieved and the players comply

with the rules;

• a voluntary agreement to participate in the game

and follow the rules for achieving the goal.

Werbach and Hunter (Werbach and Hunter, 2020)

emphasize on the motivational function of gamiﬁca-

tion. They believe that gamiﬁcation allows to activate

people’s learning activity. Moreover, gamiﬁcation al-

lows not only to create new games, but also to use

their components for motivation. According to them,

any game component can be used behind the game

format to shape people’s attitudes toward a certain en-

vironment.

Among the many applications of digital learning,

Lifeliqe’s main product, the Digital Science Curricu-

lum, deserves special attention. This project (https:

//www.lifeliqe.com/products/lifeliqe-app) focuses on

the K-12 science curriculum, involving students in an

open-ended interaction with STEM subjects. This in-

teraction is enabled by interactive 3D models, more

than 1,500 available in AR/VR, and a large number of

animated videos. Thanks to this, users can use more

than 1,000 prepared and ready-to-use activities with

great efﬁciency. An important factor of handy use is

that the available digital content is fully compatible

with the main natural science textbooks used in the

U.S. educational system.

One of the games that has become very popu-

lar among children and teachers is Minecraft (https:

//minecraft.net). Minecraft is a virtual community

where players can wander and interact with the world

from blocks. Since its release in 2011 the game has

become a cultural phenomenon. Over 200 million

units were sold worldwide (data as of August 2020)

(Chiang, 2020). Due to this success, a special version

of Minecraft: Education Edition (Minecraft EDU,

https://education.minecraft.net/) was released.

The Minecraft EDU educational game process is

structured as follows: the teacher controls the virtual

map where students play; the teacher can integrate

lessons and assignments into this map. To prevent

teachers from doing too much extra work, the game

offers a rich library of previously created “worlds” as

well as a collection of previously created lessons. The

Minecraft EDU learning environment provides you

with a wide range of options. For example, ﬁnding

the perimeter of that particular area or distinguish-

ing dinosaur remains from other digs. The teacher

gives each student access to the buildings and places

on the virtual map, thus coordinating his or her activ-

ities. This makes it possible to teach many people at

the same time individually (Fedorenko et al., 2021).

Due to its ﬂexibility, the game is easily adaptable

to different educational subjects. For those who have

decided to try Minecraft EDU in their classes, you

may want to consider these suggestions:

1. Before the game, discuss together with students

the rules of behavior in the virtual world. No one

will be pleased if a classmate destroys a copy of

the Arc de Triomphe you’ve been working on for

a couple of sessions.

2. Conﬁrm that your world is set up for the task

of the lesson, before the start of his students.

AET 2021 - Myroslav I. Zhaldak Symposium on Advances in Educational Technology

330

For those teachers who are too busy, Minecraft

EDU offers a ready-to-use starter kit of core

school subjects (https://education.minecraft.net/

class-resources/lessons/).

3. Make a paper copy of the instructions, assign-

ments, questions, or suggestions for your stu-

dents. This will help them concentrate on the task.

4. Allow time for an introductory lesson to show

children the basics of the game: click on the

menu, perform the main actions. It is better to

combine beginners players with experienced, to

facilitate learning. It’s important to remember that

this is just a game that helps us accomplish a cer-

tain task. Combine the secondary educational en-

vironment – books, textbooks with the Minecraft

environment.

5. Take a break every 30 minutes. At this time, ask

students to share their accomplishments or difﬁ-

culties, as well as their feelings with the class.

Let’s look at a few already existing Minecraft

EDU worlds that can be used by teachers of various

school subjects. The ﬁrst world is called Tutorial-

world and is a guide to the Minecraft world. In fact,

it is necessary for those teachers and students who are

not familiar with Minecraft, or for those who need to

update their memory about the basics of the game and

the means of controlling their actions, for example, in

the creation of objects. To use this guide you only

need to download the ﬁle .mcworld and import it into

Minecraft: Education Edition. During the course of

the course you will be accompanied by two guides –

Jessica and Stephen. However, you should not forget

that to get the best results, you should get the maxi-

mum amount of information, which you can get from

the special knowledge base.

Fantastic-mr-fox’s world is Mr. Fox’s fantastic

world, which gave us the idea of creating a fantas-

tic world of our own. The use of this world in the

teaching process has the following goals: to learn

to recognize the meanings of individual words and

whole phrases; to learn how to describe characters

and events and to write stories based on the text, using

the details found in the text itself. As one of the vari-

ants for the development of the teaching process itself,

you can use the previous viewing of the ﬁnal of the an-

imated ﬁlm “Fantastic Mr. Fox” with the subsequent

analysis of the events and attempts to invent a contin-

uation of the story. That is, students are encouraged

to invent their own history of how the stars will live

in the future, what kind of resources they will need,

what kind of housing and its modiﬁcations they will

need. “Practical” activity with the world of Minecraft

Fantastic Mr. Fox is in the creation of housing for the

own character in the underground zone of the virtual

construction. In addition, the students are encouraged

to use these coordinates, create tunnels to three farms.

A separate task is to write an article for the newspaper

or a story about a day in the life of the inhabitants of

the underground city.

The geography teacher will enjoy worlds with

such biomes as the savannah, mountains, taiga, and

the ocean, for example, the world of secret-reef. This

world is dedicated to learning about coral reefs, their

possible structure, the most varied forms, sizes and

colors. A coral reef is composed of several assem-

blages of coral blocks. Each of these assemblages

has a certain type. For example, dead corals. More-

over, these assemblages can be realized with differ-

ent forms. But there is no rule that necessarily some

structure must be composed of one type of corals.

More often for everything on one reef there are sev-

eral types of corals. Depending on the edition, there

may be different types of assemblages.

The world of project-storytelling offers its own

variant of teaching, which will be useful for teach-

ers of literature and Ukrainian language. Its pur-

pose is to encourage the development of creative skills

in writing texts. In this world, where the “Tree of

Souls” is located, you will ﬁnd yourself in a rural

area with stores and houses. The temples of the 4

elements (Fire, Water, Air and Earth), 11 theme fac-

tories and buildings, 35 vacant lots for students to cre-

ate their own buildings or businesses, 6 mini islands

with unique possessions – so many opportunities en-

courage each of the students to create their own story.

For biology teachers there is a lesson on ele-

phant life and protection called watr-humans-and-

elephants. Interesting lesson lesson-hub-volume-i,

where the author wrote that in this world there is

a collection of educational activities you can en-

gage in learning fractions or study the history of

the United States in the mid-20th century. Physics

teachers will ﬁnd it interesting to study the properties

of Redstone in the redstone-breakout and redstone-

lodge worlds. In this educational virtual world you

can create traps, automated crop farms, and much

more. World-of-chemistry and lessons in chemistry-

lessons will be of use to chemistry teachers. In these

worlds there is a great table of chemistry elements

of Mendeleev. Children are happy to learn the pro-

cess of creation of air balloons. Teachers of informat-

ics are interested in the program lessons/code-builder-

for-minecraft-education-edition. In this course, it is

necessary to use Code connection and be able to work

with Scratch, CodeMake, Tynker, which also deals

with 3D modeling and allows you to move the cre-

ated objects in the Minecraft world.

The Use of Immersive Technology in the Study of Mathematical Logics in Secondary School

331

The most interesting thing in Minecraft is the Red-

stone resource, which can be used to create logical

schemes. Thus, the player can make their build-

ings interactive. The chains created with Redstone

transmit energy from one unit to another, like electric

chains, and the torch is needed to supply energy to the

chain. If you install pins, buttons and other control el-

ements and use them, the grader will be able to switch

the lance from one position to another.

Minecraft allows players to create logical valves

that perform simple logical operations. For example,

by using two shafts, you can create an “AND” valve

that lets “energy” through only when both levers are

active, or an “OR” valve that lets “energy” through if

either of the two levers are active. This system has

a device of real electronics and Boolean logic, which

allows to create complex mechanisms. Thanks to this

feature the game can serve as a virtual constructor for

programmers and engineers. The teacher can use not

only ready-made lessons, but also create their own.

One of the most widespread and popular types of

games are constructors, because they allow you to

learn through the gameplay and discover the basics

of technical skills. A variety of programs and web

resources that allow you to look at the process of cre-

ating new devices or appliances are also the essence

of the designers, if you look at them for the impact on

the development of skills. The online resource Tin-

kercad (https://www.tinkercad.com) is a web tool that

allows you to model objects of any complexity, which

in the future can be built on a 3D printer. Tinkercad

does not have any restrictions in the professional con-

text. In particular, it is possible to create electronic

circuits and connect them to the Arduino virtual cir-

cuit board simulator. These powerful tools make it

much easier to learn how to design and program new

circuits for those who are just starting to use Arduino.

We investigated two virtual learning environ-

ments, one created with Minecraft EDU and the other

created with Tinkercad and their practical use on the

topic “Logical operators”.

According to the curriculum, the subject “Logic

operators” is studied during the study of the subject

“Informatics” (8th grade) and is related to such issues

as the basics of algorithmization and programming,

processing and storage of information. For a better

understanding of the educational material is needed

not only sources of information, but also working dig-

ital models. To implement these models on the basis

of real mechanics or electromagnetic devices is quite

difﬁcult and ineffective, because the students, for the

most part, will not be able to understand the existing

analogues. In this case, it is better to use the virtual

learning environment for everything, which is in fact

a virtual world where most of today’s children feel “at

home”.

Despite the large number of researches on gamiﬁ-

cation, this educational trend has not become popular

in the Ukrainian education system, as evidenced by

the survey conducted as part of the MoPED (Morze

et al., 2018). Only 7.5% of lecturers, 18.6% of stu-

dents, and 15% of teachers considered gamiﬁcation

as one of the three most important educational trends.

The reasons for this result lie in the weak technical

base of universities, partial awareness of the teaching

staff in the information and communication sphere,

the use of English language in most Internet plat-

forms, the lack of methodological methods of using

gamiﬁcation, the lack of ﬁnancial resources for paid

subscriptions.

Partly this problem can be solved by training

prospective teachers to use gamiﬁcation technology

in the educational process of the school within the

framework of university educational programs. Train-

ing of future teachers for the use of serious games

must be a process that is purposeful, planned, mul-

tilevel and multi-stage nature with the organized in-

teraction of all participants in the educational pro-

cess and aimed at mastering the knowledge and skills

of using serious games in educational activities with

constant monitoring of the achieved results. This

makes it possible to assert the necessity to include

in the vocational training of future teachers disci-

plines aimed at acquiring knowledge and skills in the

ﬁeld of gamiﬁcation in the educational activities of

schoolchildren.

Educational training programs for future teachers

of mathematics, physics and informatics do not in-

clude educational components that form competen-

cies for using serious games in professional activities.

However, the elements of such training should be in-

cluded in the educational components, taking into ac-

count the departmental spheres of professional train-

ing. The topic “Logical operators” is related to such

educational components as mathematical logic, al-

gorithm theory, discrete mathematics, programming,

teaching methods, etc. The inclusion of elements

of gamiﬁcation in these educational components will

form the basis for the further use of gamiﬁcation in

professional activities. For this purpose it is neces-

sary to use every opportunity. Thus, in our opinion,

such possibilities can include:

• visual materials for lectures (screenshots created

in the game environment or in its background,

product placement);

• practical tasks with elements of gamiﬁcation (full

or partial use of serious games);

• independent work performed in game environ-

AET 2021 - Myroslav I. Zhaldak Symposium on Advances in Educational Technology

332

ments (additional points for use in the process of

playing games);

• laboratory works on teaching methods (results are

aimed at creating educational content and taking

into account students’ desire to use games).

Special attention should be paid to the training of

future teachers for the knowledge and skills of using

serious digital games in teaching in the teaching disci-

pline Methods of teaching by branches of knowledge.

It is necessary not only in theory but also in practice

to study the stages of organization of educational ac-

tivities on the basis of serious games, such as:

• to identify the target audience of the educational

content;

• to set the instructional goal;

• to create the structure of the educational content;

• to identify the elements that can be gamiﬁed;

• to implement the selected elements through a dig-

ital game;

• to use the developed educational content;

• to perform monitoring of the educational process

on the spot and at the end of the day;

• to analyze the results obtained.

During the training at the HEI, future teachers

need to be prepared to use serious games based on the

advantages and disadvantages of gamiﬁcation. Ad-

vantages include: the ability to use distance learning

(both individually and collectively); the ability to use

a variety of multimedia tools and modern technology;

strengthening the creative abilities of individuals,

development of creative thinking, self-organization,

self-control and self-discipline; less academic pres-

sure, increasing independence in learning and self-

development; increasing interest in learning through

an interesting presentation of the material, which in-

creases the level of mastering the material. The dis-

advantages of gamiﬁcation are: the presence of deﬁcit

of communication during the training; the possibility

of the emergence of irrational judgments; increased

number of hours that people spend at the computer;

possible technical failures in the work; the need for

special training of teachers and a certain amount of

time for learning new technologies; a considerable

amount of time for the development and implemen-

tation of game technologies; high ﬁnancial and time

costs.

During our research we carried out an survey

among the students of the State Higher Educational

Institution “Donbas State Pedagogical University”,

who are studying on the educational programs of

secondary education (mathematics), secondary edu-

cation (physics), secondary education (informatics)

or on their combination with other educational pro-

grams. Respondents were asked the following ques-

tions:

1. How do you feel about the use of any games in the

educational process? (positive/negative)

2. Are you familiar with the concept of gamiﬁca-

tion? (yes/no)

3. How do you feel about limiting the use of mo-

bile devices in educational institutions? (support-

ive/not supportive)

4. How do you feel about the increasing inﬂuence

of mobile devices on children’s education? (posi-

tively/negatively)

5. Do you support the teaching of children at school

through computer games as a necessary element

of the teaching process? (I do/I do not)

6. Do you support the training of adults through

computer games as a necessary element for im-

proving qualiﬁcation and acquiring new knowl-

edge and skills? (I approve/not approve)

7. Did you have your own experience of learning

through the computer game? (yes/no)

8. Do you know someone who has had some expe-

rience with learning through a computer game?

(yes/no)

9. Should the teaching of methods that use gamiﬁ-

cation in the teaching process be a necessary ele-

ment of pedagogical education? (yes/no)

10. Are you ready to learn how to use games during

your own professional activities? (yes/no)

A total of 102 students took part in the survey. The

results of their responses are presented in table 1.

Table 1: Results of answers during the survey.

Question

yes / positive

/ support

no / negative

/ do not support

Q1 85 17

Q2 76 26

Q3 22 80

Q4 63 39

Q5 74 28

Q6 55 47

Q7 19 83

Q8 24 78

Q9 63 39

Q10 69 33

The results show that most of the students are fa-

miliar with the concept of “gamiﬁcation”, are ready

The Use of Immersive Technology in the Study of Mathematical Logics in Secondary School

333

to learn by playing and to teach others. Most of the

respondents are ready to learn new methods and sup-

port new forms and means of learning and do not un-

derstand the restrictions on the use of mobile devices

that can be useful in educational activities. However,

the number of those who have used or interacted with

them is very small, although there is a tendency for

the number of students who learn through games to

grow.

As it was mentioned in the theoretical part of our

research, we introduced elements of gamiﬁcation into

the educational disciplines of teaching methods. We

have been offered the laboratory tasks of working out

the educational scenarios of “Logical operators” in

the Minecraft EDU environment (ﬁgure 1) and cre-

ating the educational project in the Tinkercad envi-

ronment (ﬁgure 2). As a result of the group project,

several teaching tasks were created and tested during

the students’ production practice at educational insti-

tutions.

The aim of the educational project in the Tin-

kercad environment is to demonstrate the principles

of algebraic logic and the construction of tables of

truth, which the students studied as part of this sub-

ject. However, this material was theoretical for them,

because it did not create an idea of how it could be im-

plemented in real life. Therefore, the main condition

for the effectiveness of the lessons was to create con-

ditions for a clear demonstration of the work of logi-

cal elements. The most optimal variant in this case is

to conduct lessons with additional study of materials

related to electronics and circuit engineering.

The students were given the task to independently

create tables of truth for logical “AND” and “OR”,

design an informational model of the circuit in the

Tinkercad environment, test it on the basis of the prin-

ciple circuit, and, in case of a successful result, build

this circuit on the breadboard.

After the scheme was created, it should be tested

and the results of the work should be compared with

the results of the tables of truth. The result of this

project is the creation of a physical object as a proof of

the correctness of the truth tables for logical elements.

This was successfully achieved due to the fact that all

subject areas were taken into account in the necessary

proportions with the successful implementation of the

interdisciplinary approach. The goal was successfully

achieved and the results of their work resulted in an

electrical scheme, which fully corresponded to the re-

sults of their calculations and reﬂected the principles

of logical “AND” and “OR” operation.

With the help of the Tinkercad environment you

can introduce students to the concept of relay-contact

circuits. We explain, under the contact we mean the

physical body, which can exist in only two states –

“on”, “off”, which we will denote as 1 and 0 accord-

ingly. Connecting contacts in series corresponds to

the operation “conjunction”, and connecting them in

parallel corresponds to the operation “disjunction”.

By opening contact we denote a contact that does not

conduct current, which corresponds to the negation

operation of the algebra of statements. In other words,

we show that the algebra of relay-contact circuits,

which is isomorphic to the algebra of statements, is

created. The analogous equivalences of the algebra

of statements correspond to equivalences of the alge-

bra of relay-contact schemes. Using examples, it can

be shown that each of the investigated schemes is de-

scribed by the corresponding formula of the algebra

of relay-contact schemes. Thus, the practical signiﬁ-

cance of mathematical formulas is explained.

The students’ reports on the internship and their

own observations revealed a signiﬁcant interest in the

suggested tasks. Despite the fact that the topic “Log-

ical Expressions. Changes of Logical Type. Logic

operations” in the 8th grade belongs to the section

“Programming” and is often difﬁcult to understand,

the material was studied at a high level. This is evi-

denced by the fact that further use of the knowledge

gained during the study of the topic “Logical Expres-

sions. Changes of Logical Type. Logic operations”

in such topics as “Algorithms with branching” and

“Cyclic algorithms” did not cause any difﬁculties in

learning these new topics. Moreover, the homework

assignment, which students often do without enthusi-

asm, was completed successfully and absolutely by

all students without exception (boys and girls), in-

dicating their interest in this educational tool. The

survey of students showed that close to 18% of 8th

grade students had active Minecraft accounts and par-

ticipated in collaborative game sessions. This differ-

ence did not have much effect on the results of the

tasks. Children who already have Minecraft game ac-

counts completed the tasks quicker than their peers.

However, the virtual learning environment created by

the Tinkercad tools has caused more interest among

children who are engaged in robotics. This can be ex-

plained by the fact that robotics has a more realistic

realization than the imaginary world of Minecraft.

5 CONCLUSIONS

The development of computer technology and a gen-

eral increase in digital literacy on the one hand and

the complication of conditions for achieving educa-

tion on the other (COVID-19) contribute to the search

for new, more effective, ways and methods of learn-

AET 2021 - Myroslav I. Zhaldak Symposium on Advances in Educational Technology

334

Figure 1: Example of creating a logical operator in Minecraft EDU.

Figure 2: An example of creating a scheme for the logical operator “AND” in Tinkercad.

ing. Besides the use of electronic educational re-

sources in the form of websites, blogs, channels, there

is a need to implement learning through technologies

that provide a high level of visualization in combina-

tion with the “interaction” with the physical environ-

ment. In other words, there is a need to teach using

immersive technology that integrates the virtual en-

vironment with the physical environment and allows

users to naturally interact with mixed reality, which

in turn includes the augmented (AR) and virtual (VR)

realities.

Practical use of immersive technologies in the ed-

ucational process is best combined with gameﬁca-

tion – the use of certain elements of games in non-

game practices. So, in order to motivate speciﬁc

forms of behavior in given conditions, game elements

are integrated into real situations. The positive results

of this synergy can be seen through such examples

as the Lifeliqe – an educational program for the dig-

ital sciences (Digital Science Curriculum), the spe-

The Use of Immersive Technology in the Study of Mathematical Logics in Secondary School

335

cial version for teaching Minecraft: Education Edi-

tion, and an online resource Tinkercad – a web tool

that allows you to simulate objects, which in the fu-

ture can be built on a 3D printer.

During the practical part of the research it was

found that most of the students are familiar with the

concept of “gamiﬁcation” and are ready to learn and

use this methodology in their educational activities.

At the same time, studying the topic “Logic Opera-

tors” in the Minecraft EDU environment and creat-

ing a teaching project in the Tinkercad environment

showed a growing interest in mathematical logics and

the quality of work results among the students as well

as among the students.

So, we can conclude that such a relatively new

form for Ukraine as gameﬁcation of the educational

process and educational processes in general is a

promising tool to improve the quality of education for

children, adolescents and adults, deepening the level

of acquired knowledge, more effective use of skills

and abilities, given the creation of a clear procedure

for its implementation in the education system and

following the key stages of the creation of a game

mechanism. The review of methods of using digital

game content, the creation of a library of digital elec-

tronic educational resources, methods of teaching the

use of gameﬁcation for further use are the new topics

for further scientiﬁc research and development.

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