Virtual realities in environmental education: the project LAKE

This article proposes the use of virtual realities (VR) in environmental education. It also presents the first results of an application to the phenomenon of eutrophication in lakes. Although our virtual environments are not immersive, they give the opportunity to students and educators to develop t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Education and information technologies 1997, Vol.2 (2), p.131-142
Main Authors: Mikropoulos, Tassos, Chalkidis, Anthimos, Katsikis, Apostolos, Kossivaki, Photini
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Environmental education
Environmental impact
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Summary:This article proposes the use of virtual realities (VR) in environmental education. It also presents the first results of an application to the phenomenon of eutrophication in lakes. Although our virtual environments are not immersive, they give the opportunity to students and educators to develop their own worlds and understand the population dynamics in a lake. The learning environment can be manipulated and controlled in a powerful way, enhancing students experiences leading to knowledge construction, and sensitizing students to current environmental problems. Our pedagogical approach is to build a theoretical model for virtual learning environments, expanding constructivism and combining it with experiential learning. Our operational and practical approach is to exploit the characteristics of desktop VR systems in virtual learning environments[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:1360-2357
1573-7608
DOI:10.1023/A:1018648810609