Verbal and Nonverbal Communication During VR Experiences – a Case Study on Analytic Geometry

Virtual reality is generally recognized as a technology that allows people to have individual (virtual) experiences. By contrast, in classroom settings, the use of VR often takes place not in individual work, but collaboratively in groups, for learning theoretical reasons theory but also for organizational reasons. Hence, students who are wearing VR goggles are collaborating with other students who are not wearing VR goggles at that time. This imbalance of (mathematical) information available to the students leads to interesting negotiation processes, which consist of both verbal and nonverbal communication. This is theoretically explained in this study and elucidated by means of a multiple case study in the field of analytic geometry.