Thesis:

Title : Designing a Metaverse-Based Teaching-Learning Model in Elementary Education

The present study aimed to design a metaverse-based teaching and learning model for primary education. A qualitative approach and grounded theory methodology based on the Strauss and Corbin paradigm model were employed. The participants were 20 experts in educational technology, educational psychology, educational management, curriculum planning, teacher education, and related fields, selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using MAXQDA through open, axial, and selective coding. The findings indicated that the causal conditions included the inadequacy of traditional teaching methods, children's need for multisensory learning, limited school resources, demands for twenty-first-century skills, and the development of emerging technologies. The core category was identified as an “Integrated Immersive Learning Ecosystem,” encompassing immersive presence, educational system restructuring, personalized learning, and social presence. Technological infrastructure, cultural and cognitive readiness, educational flexibility, and teacher education were identified as contextual conditions, while children's health concerns, insufficient teachers' digital literacy, technical limitations, high equipment costs, and privacy concerns were identified as intervening conditions. Key strategies included gamification, blended and micro-learning, teacher professional development, peer-to-peer learning, metaverse-based flipped classrooms, and the development of secure and localized infrastructures. Appropriate implementation may lead to deeper learning, greater participation, personalized instruction, enhanced social skills, and the development of competent and ethical digital citizens, whereas inadequate implementation may result in alienation from the physical world, cyberbullying, and increased educational inequality. Overall, the proposed model requires a balance among technological capacities, pedagogical requirements, psychological needs, and ethical and social considerations.

Keywords: Keywords: Metaverse, Teaching and Learning, Immersive Learning, Grounded Theory, Primary Education, Educational Technology.