Preschoolers' early gaze exploration in virtual preschool classrooms: a transition-based eye-tracking analysis of window views and room size

Abstract

Preschool age is a developmental period in which children are learning to orient in unfamiliar spaces while still relying strongly on visible landmarks and other salient environmental cues, yet little is known about how classroom design shapes this initial orienting process. To address this gap, this study examined how preschoolers (ages 5-6) visually explore immersive virtual preschool classrooms during the first 5 min of exposure using head-mounted virtual reality (VR) with integrated eye tracking. Two architectural manipulations were tested in separate between-subject comparisons: window-view content (city vs. nature) and classroom size (large vs. small). Gaze was mapped to classroom activity areas (areas of interest; AOIs) and analyzed using (a) proportional dwell time and (b) transition-based metrics derived from AOI sequences (e.g., transition entropy, return-to-anchor dynamics), followed by unsupervised clustering of scanpath patterns. In the window-view comparison, children in the nature-view classroom allocated more gaze to window-related AOIs (i.e., central and side windows). Two exploration patterns emerged: a return-anchored pattern characterized by frequent returns to a window reference, and an expansion-oriented pattern marked by broader outward exploration; cluster membership was strongly associated with view condition. In the classroom-size comparison, large and small rooms showed distinct AOI prioritization and process-level exploration profiles, with larger rooms eliciting more rapid and/or diverse scanning and smaller rooms eliciting more repetitive or focal viewing. Overall, the results suggest that window-view content and room scale systematically reorganize the temporal structure and spatial distribution of preschoolers' early visual orientation in immersive learning environments, providing initial evidence for developmentally informed classroom design.