The article by Pérez Rubio et al. offers a compelling contribution at the intersection of teacher education, health education, and immersive technologies. The study positions virtual reality and serious games as a promising response to a dual imperative: on the one hand, the ethical and curricular obligation to extend cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training to school-aged populations; on the other, the need to update the pedagogical approaches through which future teachers acquire life-critical competencies.
The theoretical framework weaves together scholarship on VR, serious games, and basic life support, underscoring that the central question is no longer whether these technologies can be used, but rather how to integrate them in pedagogically meaningful and sustainable ways.
Methodologically, the study employs a pre–post comparative design with Primary Education students who engage in a VR-based CPR training game, supplemented by objective assessment on a simulation manikin and an ad hoc instrument to evaluate the sequence of the chain of survival.
The findings are unambiguous: students improved in overall compression quality (from 30% to 47%), rhythm, and depth, while also reducing initiation times for most assessed skills. Particularly notable is the sharp rise in students’ ability to request and use an automated external defibrillator (AED), absent in the pre-test. The article avoids overstating its results, acknowledging that despite significant gains, performance metrics still fall short of ERC guideline benchmarks—an invitation to iterate on design, feedback mechanisms, and training frequency.
In terms of implications, the study reinforces the view that VR is far more than a visually striking wrapper: it creates an environment conducive to self-directed learning, error awareness, and formative self-evaluation—especially relevant in emergency scenarios where emotional load shapes performance. The discussion connects these results to broader STEM experiences and international recommendations, pointing thoughtfully to future avenues: examining retention and forgetting curves, identifying optimal stress levels for training, and expanding VR applications for diversity, inclusion, and values education.
While the sample size is modest and the design does not include a direct comparison with other active methodologies, the study stands as a valuable contribution. It provides concrete evidence, situates the innovation convincingly, and presents VR-based serious games as a realistic pathway for preparing future teachers to become competent mediators of CPR training in schools.
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How to Cite: Pérez Rubio, M. T., González Ortiz, J. J., López Guardiola, P., Alcázar Artero, P. M., Soto Castellón, M. B., Ocampo Cervantes, A. B., & Pardo Ríos, M. (2023). Virtual Reality for Teaching Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in the Primary Education Degree. A Comparative Study. RIED-Revista Iberoamericana de Educación a Distancia, 26(2), 309–325. https://doi.org/10.5944/ried.26.2.36232
