Developing and examining the effectiveness of the 3D virtual learning environment to be used in the school adaptation process of immigrant students

Migration, which is as old as human history, has become one of the important elements of social life and today's modern world throughout history. Although it has been on the agenda a lot in recent years, it is not a new concept in our lives. Although this concept is seen as a simple displacement movement, the main problem starts after migration. Migration, which starts as a physical act, brings along numerous psychological and sociological effects. Undoubtfully, the groups mostly influenced by these effects are children and young people of school age. Children and young people, who are foreign to the society they migrated to, trying to adapt to a new language and a new culture, face many problems when they come to the host countries. Problems encountered in education can create major problems that prevent both immigrants and the host community from living together. Technology is the tool that will undoubtedly strengthen our hands in overcoming the problems experienced in education. In the current century, the technology is thought to have contribution to the solution of the problems of immigrant students in education. This study was carried out with 8 immigrant and 8 Turkish 5th grade students studying at a state school in Tokat, which is a city located in the Central Black Sea Region of Turkey, during the 2020-2021 academic year. In this research, design-based research method and mixed research method were used respectively. In the first part of the research, the 3D virtual school environment was developed and made ready for the educational environment. In the second part of the study, the effectiveness of the 3D virtual school environment was evaluated. To collect the data "School Adaptation Scale", "School Attitude Scale", achievement test, interview form, performance evaluation form and emotional state assessment form were used. Content analysis, frequency and number of opinions were used in the analysis of qualitative data. Descriptive statistics and related measurements Wilcoxon signed-rank test were used to analyze the quantitative data. As a result of the analysis of the research data, suggestions regarding the development process of the 3D virtual school environment were presented. When the views on the use of the 3D virtual school environment were evaluated, it was determined that the views of the 3D virtual school environment being fun, helping to get to know the school and contributing to cooperative learning were positively reflected in the experiences of both immigrant and Turkish students. It was found that both groups had negative experiences such as nausea and dizziness. While immigrant students were found to have problems in adapting to school, both quantitative and qualitative findings showed that the 3D virtual school environment increased the immigrant students' love for the school. Additionally, it was determined that it helped them to get to know the school and helped them to learn Turkish. As a result of the study, immigrant students were generally determined to complete the learning scenarios prepared for the 3D virtual school environment. When the emotional state of immigrant students was examined in the 3D virtual school environment, it was found that positive feelings of friendship, love, trust, happiness, curiosity and fun were positively affected, and negative feelings of anger, sadness, fear, surprise and discomfort were found to be negatively affected. As a result of the research, it was determined that immigrant students' attitudes towards school changed positively in the 3D virtual school environment. According to the results of the study, it was revealed that the major change was in the dimension of trust and love. It was determined that immigrant students achieved the acquisitions in learning scenarios according to their success scores before and after the implementation. In the context of the results of the study, making designs that are close to reality and appealing to real life in 3D virtual learning environments and adding elements that will increase their interaction to the environment were suggested. 3D virtual school environment can be used to facilitate the adaptation process of immigrant students to school by taking advantage such as repetitive use, innovation effect, and virtuality provided by technology was determined.