Enhancing Art Education for Generation Z through Immersive Virtual Reality

Abstract

Effective art education for Generation Z faces challenges due to students’ abbreviated attention spans and preference for visually rich, interactive content, while high school curricula demand rapid coverage of extensive artistic movements. Despite the growing availability of immersive technologies, there is limited research on their integration into modular art curricula tailored to this generation. This study investigates how immersive virtual reality (VR) can enhance engagement and understanding of avant-garde art. A pilot study with 32 secondary school graduates exposed participants to two narrative-driven VR episodes centred on Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte and Gentileschi’s Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria. Preliminary findings indicate high levels of attention, curiosity, and contextual understanding, with 87.5% of participants expressing interest in exploring additional episodes. Interpreted through Kolb’s experiential learning theory and Csikszentmihalyi’s flow framework, the results suggest that modular VR experiences can convert Generation Z’s digital habits into structured, meaningful learning. These findings highlight the potential for immersive VR to support both cognitive and affective outcomes, informing the design of high school art curricula that effectively balance engagement with comprehensive content coverage.