VR as an Innovative Learning Tool in Sports Education

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This article examines a VR-based rotation task in an extracurricular dance class with a focus on the crucial didactic, collaborative, and perceptual components of dance training.

Abstract

Testing and application of suitable learning tools and methods can facilitate learning environments conducive to skill acquisition for the target group. This also applies to sports education at school level, including extracurricular activities. On the one hand, traditional learning methods are still effective in sports education; on the other hand, keeping up with societal and technological developments, new learning strategies are continuously being researched to complement existing pedagogical tools. An innovative tool that has been increasingly used in various fields of application in recent years is Virtual Reality (VR) as part of the Extended Reality (XR) domain. It enables learning in immersive and specifically designed learning environments and is particularly suitable for learning in (sports-)motor contexts due to its flexible use. In our study, we test a VR-based rotation task in an extracurricular dance class with the objective of supporting the crucial didactic, collaborative, and perceptual components of dance training in educational contexts. We conducted feedback sessions with the students and used direct observation to examine their behavioural actions. Based on the qualitative content analysis of the written feedback and the overview from the observations, we can identify integrative potentials of this innovative tool in sports education, especially extracurricular dance classes.

1. Introduction

Virtual Reality (VR), as part of the Extended Reality (XR) domain, enables immersive learning in innovative practice platforms that can be presented, for instance, via head-mounted displays such as 3D glasses [1]. VR technology makes it possible to exclude visual elements from the real world and to step into a virtual environment [2]. Learners can observe [3] and simulate [4] motions independently. In some application areas, VR has already been established as a useful method to optimize learning. In the medical field, it has been found helpful in surgical suture training, in which motor action instructions were given using VR, which helped medical students improve their performance and transfer the skills to actual operating rooms [4]. VR has also been used to provide visual self-presentation and visual representation of desired body motions by creating virtual avatars [5]. Kelly et al. used VR for presenting a motion-captured avatar of a subject and an avatar of a previously recorded motion of a coach side-by-side, allowing learners to directly compare both motion executions and extract performance-determining factors [6].

These avatars, particularly in sports training, can influence users on a psychological level. They have been found to induce increased motivation, more intense motion perception, lower perceived effort, targeted focus of attention, and change in self-concept [7]. In order to train and regain body balance, specialized feedback training with VR helps to better perceive one’s own body and reduce the swaying of the hip and ankle joints in learners accordingly [8]. An integrated, haptic-assisted VR system for planning a surgical procedure has also proven helpful in focusing attention and leading to greater intuitiveness and reduction in motion planning errors compared to traditional approaches [9]. Furthermore, medical students have greater learning motivation and learning competence through a VR-based learning tool than with text-based learning [10].

VR has also been recognised to be beneficial in its application for team development with pedagogically valuable factors. In one of the studies, the primary task in a learning setting of trainees was to take on different roles in a team and make joint decisions while simulating a climb of the Mount Everest [11]. The experiment group previously received a VR training in which a realistic representation of the Mount Everest and its surrounding environment were specified. They achieved more team goals, i.e., communication skills and team dynamics, in the subsequent task than the control group, which had not previously received such a training. This indicated that immersion in realistic and naturalistic learning environments enabled by VR could facilitate learning processes that have a consistently positive effect on teamwork.

In summary, the studies on VR have already shown beneficial properties for learning in various application fields. However, in relation to the aim of this study, the question arises about the extended use of VR in school education as well as in combination with sports learning—an extremely crucial field of learning where young people are educated for lifelong active living [12]. In school education, VR-based learning environments have already been found to have a positive impact on students’ perceptions. In particular, 10th-grade learners’ perception of the classroom and the teaching equipment as well as the social and teaching presence have been enhanced by learning in VR environments [13]. Furthermore, in sport-specific developments in education, researchers have already looked at the application of VR for motion learning in the school sport subject of dance. In particular, the development of game-based video learning has been used. Thus, dance lessons in such learning environments are organised in a way that students practise motion sequences to music in small group constellations using virtual dance games such as Just Dance, a commercial multiplayer game. In this game, a human-like avatar takes over the coaching role. The avatar then teaches the motion sequences to be learned by demonstrating the optimized execution of each motion [14,15]. Thus, in school sports, specifically referring to the field of dance, virtual games including the use of avatars have already been found to be useful for learning sports motor tasks. The main focus of these studies was to learn and optimize certain dance motion elements using VR. However, in sports education, especially in the field of dance, many more factors are involved, such as the motion perception of one’s own movements and other dancers, didactic skills in contributing to the sport, and collaborative work, such as the development of a choreography in a group [16]. In the school context, these components of dance come into play especially in extracurricular activities. Thus, in our study, we mainly consider learning in extracurricular school sports, especially dance, a field that has remained relatively unexplored so far. Existing research on VR to promote motion perception and perceptions of learning environments [8], and didactic and collaborative components of learning [11], shows promise for implementing an innovative VR-based tool in extracurricular dance sports; this represents the main objective of this study.

Extracurricular school sports provide a pedagogical field of action in which children and adolescents can acquire and deepen motor skills and social abilities [17]. They can learn skills that enable them to participate in many different sports [12]. They also offer opportunities for personal development according to individual inclinations and without the pressure of evaluation. Extracurricular activities are often linked to physical activity, creative work, and multidisciplinary learning [18]. Learning environments are free and flexible with creative and independent learning methods, include a harmonious learning atmosphere, and provide opportunities for practical learning activities and transparency. Accordingly, Gudjons [19] considered student-oriented teaching as ideal for fostering team spirit in the students.

When we look at dance classes as a form of extracurricular sport, with its choreography in which actions and thought processes are equally stimulated, it has found a place in various educational contexts. Vent [20] discusses the low demand in dance art, which makes it legitimate as a learning potential in schools: “[...] dance art activities in school lessons are no longer reserved for the untouchable reserve of professional high culture. Participation in dance processes has also become possible for lay people” (p. 39). Accordingly, students can get to know and execute dance motion sequences, create rhythmic motion elements, and perceive current motion trends in dance. Developmental support and an introduction to sports culture can be facilitated. Generally, dance is understood as a training of body and mind which enables holistic body experience. As defined in the dance curricular specifications, in school sports, in addition to motor development processes, problem- and solution-oriented thinking are aimed at [21,22,23].

Since the use of VR has already proven to be an effective supplementary learning tool in different fields of application, this paper presents observations on the effects of using VR in an extracurricular dance class on the collaboration and general learning atmosphere of the dancers as well as their individual perceptions. In conjunction with a task to be conducted in VR, the dance element ‘rotation’ in particular was used as an investigative tool. A rotational motion presents a sports technique that is an indispensable tool in the field of dance—and thus in all dance disciplines—and an integral part of the motion repertoire. Rotational motions are intended to maximize aesthetic effects in dance and can be used to create a choreography. In the context of this work, rotation is referred to as a body rotation on one foot or on two feet around the vertical axis [24,25].

Dancing skills require the combined engagement of body and mind. The sensations and feelings of an accompanying piece of music are expressed through motions of the body and are coordinated in an aesthetic way [26]. In addition to aesthetic–artistic aspects, this sport also has technical connotations. In formation or synchronized group dance, for instance, every detail is trained with precision. The increased demand for the technical element of synchronicity is attributed an important role. Unlike improvisation, in which basic forms and step repertoires are conducted without fixed sequences, in formation dance, choreographies are rehearsed in specific sequences. Individual preferences are left out but can be used for individual parts within the show. To this end, Vent [20] mentioned the individual peculiarities of “idiosyncratic [...] movement and locomotion abilities, such as unusual jumping and/or turning ability, which inspire choreographic work” (p. 35 f.). A dance piece is primarily defined by motions, whereby the choreography is subject to a development process. According to Barthel and Artus [16], many other components belong to a dance performance and shape its developmental path. Costumes and props play a role, as do lighting effects and media projections. This results in inspiring scenarios in which motion sequences can be negotiated repeatedly. It is non-verbal, interactive communication that allows dance, and thus, choreographies to be created in the first place [27]. Considering this, improvisation could be seen as the origin of an artistic process. Only through individual sensations and ideas of the dancers involved, as well as through suggestions from the choreographer, does the overall choreography come together. Dancers can communicate through their own motions, improvise in individual or collaborative group phases, and put together newly created motion components. The self-perception of own motions and the observation of other people’s motions, as well as the application of methods for spontaneous creativity, serve as a basis for this [16]. According to Dou [28], randomness and uncertainty contribute to improvised motion creations in dance. In summary, dancing encompasses a need for joint elaboration of choreographic elements, i.e., collaborative work of the dancers with each other and with the coach, along with an incentive for problem- and solution-oriented thinking, which, from a pedagogical point of view, is particularly valuable in the context of extracurricular physical education in schools.

This research has been motivated by the promising work on the application of VR in learning contexts, which to the best of our knowledge, has not been implemented and studied in extracurricular school dance classes yet. Thus, a new methodology, i.e., a VR rotation task, was developed that involves the use of VR glasses. This method found its application for testing VR as a learning stimulus in an extracurricular sport class with special emphasis on (Hip-Hop) dance and its demands on body and mind. In this paper, we investigate the effects of the VR-based task in sports on the perceptions and actions of the students in the extracurricular dance class. This leads us to our research questions: (1) What are the effects of using a VR-based rotational task in extracurricular dance classes on students’ perceptions, that is, in terms of the physical and mental processes in conducting the task, as well as in regard to interacting with the modern technology? (2) How does the VR rotation task affect students’ subsequent actions in relation to the dance class (didactic and collaborative effects)?

2. Materials and Method

2.1. Participants

A total of 26 students (14.2 ± 1.5 years old, f = 24, m = 2) from a secondary school and a high school in Germany were selected to take part in the study. Inclusion criteria for participation were, first, complete physical and mental health and, second, experience in the hobby sport of dancing, i.e., the students all had at least one year of experience in dance sports. In terms of participation in extracurricular dance sports, all the students reported being experienced specifically in Hip-Hop dancing, mainly practising it as a hobby. Eight participants reported to train once a week, nine students reported twice a week, seven students reported three times, one student reported four times, and one student reported practicing the sport five times a week. Furthermore, one student had practised the sport for one year, 15 students for two to four years, five students for five to seven years, three students for eight to ten years, and two students had more than ten years of experience in the sport. With regard to rotation training within the dance sport, nine participants indicated having a lot of experience and 12 had little experience (for these students, there were specifications in the training with regard to the direction of rotation), and, moreover, five students felt that they had no experience. None of the participants indicated having any experience with mental rotation tasks. All the subjects participated voluntarily. Written informed consent was signed both by the students and their legal guardians. Approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the leading university, which is affiliated with the Institute of Education and Philosophy (approval number: 105/2019).

2.2. Materials

In order to develop the VR rotation task, we made use of combining HTC VIVE VR glasses with their associated VR-compatible hand controllers and an electric turntable (70 cm ⌀ with a non-rotating 1 m² square box built underneath for safety reasons) built especially for our research and application purposes. The combination of these technologies is mainly intended to enable the joint investigation of body and mind, with the turntable to investigate physical sensations and the rotations displayed in VR serving to integrate mental aspects. For the extended investigation of the Embodied-Cognition-Perspective in relation to linking real rotation and mental rotation, the new method could be elaborated and presented as a digital innovative research tool in sports science [29]. Specifically, the VR rotation task consisted of responding to a stimulus displayed in the VR glasses, which rotated clockwise or counter-clockwise, while passively being rotated also clockwise or counter-clockwise on the electric turntable. With the help of VR, it is generally possible to respond to stimuli presented on the display of VR glasses while being able to move freely. Thus, VR hardware could provide the ability to present a mental task to a learner while rotating on a turntable. Regarding the mental rotation task, the VR-compatible hand controllers were programmed so that the participant could respond to the stimulus by pressing a button (right and left hand). Simultaneous control of the stimulus in VR and the turntable was provided by a gaming-specialized computer. As previously used by Amorim and colleagues [30] to study body analogy with respect to mental rotation tasks, a human-like figure, i.e., an avatar, was used as the VR stimulus for a comparable combination of body and mind in the VR rotation task. In addition, the avatar in VR and the electric turntable had the same acceleration phase of one second and an extended stable speed of 5.3 revolutions per minute. The speed was kept relatively slow for safety reasons so that the participants would not be in danger of falling off the turntable, and to prevent them from feeling dizzy. At the same time, however, the rotations needed to be fast enough so it would still be a learning task with a certain level of difficulty. An optimal rotation speed had been tested in several pilot tests prior to actual testing and was also included in the ethics application approved by the leading university’s ethics committee.

2.3. Procedure

Each student performed the VR rotation task on the same day in the gymnasium of the secondary school. The subjects were tested individually one after the other and all the participants performed the task under the same conditions. Throughout the testing procedure, the students were accompanied by two test leaders, i.e., the teacher of the extracurricular dance class and a sports scientist. First, a demographics questionnaire was administered, which enquired about the participants’ age and gender as well as their primary compositional sports type, performance level within this sport, training frequency, exercise period in years, level of experience with rotation training, specification of the rotation direction in training, and finally, experience with mental rotation tasks. The experience-based question was answered on a three-point scale ranging from 1 = “a lot of experience”, 2 = “little experience”, to 3 = “no experience”. Furthermore, the students were asked to conduct three simple motor tasks, (e.g., please jump from a standing position into half a rotation) in order to find out each individual’s rotation preference, and fill out the Revised Lateral Preference Inventory [31] on eyedness, eardness, handedness, and footedness. Although this repository is not essential to the scope of this work, it can be useful in further research. After completing the questionnaires, participants underwent the actual task.

To conduct the VR rotation task, the respective participant had to decide during the rotation of his or her own body in which direction the avatar shown in the VR glasses rotated. From a total of 32 trials, i.e., the amount of rotations, in 16 trials the rotation directions of the turntable and the avatar were congruent (both to the left or both to the right), and in 16 trials the rotation directions of the turntable and the avatar were incongruent (passive body rotation to the right and rotation of the avatar to the left and vice versa). In the context of various research possibilities, this serves—especially from an Embodied-Cognition-Perspective, which states that body and mind are interrelated [32,33]—to study the effects of congruent rotations (real and mental rotation with the same direction of rotation) and incongruent rotations (real and mental rotation with different directions of rotation) on decision processes. The decision of the rotation direction of the VR avatar had to be made by pressing a button accordingly on the left or the right hand-controller. As soon as the participants did so, both the turntable and the avatar stopped rotating. This was done in order to give the participants a short break before the subsequent trial started after two seconds. In general, performance-related investigations, i.e., the reaction times and the number of errors of a learners’ decisions, can be measured by this method as well, which, however, will not be discussed further in this work as the focus was on the students’ reports about the tool as well as on the observations of students’ subsequent actions. Figure 1 shows the experimental setup of the VR rotation task and the starting position of the VR avatar that the students got to see in the beginning of each trial.

Following the task, an additional test using the VR glasses was performed without the students having to stand on the turntable. This was to determine differences with and without rotation of the own body in the context of the performance-related investigations (reaction times and number of errors), which, however, as mentioned, is not referred to in this work. Nevertheless, it is important to mention in the context of this work that the students were presented with the visualization in the VR glasses twice, i.e., 2 × 32 trials.

After each student completed the tasks, he or she was asked to take part in a feedback session with one of the test leaders. Referring to one of the main objectives of the study, i.e., support perceptual learning in sports (dance) education, this was done to obtain the students’ perceptions of the tasks. Participants provided their feedback both in written and verbal form. Specifically, the following questions guided the feedback: “What did you perceive?” and “What did you perceive most?”. The students were asked to answer separately on both the actual VR rotation task and the additional test run without using the turntable. The primary focus for this study was on the answers to the actual VR rotation task only. The students were encouraged to think about these questions and to share their thoughts with the test leader, and then take their time to write down their answers to the questions. In addition, the test leader took summarizing notes on the students’ answers to the final question: “What do you take away from the testing today?”, to get an overall picture of sentiment towards the tool. After finishing the feedback session, the students had the opportunity to spend the rest of the lesson in a free class form, i.e., they could decide on their own what they would use the rest of the time for. One of the test leaders observed their behaviour, both in terms of the whole group behaviour of dancers who had already finished the other parts of the study as well as individual actions. This particular part of the study was conducted in order to find out in a natural way, i.e., during dance training in a free class form, how the innovative tool affected the students’ behaviour, specifically referring to the self-didactic and collaborative effects.

2.4. Qualitative Data Analysis of Feedback Session

To evaluate the written answers to the test leaders’ questions, a qualitative content analysis procedure according to Mayring [34] was used. Thus, individual contents of the answer texts were assigned to at least one category that summarizes a similar perception to the VR-based rotation task of different students. The following Figure 2 shows an example of the qualitative content analysis procedure:

2.5. Analysis of the Overall Sentiment towards the Tool (Feedback Session)

The final question of the feedback question was analysed by summarizing the test leader’s notes on students’ responses, which are reported in the Section 3.

2.6. Analysis of Observation Session

For analysing the student’s behaviour during the free form class session, the notes that the test leader took during observation were used to obtain a general overview of the students’ actions. For this purpose, all notes have been carefully summarized and are listed in the Section 3.

3. Results

3.1. Feedback Session

After the qualitative content analysis, eleven aspects were identified which summarize the content of the students’ feedback. Figure 3 displays the various content aspects as well as the agreement of these between students.

In particular, dominant perception of one’s own body (n = 12), perception of the task as challenging (n = 12), and dominant visual (mental) perception (n = 9) were most frequently described by students during the feedback session. Several participants stated that the perception of their own body rotating on the turntable had influenced them in responding to the avatar shown in VR, including 11 students for whom this effect led to irritation. One student, however, stated that the increased perception of her own body helped her determine the direction of the avatar. Five other students, while not indicating a dominant perception of their own body, also found the body rotation to be helpful in orienting themselves to the avatar. One of these described the feeling of rotating simultaneously with the avatar as ‘real’.

With regard to task difficulty, 12 participants described the task as demanding. They were surprised that they could even hardly distinguish between the rotations to the right and to the left of the avatar. One student who described the task as challenging related the difficulty of the task to the fact that she has difficulties distinguishing left from right. However, since the student also mentioned that she was able to cope well after a few trials, the task could be completed successfully. Nine participants experienced a dominant visual (mental) perception in contrast to the dominant perception of their own body. These students were able to focus on the visual representation despite the influence of the physical motion. Still, the majority of these students (n = 5) explicitly described the task as demanding. Five students reported that they had to get used to the task during the first trials in order to complete it correctly. The VR rotation task was described as fun and entertaining, especially in relation to the environment in VR (n = 5). Some participants found the use of the newer technologies unfamiliar at first (n = 5). Two students experienced mild dizziness, but not so severe that they would have had to discontinue the task. Two students mentioned that they particularly noticed the regular stopping of the turntable, sometimes more than the rotation itself. Two students perceived ambient noises during the task but mentioned that these did not distract them from conducting it properly. One student wrote that she had developed ambition during the VR rotation task to master it well.

3.2. Overall Sentiment towards the Tool (Feedback Session)

When the students were asked about what they would take away from the testing, i.e., their own assessment and experience of the VR rotation task, the fundamental idea that came up during the conversations with the test leader was that the tool could help strengthen the own-body feeling. It was reported that the self-perception of one’s own body had changed and that individual body parts, i.e., legs, torso, arms, hands, and fingers, were felt more intensely than usual. In addition, the use of the innovative technical devices, especially the VR glasses, could be imagined to train the awareness of different rotation directions.

3.3. Observation Session

With regard to the actions of the students following the task and the feedback session, it could be observed during the post-experiment free form session that the students shared their experiences with each other (e.g., noticeable through phrases such as, “That was so cool!”) and generally talked about the individual perceptions. They asked each other questions about the VR rotation task and compared their performances (e.g., by asking: “Did you choose the correct direction?”). Moreover, some noted that they perceived the simultaneous rotations of the body and the avatar differently (e.g., by wondering: “The two directions were partially different?”). Further observations on motor actions in the free class form showed that the students performed rotational (dance) motions and independently developed learning tasks by rotating in front of each other to both sides (to the right and to the left) and mutually taking on the role of the teacher and the learner, i.e., one person determined and announced directional changes to the other and corrected him or her if necessary and vice versa. These student actions were not required and took place without any instruction from the test leaders. The participants who had already completed the VR rotation task were simply expected to engage in independent activity for the remaining time of the lesson, while the further tests went on in another area of the gym, specifically set up for the tests. Thus, gradually more and more students joined the independent small teams that had formed in the meantime and became involved in the learning tasks. The students organized themselves, and motivated and supported each other to solve the specially created motion tasks collaboratively in teams.

4. Discussion

In the VR rotation task, participants strongly perceived the rotation of their own body, which affected their visual perception of the avatar, as most of them were irritated by the simultaneous real and mental rotation. As mentioned earlier, this is consistent with the theory of Embodied-Cognition [32,33]. The fact that the motion of one’s body influenced the mind in solving the task argues for an interrelation of body and mind. This could lead to further investigations with the VR rotation task to see if this sense of confusion would dissipate after a certain number of trials and these students could learn to focus their attention either exclusively on the mental rotation in VR or on the rotation of their own body. Moreover, this in turn could indicate that the method might serve as attention and perception training, which is especially important for learning dance choreographies. In a dance group, attention must be directed to the motion of fellow dancers as well as on the self-perception of one’s own motions [16]. A tool like the VR rotation task, which trains these parallel attention and perception processes of dance motion elements in the long term, appears to be very useful for dance sport. It would expand existing research that has identified positive contributions of VR by specifically using avatars in sports for targeting attention [35].

Contrary to the feeling of irritation caused by the turntable, a few students experienced that the rotation of their own body helped them to decide on the avatars’ rotation directions in VR. Again, this is in line with the theory of Embodied-Cognition, specifically relating to an improved ability of mental rotation when humans are in similar positions to the object [36] and humans can empathize with a human-looking object, e.g., an avatar in VR [30]. However, the important question that arises here is, to what extent does this feeling arises with the same rotation directions of one’s own body and that of the avatar, since the positions are similar? Or is the feeling also present when both rotations run in opposite directions, i.e., the difference from the avatar’s motion to one’s own body position in space is strongly noticeable, possibly even more than when the own body does not rotate at all? Targeted interviews and further investigations, as they are enabled by VR, should verify this. Furthermore, future research should address the differences between learners regarding the effects of Embodied-Cognition on perception and task performance, e.g., irritating or supporting.

With regard to the dominant perceptions of the participants, the innovative tool helped to find out that in addition to the students who most strongly perceived their own rotation via the turntable, almost a similar number of participants only subconsciously perceived the real rotation and were able to rather focus on the rotation of the avatar. The task-beneficial perceptions of these participants may further indicate more use of such a VR tool for investigating and practising perception and attention processes, which are again relevant for pedagogic research in dance [37]. In addition, the fact that the task was cognitively demanding for many students suggests that the tool could be a suitable method for educational use. Since students reported that they found the task easier as they became habituated to it, specifically also referring to the unfamiliar technologies, this suggests on the one hand that it was not too demanding for them; on the other hand, variations of the task would be needed for long-term use in this specific school context. Overall, the method could have an impact not only on extracurricular physical education, but also on other school contexts. Other researchers have already investigated cognitively challenging tasks from the motor domain to promote active breaks in schools. Therefore, the use of pre-meditated motions in conjunction with the task of remembering and subsequently replicating them could be explored as feasible for breaking up sitting time in primary schools [38]. Transferred to secondary schools, the VR rotation task could represent a cognitively demanding task appropriate for school education, which in combination with subsequent specially created motion tasks (similar to the procedure of this study) could serve to design active breaks in lessons. The difficulty of a student in distinguishing left from right, which made the task more challenging for this specific reason, should be considered in the further development of the tool. On the one hand, the method could be considered not ideally suited for people with right–left confusions; on the other hand, however, the tool might even serve as specific training to overcome such deficits. In particular, VR technology has proven useful for training spatial perception [39], which plays an important role in the ability to distinguish left from right [40]. Further research on the use of this tool for these purposes is needed.

Additionally, for the long-term implementation of such a VR- and rotation-based task in physical education, the aspect of dizziness would have to be considered. Both the immersion in a virtual environment by wearing VR glasses [41] and the execution of rotational motions [25] can cause this. This was previously checked for the study and accordingly the rotation speed of the turntable and the avatar was adjusted in such a way that dizziness did not occur in any of the pilot participants and yet a certain level of difficulty of the task was maintained by a certain speed of the rotations. Nevertheless, according to the students’ feedback, two students became dizzy despite the precautions. It must be added that both the students were able to complete the task and were still doing well afterwards. However, consideration should be given to the extent to which the instrument could include test runs prior to the actual task when the VR rotation task is performed by learners for the first time.

Since some of the students particularly perceived when the turntable stopped, this should be taken into account in the further elaboration of the tool and the possible development of different tasks in connection with it. However, in this study, the stopping of the turntable was only triggered by the reaction of the students pressing a button on the controller, so this did not occur during a decision-making process of students that required them to be focused.

The importance of focus and concentration during the execution of such a task should be further discussed, especially with regard to possible distractions in educational contexts. The tool should be able to promote learning processes, but in school contexts as well as in dance classes; for example, this usually takes place in a group of people, so distractions caused by noises from the environment or from classmates are likely. Confirming this, during the VR rotation task (where the outside world was visually shielded for students due to the VR glasses), a few of the students perceived auditory perceptions of the activities around the testing, e.g., short necessary exchanges between the test leaders. However, students also mentioned that these auditory perceptions from the environment did not bother them while performing the task. However, this generally represents an important aspect for the elaboration of the tool that should be investigated in further target groups.

In regards to the concluding question asked by the test leader, it was suggested by the students that the tool might be helpful for strengthening body awareness, also regarding specific body parts. This is in line with the beneficial properties of immersive training environments with XR (including VR technology) on self-perception of one’s own body and body motions, as suggested by Geisen and Klatt [29]. In conjunction with the prospects of VR as a perception and attention tool, these remarks should be taken into serious consideration.

The fact that some students mentioned in the feedback session, without specifically being asked for it, that they enjoyed performing the task and that they were glad to try something new like this, is consistent with the observations from the free form class session. The general euphoric mood following the task indicates that the new tool with the innovative learning materials aroused enthusiasm and interest in them. The assumption that the innovative tool had a motivation effect on learning, as found in other previously tested learning settings in VR and in combination with the use of avatars [7,10,42], was also confirmed by both the feedback and the observation session. According to the written feedback of a student, the tool had awakened the ambition to perform the task in the best possible way. Furthermore, as the students voluntarily organized themselves to perform their own specially developed motion tasks, they motivated and helped each other during the free form class session. Thus, a self-directed creative learning environment was created, which is an aspect that is particularly important in the sport of dance [16]. In summary, the voluntary verbal exchange between students about the VR rotation task and their following collaborative work may indicate that the VR rotation task had elicited interactive learning. The effects of VR-based training on teamwork in learning processes, which have already been found in other learning fields (e.g., climbing Mount Everest collaboratively in a virtual environment) [11], have been shown in this study as well.

5. Limitations

There were some limitations that should be considered. The feedback session as well as the observation was conducted on one day with a single group of dancers and a specific VR rotation task, so further interviews and observation research would be needed to draw meaningful conclusions from the integration of innovative technologies such as VR into extracurricular (dance) school sports. Furthermore, it must be taken into account that the same person first conducted the VR rotation task using the turntable and then without using the turntable. Thus, the actions during the free class form session might have been influenced by either the combination of both test runs or of the actual task or the additional task only. However, in both task variations, the same visualization was presented in VR, i.e., the rotating avatar, which in terms of the main focus of testing the use of VR in extracurricular sports classes, is seen as most relevant. Nevertheless, future work should take this into consideration.

6. Conclusions

In summary, the VR rotation task evoked specific perceptual and unexpected behavioural patterns in the students. Considering the physical and mental processes and the interaction with modern technology, the following can be stated regarding the VR-based rotation task: The use of VR in combination with an electric turntable enabled the compilation of physical and mental rotational perceptions. On the one hand, this partially led to irritation and required effort to complete the task; on the other hand, further development of the tool could be used for perceptual and attentional diagnostics and training in extracurricular dance classes. The difficulty of the task might prompt longer-term training and require adaptation to different learning settings and age groups. Yet, in terms of cognitively demanding tasks, the instrument could provide the right features for learning in distinct education fields. Overall, the VR rotation task needs to be adapted to a couple of considerations that emerged from the feedback and have been discussed earlier. Further specific research should be conducted to realize implementation in sports education, especially in extracurricular dance classes.

As was evident from the students’ unplanned self-organized continuation of rotation training, the tool was able to promote the students’ motivation to learn and to encourage independent training in self-assembled groups. Behavioural patterns such as observing each other, communicating, interacting, interpreting, improvising, imitating, differentiating, choreographing, and synchronizing can be elicited accordingly and play an important role, especially in dancing. Such joint task solutions, possibly driven by the use of an innovative tool as being observed here, might in the broader pedagogical sense, help students to change perspectives by reflecting on their own body perception and others’ action observations. These results are the answer to the research question referring to the effects of the tool on students’ subsequent actions. Furthermore, they are consistent with the positive attributes of VR already found in previously studied learning settings. It, therefore, seems worthwhile to investigate VR more in this context in the future and integrate it into dance sport pedagogy and, beyond that, into other sport education fields.

In conclusion, the tool stimulated perceptual learning processes and had a positive impact on didactic and collaborative components of dance practice in the students. Consequently, crucial aspects that are part of a suitable learning environment for the holistic development of young people were supported by this tool. In the future, further investigations of technically enabled training tools need to be focused on in sports and education science.