Immersi-Lab: Empowering Disabled Learners Through Virtual Biology Simulations

Abstract: Traditional biology laboratories systematically exclude differently-abled students — those with physical disabilities, mobility impairments, chronic health conditions, and sensory limitations — from hands-on science education. In India, with over 26.8 million persons with disabilities [6], the inaccessibility of physical laboratory infrastructure represents a critical educational equity failure. This paper presents ImmersiLab, an immersive Virtual Reality (VR) Biology Laboratory developed on Unity Engine LTS with the XR Interaction Toolkit and OpenXR framework [7], deployed on Meta Quest 2/3 [9]. ImmersiLab provides five fully interactive, curriculum-aligned biology experiment modules — Cell Observation, Organ Dissection, Osmosis, Microbiology, and Photosynthesis — each structured as a four-stage guided workflow: Introduction, Preparation, Execution, and Review. By enabling safe, self-paced, location- independent, and infinitely repeatable biology experimentation, ImmersiLab removes every physical and systemic barrier faced by differently-abled learners. User Acceptance Testing conducted with 30 MCA students at MIET, Meerut demonstrated strong performance: 72+ FPS on Meta Quest 2, under 2GB RAM usage, app loading under 10 seconds, and user satisfaction averaging 4.5 out of 5 across all parameters. Research evidence confirms that VR-based learning produces 25% better retention than textbook-based methods [1], that virtual labs reduce costs by up to 60% [3], and that VR significantly reduces participation gaps for students with physical disabilities [4]. ImmersiLab is designed to democratize science education across India by making biology laboratory learning fully accessible regardless of physical ability or geographic location.

Keywords: Virtual Reality, Inclusive Education, Differently-Abled Learners, VR Biology Lab, Unity Engine, XR Toolkit, Accessibility, Meta Quest, Immersive Learning, India, Disability.