Training street-level “sense of scale” as a spatial perception ability in recorded virtual reality: A Solomon four-group design approach

초록

Although spatial perception abilities are essential for improving architectural and urban design competence, the lack of appropriate educational tools has prevented them from being taught in higher education settings; accordingly, many students struggle with identifying such spatial characteristics. Using a Solomon four-group design approach, this study aimed to verify the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR)-aided training for “sense of scale,” which despite being one of the most critical abilities in design competence, is difficult to teach both in the classroom and on-site. We recruited 80 first- and second-year university students majoring in physical planning, and conducted two street-level sense of scale training sessions, as well as pre- and post-tests. We measured the sense of scale accuracy (i.e., the difference between the actual and reported values) using mean absolute percentage error, and the effect of experimental treatment was analyzed. The results demonstrated that the training was significantly effective at estimating dimensions for street width and building height but not D/H ratio. This suggests that a sense of “absolute” scale can be acquired through two VR-aided training sessions. Additional post hoc questionnaire surveys also demonstrated that the participants felt that VR-aided training was more effective for scale practice than traditional learning methods. The findings demonstrate that for spatial perception abilities that are difficult to teach with conventional teaching methods, VR-aided training could be utilized as an effective education technique.

키워드