Examining the Acceptance of First-Person View Drones through Head-Mounted Displays in STEM Education by In-Service Teachers

Abstract

Drones is an emerging technology in education. Research has shown that their use has positive effects on student learning, especially in STEM education. Although the number of studies on their use is increasing, however, research on their acceptance in STEM education is lacking. The aim of this study is to pro-pose a model of acceptance of First Person View (FPV) drones and to examine the factors that affect in-service teachers to use these drones with their students in STEM activities. The FPV drones were chosen among the different types of drones due to their special characteristics and affordances (i.e., presence, bird's-eye view and first-person view). The research model of acceptance proposed is based on TAM and the following variables: facilitating conditions, perceived enjoyment and perceived affordances. The study involved 64 in-service teachers who interacted with the FPV drone in a STEM scenario. The quantitative results showed that teachers had positive perceptions about the use of FPV drones in STEM activities in their teaching. Another important finding of this research is that the research model explained 56.3% of the variance of intention, 82.3% of the variance of attitude and 71.8% of the variance of perceived usefulness. Per-ceived usefulness had no effect on intention and perceived ease of use had no effect on attitude and perceived usefulness. These findings will contribute to a better understanding of the factors that influence the use of drones in STEM ed-ucation.