The VR Chemistry Lab is now on the Meta App Lab!

The VR Chemistry Lab, a project created in 2017, has finally been released on the Meta App Lab! It is a virtual reality simulation of a school science lab as well as a molecule modelling experience. You can find it at this link or by doing an exact search of “The VR Chemistry Lab” in the Meta Store (it will appear at the bottom under App Lab). The app costs $2.99 and is continually being worked on and added to. For less than a cup of coffee or bubble tea you can do numerous experiments in a chemistry lab or experience life-size atoms and molecules!

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A short history of the VR Chemistry Lab: it began as a Master’s project in the Instructional Technology program at Teachers College, Columbia University. As VR became more accessible with the Oculus CV1 and the HTC Vive, it piqued interests as a possible tool for teaching. However, as with most technologies, just because it is fun and new does not mean it will automatically be good for learning. Thus, many years were spent exploring VR’s affordances for learning, whether VR can be effective for certain types of education, and best design principles for educational experiences in VR.

The VR Chemistry Lab is built upon learning theories like Constructivism and cognitive theories such as embodied cognition. It aims to be an educational simulation that can act as a supplemental tool to real, physical, hands-on science experiences or a reasonable practice experience if no physical laboratory is available. The VR Chemistry Lab has been tested and shown to provide a comparable learning experience to real-life lab situations (Hu-Au & Okita, 2021). It also can provide a unique experience where users can enter the experiment at the molecular level and interact with the molecules as the experiment is happening. It is designed to be a bridge between the real-life chemistry experience and a model of the abstract concepts that are usually difficult to visualize.

As it is continually being updated, we hope to add more chemistry experiments and experiences in the future. Please try it out and thanks for the support!