Technology presents a significant educational opportunity, particularly in enhancing emotional engagement and expanding learning and educational prospects for individuals with Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDD). Virtual reality emerges as a promising tool for addressing such disorders, complemented by numerous touchscreen applications that have shown efficacy in fostering education and learning abilities. VR and touchscreen technologies represent diverse interface modalities. This study primarily investigates which interface, VR or touchscreen, more effectively facilitates food education for individuals with NDD. We compared learning outcomes via pre- and post-exposure questionnaires. To this end, we developed GEA, a dual-interface, user-friendly web application for Food Education, adaptable for either immersive use in a head-mounted display (HMD) or non-immersive use on a tablet. A controlled study was conducted to determine which interface better promotes learning. Over three sessions, the experimental group engaged with all GEA games in VR (condition A), while the control group interacted with the same games on a tablet (condition B). Results indicated a significant increase in post-questionnaire scores across subjects, averaging a 46% improvement. This enhancement was notably consistent between groups, with VR and Tablet groups showing 42% and 41% improvements, respectively.

翻译：技术展现出显著的教育潜力，尤其在增强情感参与、扩大神经发育障碍（NDD）患者学习与教育前景方面。虚拟现实作为应对此类障碍的新兴工具，与众多已被证实能有效促进教育与学习能力的触屏应用相辅相成。虚拟现实与触屏技术代表了不同的界面模态。本研究重点探究何种界面（VR或触屏）能更有效地促进NDD患者的食品教育。我们通过前后测问卷对比学习成效。为此，我们开发了GEA——一个支持双界面、用户友好的食品教育网络应用，既可适配头戴式显示器（HMD）的沉浸式使用，也可在平板电脑上进行非沉浸式操作。我们开展了一项对照研究以确定哪种界面更利于学习。在三轮实验中，实验组使用VR（条件A）体验所有GEA游戏，而控制组则在平板电脑（条件B）上操作相同游戏。结果显示所有受试者后测问卷分数显著提升，平均提高46%。这种进步在组间高度一致，VR组与平板组分别提升42%和41%。