Inductive Reasoning Challenges in Virtual Reality

A Case Study on Designing Submarine Models

Abstract

Inductive reasoning plays a pivotal role in engineering education, empowering students to derive broader principles and generalizations from concrete, context-specific observations, thereby fostering innovative problem-solving and adaptive application of knowledge. This study presents the results of a comprehensive quantitative analysis and introduces a theoretical model that demonstrates how Virtual Reality learning environments can effectively support the inductive reasoning process, ultimately enhancing learning outcomes and improving the transfer of skills to real-world engineering scenarios. As an addition to existing literature, we propose a series of factors that have been combined in an original manner to show the correlation between cognitive characteristics of individuals and learning outcomes in virtual environments relevant for engineering education. Our selected target group, consisting of undergraduate engineering students at MINES Paris—PSL, engaged in hands-on tasks involving the design and iterative testing of submarine prototypes within a simulated underwater setting, facilitated by a bespoke Virtual Reality platform called the Submarine Simulator. By addressing key challenges in leveraging immersive tools, this research contributes to the existing body of literature on inductive reasoning, offering actionable insights for refining pedagogical approaches in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields and promoting more effective integration of emerging technologies in modern engineering curriculum design.