Development of a 3D virtual world tool for sustainable energy education

TL;DR

This paper introduces a 3D virtual world tool designed to enhance environmental and energy education among schoolchildren, aiming to improve understanding and awareness through immersive simulations.

Contribution

It presents the development and features of a pedagogical 3D virtual environment tailored to address educational gaps in energy and environmental issues.

Findings

3D VWLE effectively improves students' environmental knowledge.

Simulation in virtual worlds enhances skill acquisition.

The tool provides an engaging online learning experience.

Abstract

The UNESCO (2022) points out that the gap between the existing awareness of a person or a community, and the actual habits of everyday life, is attributed to: low levels of understanding the environmental issues at stake; low levels of knowledge regarding energy and climate issues; and lack of attention to social, emotional or behavioral learning. In this context, as environmental and energetic concerns grow rapidly in our daily lives, RAISE - Raising environmental knowledge & awareness, an ERAMUS+ project with partners from three countries (Greece, Portugal, and Italy), was born. The project's first and main objective is to increase the environmental knowledge and awareness (EK&A) of schoolchildren. To achieve this goal, a survey was first carried out to ascertain the students' knowledge and, based on these results, scenarios and educational material were drawn up to build a pedagogical tool - a 3D Virtual World Learning Environment (3D VWLE). This paper presents the desktop research results and the main features of the game that are intended to match the identified educational needs. The 3D VWLE puts students in situations where they can acquire transferable skills. The project demonstrated that the simulation effect of 3D VWLE on skills provides an excellent online learning environment for students to work on and improve their abilities. In other words, virtual worlds open the door to a new way of learning and teaching.