Nelly Marosi¹, Maria Christoforaki¹, Athina Karatza¹, Anastasia Georgiou¹, Myrto Koutra-Illiopoulou¹, Eirini Chatzara¹, Evangelia Mavrikaki¹, Apostolia Galani^1,

Augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) can support secondary STEM learning by making abstract, spatially complex, and difficult-to-observe phenomena more directly accessible. This study examined secondary-school students’ evaluations of STEM-IT AR/VR applications in terms of usability, perceived pedagogical value, engagement, and post-use acceptance. A post-intervention questionnaire was completed by 115 students from four European countries; a separate diagnostic questionnaire (n = 57) provided contextual information on prior technology experience. Responses were analyzed descriptively, and Spearman rank-order correlations with 20,000-resample bootstrap confidence intervals and Benjamini–Hochberg adjustment were used to examine associations with continued-use intention and recommendation. Positive evaluations were reported for interest and enjoyment (70.4%), clarity and usefulness of content (68.7%), and ease of use (66.1%); 73.0% indicated an intention to use similar applications in future lessons and to recommend them to other students. Clarity and usefulness showed the strongest associations with future-use intention (ρ = .566) and recommendation (ρ = .548). The findings indicate that acceptance was associated primarily with pedagogical clarity, active participation, and usability rather than immersion alone.

Augmented reality, virtual reality, AR/VR applications, secondary education, STEM