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Examining the role of virtual reality in environmental education

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Examining the role of virtual reality in environmental education

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EXAMINING THE ROLE OF VIRTUAL REALITY IN ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

by
Dinghong (Joy) Chen

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

May 2023

Copyright 2023 Dinghong (Joy) Chen

ii
DEDICATION
This dissertation and my doctoral degree are dedicated to my late grandma Lanhua Ding
and my late mom Lingfang Ding. Thanks so much for your love, care, patience, inspiration and
always having confidence and belief in me. Your memories will always live on within me. And I
believe your spirits are still very much alive and you can hear my words…
Love you both and miss you two so much.

iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This amazing Global Executive Doctor of Education Program has been the most life-
changing, reflective, yet rewarding journey so far in my academic and professional career. It has
enlightened me, inspired me, and helped unleash my full potential to power my career into its
next wave of growth and achieve a long-lasting impact on my future life.
There are so many people I would like to thank. Though I won’t be able to list everyone
by name, I am truly thankful to all who have contributed toward my achieving this major
milestone in my life.
First, to my dissertation chair, Dr. Tracy Tambascia, I am so extremely thankful to have
had you as my dissertation chair. I am incredibly lucky to have had your guidance and support
throughout this journey. You have always given me the extra pushes, not allowing me to settle
for mediocrity. Thank you for your encouragement, patience, and kindness. I really appreciate
how you keep me on track, challenge my thoughts, and provide your insight and feedback
constantly. Thank you for believing in me and for motivating me throughout every step of this
process. To my other dissertation committee members, Dr. Lawrence Picus and Dr. Anthony
Maddox, thank you for being on my committee with your extremely busy schedule. I appreciate
the time, feedback, insights, and thoughts you provided. To all the members of the faculty who
have taught me, I am so grateful for all the learning, guidance and support offered by you. You
all have made my dissertation adventure exciting, rewarding, and enjoyable. To Dr. Sabrina
Chong and Alondra Morales, the program wouldn’t be so well-organized and full of fun without
you. Thank you for being there all the time. To all my dear classmates in Cohort 9 of the
program, thanks for continuously showering me with fun, care, love, and your friendship. I
couldn’t imagine better company than you on this beautiful journey.

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To the College of Science at California State University at Monterey Bay (CSUMB) and
Professor James Lindholm, thanks so much for offering me the opportunity to do the research
based upon your project of a virtual reality (VR)-enhanced Advanced Placement (AP)
environmental science course.
To Professor Corin Slown from CSUMB, I am totally indebted to your incredible
mentorship, wisdom, and kindness. Without your help, I would not have been able to complete
this study in a timely manner.
To my two boys Leo and Levin, thanks for being such awesome kids. You two have been
my greatest cheerleaders and have made me feel like the luckiest mom in the world. Thank you
for the joy and laughter that you have brought into my life.
Last but not least, to my partner Tom, thanks for your support and love. Thanks for
pulling it through and sticking it out with me. Thanks for making dinners and helping me with
Levin when I am busy or away from home. So lucky to have you by my side every day during
this journey.
Again, I am so grateful and appreciative of my village for your constant love, care, help
and support during the past 2 years. All of you have helped me not only survive but also thrive
through this program!

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication ....................................................................................................................................... ii
Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... iii
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ vii
List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. viii
Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ix
Chapter One: Introduction ...............................................................................................................1
Statement of the Problem .....................................................................................................2
Purpose of the Study ............................................................................................................2
Significance of the Study .....................................................................................................3
Overview of Theoretical Framework and Methodology .....................................................5
Limitations ...........................................................................................................................5
Delimitations ........................................................................................................................6
Assumptions .........................................................................................................................6
Definitions ............................................................................................................................7
Chapter Two: Review of Literature .................................................................................................8
Environmental Education: Background and Context ..........................................................8
Virtual Reality in Education ..............................................................................................16
Virtual Reality in Environmental Education ......................................................................24
Theoretical Framework ......................................................................................................30
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................35
Chapter Three: Methodology .........................................................................................................37
Organization Overview ......................................................................................................37
Population and Sample ......................................................................................................40
Instrumentation ..................................................................................................................41

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Procedure ...........................................................................................................................43
Data Collection ..................................................................................................................45
Data Analysis .....................................................................................................................46
Trustworthiness ..................................................................................................................47
Role of Researcher .............................................................................................................48
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................49
Chapter Four: Findings ..................................................................................................................50
Overview of Participants ....................................................................................................50
Findings .............................................................................................................................55
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................69
Chapter Five: Discussion ...............................................................................................................71
Discussion of Findings .......................................................................................................72
Recommendations for Practice ..........................................................................................77
Limitations .........................................................................................................................82
Future Research .................................................................................................................84
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................85
References ......................................................................................................................................87
Appendix A: Survey ....................................................................................................................102
Appendix B: Interview Questions ................................................................................................106
Appendix C: USC IRB Approval Letter ......................................................................................107

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Interview Participants and Their Pseudonyms ................................................................53

viii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Learning Pyramid Developed by National Training Laboratories .................................19
Figure 2: Age of Students ..............................................................................................................51
Figure 3: Gender of Students .........................................................................................................52
Figure 4: Race of Students .............................................................................................................53
Figure 5: Response to Survey Question “Does VR Immersive Learning Experiences Get
Students More Engaged in Learning?” ..........................................................................................57
Figure 6: Response to Survey Question “Does VR Immersive Learning Experiences Get
Students More Engaged in Learning?” ..........................................................................................59
Figure 7: Response to the Survey Statement “The Use of VR Has Helped Me Understand the
Problem of Diminishing Biodiversity Better Than Reading a Book or Article.” ..........................60
Figure 8: Response to the Survey Question “The Use of VR Has Helped Me Understand the
Problem of Diminishing Biodiversity Better Than Watching a Video.” .......................................61
Figure 9: Response to Survey Question “Does VR Immersive Learning Experiences Get
Students Excited About Learning?” ...............................................................................................63
Figure 10: Survey Response to “The Use of VR Has Brought My Attention to the Problems
of Diminishing Biodiversity” .........................................................................................................65
Figure 11: Survey Response to “I Choose to Take Actions to Help the Environment Because
I Think It’s Important to Take Care of the Environment” .............................................................69

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ABSTRACT
Environmental education (EE) is essential for addressing the environmental, social, and
economic challenges of the 21st century. However, current programs lack innovative educational
methodologies and diverse content. This qualitative study explored the potential of virtual reality
(VR) as a tool to enhance EE by immersing learners in virtual environments and providing
experiential learning opportunities. Using experiential learning theory as a lens and situated
cognition as a theoretical framework, the study investigated how VR technology can advance
environmental education by increasing learners’ interests, knowledge, awareness, and self-
efficacy. The study was conducted with a small sample of students from an AP Environmental
Science course at a private high school that used VR to enhance the learning experience. The
findings suggest that VR can facilitate learning, deepen emotional connection, influence
learners’ behavior, and effectively realize experiential and situated cognition learning. The study
concluded with recommendations for incorporating instructional pedagogies into VR learning,
integrating VR technology in teacher professional development, and making education
technologies such as VR more accessible. This study provided insights into leveraging
innovative technologies to improve EE and contribute to a sustainable future.

Keywords: environmental education, virtual reality, experiential learning, situated cognition
theory, simulation, learner engagement, immersive learning environment, qualitative approach.

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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
In communities around the world, there are deep concerns about the environmental,
social, and economic challenges we face. Among them, environmental changes threaten our
health, security, and future survival (NAAEE, 2016). According to the Global Risks Report 2021
from the World Economic Forum (Schwab et al., 2021), environmental concerns and threats are
among the top long-term risks. The environmental threats, including global warming, species
extinction and biodiversity loss, water crisis, pollution, and natural resources drain, put wildlife
populations and human beings at risk. With the planet facing the dire consequences of climate
change and many other environmental challenges, a global effort is needed to reduce emissions,
develop greater environmental awareness, and create a sustainable future for new generations. If
environmental considerations are not confronted in the short term, environmental degradation
will intersect with societal fragmentation with damaging consequences.
As nations tackle critical environmental issues, many identified that the long-term
solution is environmental education. Environmental education is set to become the largest, most
effective tool in combating environmental damage and promoting sustainable development
(UNEP, 2005).
Environmentally aware and empowered youths are potentially the greatest agent of
change for the long-term protection and stewardship of the environment (Erhabor & Don, 2016).
It is harder for adults to adapt and change than for younger people who are still searching for the
ideals and principles they wish to follow. It is critical to let the next generation of decision-
makers participate the environmental education as early as possible. Also, we need to
contemplate one question: How shall we include the environment and sustainable development
in our education system?

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Statement of the Problem
Environmental education equips learners with the knowledge, skills, and motivation to
address complex environmental challenges in the 21st century. It provides learners the capability
and skills to analyze environmental issues, engage in problem solving, and take action to sustain
and improve the environment (Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], n.d.). The Paris
Agreement affirmed the importance of education, training, public awareness, public
participation, public access to information and cooperation at all levels on the environmental
matters addressed in the agreement (UNFCC, 2015).
Even though environmental education is viewed as important, current environmental
education is weak (Krasny, 2020). There is a lack of a strong environmental education system
with innovative educational methodological approaches and a variety of content (Krasny, 2020).
The lack of good environmental education has meant that the challenges we face, such as global
warming and other related environmental problems, and the possible solutions for those
problems are not discussed widely and deeply. It also means that individuals cannot develop a
deeper understanding of environmental issues and their potential impact on our lives and the
future, and individuals also do not have the skills to make informed and responsible decisions
(EPA, n.d.). This is a problem because we will fail to create responsible citizens who consider
themselves stewards of the environment and who are capable of protecting our nature (Buehler et
al., 2019).
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to explore how to design and develop stronger
environmental education programs by utilizing innovative education approaches leveraging
technologies such as virtual reality (VR). It is critical to make the learning experience of

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environmental education engaging and effective because it will better nurture learners’ interests
in the environmental science area to help them create a vision of themselves as being able to
solve environmental problems. With better understanding and more interest, learners will want to
learn more and contribute more to help improve the environment in the future.
The research question which guides this study is “How can education technologies, such
as VR, advance (or support) environmental education?”
This study was conducted as part of a collaborative effort with California State
University of Monterey Bay (CSUMB) and a private high school with the pseudonym of ABC
Private School. This school launched an AP Environmental Science course so that students will
be able to identify and analyze natural and human-made environmental problems, evaluate the
relative risks associated with these problems, and examine alternative solutions for solving or
preventing them. CSUMB has developed and delivered a VR-enhanced class for this AP
Environmental Science course to make the learning experience engaging and effective to better
nurture students’ interests in the environmental science area. The study included high school
students from this ABC Private School who participated in the VR-enhanced AP class to find out
if and how VR can improve the environmental science learning experience to reinforce
knowledge and connect to real-world challenges.
Significance of the Study
Environmental education (EE) is a critical tool in countering environmental problems and
helping the public increase environmental protection and conservation (Potter, 2009). However,
educating the public on environmental issues poses significant challenges even though it is well-
acknowledged that education can advance environmental literacy and civic engagement to create
a more equitable and sustainable future (UNESCO, 2016). Efficient EE programs are needed to

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help individuals, communities, and organizations learn more about the environment, explore
environmental issues, develop skills to investigate the environment, engage in problem solving,
and make intelligent, informed decisions about how we can help take care of it, and take action
to improve the environment.
VR in education has brought with it many opportunities in the education area during the
past years. VR technologies have also been used to help people be better environmentally literate
(Johnston et al., 2018). VR can provide many learning possibilities for EE, such as allowing
learners to directly experience environments or situations, providing learners with immersive
learning experiences, and encouraging learners to actively engage (Stuart & Thomas, 1991).
However, VR in EE is not yet fully developed, and there are still many challenges in applying
VR in EE (Liu et al., 2017). More research and studies are needed to understand how to better
use VR so that it can be a useful addition to EE teaching and learning to help address
environmental problems that threaten our own survival and the health of our planet.
This study is important as it can aid in understanding how to leverage advanced
technologies such as VR to bolster EE so that learners will be more competent and have more
motivation, knowledge, awareness and self-efficacy to engage more in their future activities
related to environmental stewardship. By working with the students and educators who are
involved in this AP Environmental Science class, this study explores if and how VR can make
EE more engaging and more efficient so that it can better support students with the learning of
scientific principles, concepts, and methodologies required to understand the interrelationships
within the natural world.

5
Overview of Theoretical Framework and Methodology
Experiential learning theory was used as a lens to understand and explore how to design
and develop EE programs by leveraging education technologies such as VR in this study. This
theory is based on the idea that we learn and remember activities by doing them for ourselves
rather than being told what it entails (Kolb, 1984). VR is experiential learning as learners are
immersed in a world that simulates real life, where learners put their knowledge and skills into
practice.
Situated cognition is the theory that people’s knowledge is embedded in the activity,
context, and culture in which it was learned. The theory emphasizes that people’s knowledge is
constructed within and linked to the activity, context, and culture in which it was learned
(Greeno et al., 1993). VR technologies provide significant opportunities to foster situated
experiential learning in a virtual environment.
The research methodology used for this study is qualitative and includes a survey and
interviews for data collection.
Limitations
This study is limited by its small sample of students in an AP class at one school in
California. While AP programs may have similar characteristics across different high schools,
the findings may not be generalizable beyond the site studied. This VR-enhanced AP program is
well-resourced compared to other less formal AP programs at other high schools that lack
dedicated resources and support. The study took place at a well-organized AP Environmental
Science program. CSUMB has partnered together with some high schools to form an earth and
environmental sciences learning ecosystem to support this AP program. The schools that
participated in this AP program are distinguished by their challenging curriculum offerings,

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hands-on lab experiences, field studies, research projects and internships and their partnership
with the community. Thus, the findings related to this AP environmental science program should
not be overly generalized to all high schools’ AP environmental science programs.
Furthermore, this study depended on participants’ sharing their experiences and
narratives related to the AP program participation. The participants’ recollections and
willingness to share with the researcher may have limited the data collection.
Another limitation of this study could be researcher bias. As an education technology
evangelist who believes technology can empower education, I may have preconceived notions of
student experiences with VR-enhanced AP programs.
Delimitations
I used reflexivity to assess any potential bias and prevent her opinions from impacting the
study (Creswell, 2009). This study used a survey to determine who would be the participants to
interview individually. The intention of this interview method instead of a focus group was to
obtain data from personal experience in an individual setting as opposed to what might be
collected from a group setting, which could have been influenced by the reactions and responses
of others.
Assumptions
There are some assumptions for this study. The first assumption is that qualitative
research is the best methodological approach for this study. This approach is best because the
respondents can interpret their learning experience. The second assumption is that 33 interviews
conducted individually with students would be sufficient to collect data to understand if and how
VR can advance (or support) EE. The third assumption is that the interview participants could
accurately speak to their experiences as these students are academically high-achieving students

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who have the willingness and capability to take this VR-enhanced AP Environmental Science
class.
Definitions
The following terms will be used throughout the dissertation:
Environmental education (EE): A process that allows individuals to explore
environmental issues, engage in problem solving, and take action to improve the environment.
As a result, individuals develop a deeper understanding of environmental issues and have the
skills to make informed and responsible decisions.
Virtual reality (VR): A simulated experience that can be similar to or completely different
from the real world. Applications of VR include entertainment, education, and business.
Multi-user virtual environment (MUVE): A computer, server- or internet-based virtual
environment that can be accessed by multiple users simultaneously.
Simulation: An imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time.
Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors
of the selected system or process, whereas the simulation represents the evolution of the model
over time.
Personalized learning: individualized instruction, personal learning environment and
direct instruction all refer to efforts to tailor education to meet the different needs of students.
Advanced Placement (AP): A program in the United States created by the College Board
which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges
and universities may grant placement and course credit to students who obtain high exam scores.

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CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Environmental education equips learners with the knowledge, skills, and motivation to
address complex environmental challenges in the 21st century. However, there is a lack of a
strong EE system with innovative educational methodological approaches and a variety of
content (Krasny, 2020). Without good EE programs, individuals cannot develop a deeper
understanding of environmental issues and have the skills to make informed and responsible
decisions (EPA, n.d.). What may result will be a failure to create responsible citizens who
consider themselves stewards of the environment and who are capable of protecting nature
(Buehler et al., 2019). The purpose of this study was to explore how we can design and develop
stronger EE programs by utilizing innovative educational approaches, benefiting from a variety
of content, and leveraging education technologies.
The research question for this study asked, how can education technologies, such as VR,
advance (or support) EE? It is important to study this issue to understand how to leverage
advanced technologies to accelerate EE. In this chapter, I will first discuss EE, including its
importance, challenges and how educators work to build an effective learning experience. Next
will be an overview of VR and how it has been used in education, followed by existing models
for how VR is being used in EE. At the end of this chapter, I will discuss the theoretical
framework and theories guiding this study to address the use of educational technologies to
advance EE.
Environmental Education: Background and Context
The environment sustains all life on earth by providing us with nourishment and
inspiration. Global economies rely on stability and a healthy environment. Our personal and
cultural identities are often tied to the environment around us. At the same time, there are deep

9
concerns about the environmental, social, and economic challenges we are facing now. Among
all these challenges, environmental changes pose a threat to our health, security, and future
survival (NAAEE, 2016). Environmental changes include not only climate change but also the
extinction of hundreds of plant and animal species and habitats as a result of climate change,
even though current temperature levels are modest relative to those predicted in the next 100
years (Wiens, 2016).
Environmental education (EE) serves as a critical tool in countering environmental
problems and helping the public increase environmental protection and conservation (Potter,
2009). Education can advance environmental literacy and civic engagement to create a more
equitable and sustainable future ((NAAEE, 2016). Environmental education is about
transforming people intrinsically and nurturing more relational interactions among people and
nature rather than simply bringing about prescribed, extrinsically motivated actions (Reis et al.,
2018). It is a process that helps individuals, communities, and organizations learn more about the
environment, explore environmental issues, develop skills to investigate the environment, engage
in problem solving, and make intelligent, informed decisions about how we can help take care of
it, and take action to improve the environment (EPA, n.d.).
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an independent executive agency of the
United States federal government, is tasked with environmental protection matters, has been
clear about the goal of EE: it provides the capability and skills over time to analyze
environmental issues, engage in problem solving, and take action to sustain and improve the
environment (EPA, n.d.). The EPA’s definition for EE has five carefully worded parts, including
the use of “participation” not action:
1. Awareness and sensitivity to the environment and environmental challenges

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2. Knowledge and understanding of the environment and environmental challenges
3. Attitudes of concern for the environment and motivation to improve or maintain
environmental quality
4. Skills to identify and help resolve environmental challenges
5. Participation in activities that lead to the resolution of environmental challenges
The Importance of Environmental Education
During the past decades, human beings have faced many environmental problems and
issues. The lack of EE has meant people do not know enough about challenges like global
warming and other related environmental problems. They do not have the knowledge and skills
to understand environmental terminology, ecosystems and biodiversity interactions,
environmental metrics and statistics, and environmental performance evaluation methods. They
are also incapable of coming up with possible solutions for those problems.
The ultimate goal of EE is to protect the planet and improve environmental quality
(Goodall, 2018). Environmental education is the essential first step to avoid the formidable
consequences of environmental degradation and extinction of life if reformative measures are not
undertaken (Pachauri, 2012).
With good EE, people will have a deeper understanding of environmental issues and their
potential impact on our lives and the future. But only having generalized environmental
knowledge is not likely to lead to behavior change or action. Research suggests that people are
generally concerned about the environment but do not know what specific actions to take and
how beneficial these actions would be for a healthier environment (NAAEE, 2016).
Environmental behaviors are very critical for us to tackle environmental problems. They are
actions that can be taken in people’s homes, workplaces, and in nature by effectively applying

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EE knowledge and skills. These behaviors include hands-on stewardship, teaching others what to
do to better protect the environment, and political behaviors like voting or influencing
environmental policy (Krasny, 2020). Figh-quality EE programs can change and improve
environmental behavior, as they teach how to weigh various sides of an issue through critical
thinking, enhance problem solving and decision-making skills, and involve participation in
activities to the resolve environmental challenges.
With good EE, citizens will not only have a better awareness of the environmental
problems we are facing but will be able to make better informed, responsible decisions and take
actions to protect and improve the environment (Ajaps & McLellan, 2015).
Importance of Environmental Education for Younger Generations
Environmental education (EE), since its earliest formal definitions, has called for
inclusive and holistic approaches to engage diverse audiences in solving problems related to both
social well-being and environmental health (UNESCO, 2016). Proponents of EE assert that this
EE should be an essential part of the education of all citizens and emphasize the importance of
starting at a young age (Ojala, 2021). If, at an early age, younger generations can have a good
ecological understanding of their environment, it will be easier for them to become more
ecologically responsible citizens in the future (Reis et al., 2018). While EE can benefit learners
of all ages, when learners start from a relatively young age, the motivation to be ecologically
friendly can be formed early and will likely have a lifelong effect (Evans et al., 2018).
To have a well-rounded EE, proponents suggest that K-12 learners, in particular, need to
learn about environment-related scientific concepts and principles, controversial environmental
issues and problems starting from a young age (EPA, n.d.). Some of the schools have already
started to incorporate environment education into the curriculum. Whether we bring nature into

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the classroom, take people outside to learn, or find impromptu teachable moments on a nature
walk with our families and friends, EE has many benefits for youth, educators, schools, and
communities (Project Learning Tree, n.d.).
Environmental education aims to give young learners more knowledge so that they will
have a wider appreciation of the diversity of nature, a better understanding of environmental
systems around us, an urge to overcome existing challenges, and the capabilities to solve
environmental problems.
In addition, the younger generation’s increased participation in nature-based EE will help
them gain more environmental knowledge and connectedness to nature and increase their
ecological behavior (Otto & Pensini, 2017). Studies show that people are generally concerned
about the environment but do not know what specific actions and behavior to take and how
beneficial these actions and behavior would be for a healthier environment (Ajaps & McLellan,
2015). Promoting environmental literacy during tender ages will also encourage more
environmentally friendly behavioral changes in the future by producing more responsible
citizens (Uyarra & Borja, 2016).
Lastly, EE will help learners better understand controversial environmental issues. It
plays an active role in helping youth from getting discouraged by media misrepresentations,
political hype or the overwhelming scale of environmental problems, such as global warming
and the extinction of certain species (Ajaps & McLellan, 2015).
Challenges of Environmental Education
Even though we understand that EE is important, current EE is often weak and educating
the public on environmental issues poses significant challenges (Krasny, 2020).

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Environmental Education Is Multidisciplinary Education
Environmental education is multidisciplinary education that involves all kinds of
knowledge and imparts various competencies, skills, and values. One challenge to EE is
understanding how the environment works and keeping it healthy involves a variety of complex
knowledge (NAAEE, 2016). Environmental knowledge itself is just the starting point for EE. A
holistic understanding of the environment in the context of sustainable development is central to
the view of EE. It imparts not only knowledge but also competencies, skills, and values. Also,
providing the relatively uncontroversial ecological content is relatively easy; the difficult part is
how to help people grasp the skills, understand the values and get them to participate in the
decision-making and problem-solving process (Southgate, 2020).
Environmental education is an approach where the term 'environment' refers to the
complementarities between the biophysical, social, cultural, political, and economic processes
and systems (UNEP, 2005). It is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physical,
biological, and geography (including ecology, biology, physics, chemistry, plant science,
zoology, mineralogy, oceanography, limnology, soil science, geology and physical geography,
and atmospheric science) to the study of the environment, and the solution of environmental
problems. It is a broad, comprehensive and complex education that intertwines science with the
humanities (Miller & Spoolman, 2015).
Because EE is multidisciplinary education, it is often difficult to fit into an already
overcrowded curriculum in schools. Since the 1980s, environmental educators have recognized
that the implementation of EE within the formal school curriculum was not a simple task (Fraser
et al., 2015). As no one particular subject area owns EE, it can slip between the cracks of the
boundaries between subject areas. Even though for many science-related subjects there are

14
opportunities to include EE, there has not yet been good convergence between EE and science
education for much of the past 4 decades (Gough, 2002).
Keeping Pace with Environmental Degradation
Environmental education also faces the challenge of keeping pace with environmental
degradation (Nijhuis, 2011). Environmental education involves public awareness and training as
a way of including all citizens to assess and address environmental and developmental problems.
However, the education system and content are often not updated quickly enough to keep pace
with the most updated environmental information and knowledge (Saylan & Blumstein, 2011).
Designing and Developing Environmental Education
Even though there are many challenges facing EE, research suggests ways to effectively
design and develop EE for it to play a key role in achieving change (Gough, 2006). Some
strategies to design and develop high-quality, effective EE include a focus on hands-on learning,
connectedness to nature, and a multidisciplinary design approach.
Practical and Hands-On
Environmental education should teach people about the environment through thoughtful
and engaging hands-on investigation methods (NAAEE, 2016). While easy to theorize, it is
difficult to design a curriculum that has essential content but also well-designed projects that
encourage action and hands-on engagement (Goodall, 2018).
High-quality EE programs need to be designed and developed with content and learning
pedagogy focused on bringing about learner transformation rather than passing along facts and
skills (Reis et al., 2018). Environmental education programs that can offer action-oriented
experiences have made it easier for people to get interested in, feel relevant and related to, and
participate in EE. In particular, the young generation best learns environmental concepts by

15
becoming involved in the practical application of the principles concerned, such as learning by
doing (Goodall, 2018).
Connections to Nature in Design and Development
Human nature is complex, existential, and intentional. People’s sense of attachment to
their surroundings is fundamental to altering the current social, cultural and ecological state of
the world (Reis et al., 2018). Environmental educators need to take these characteristics of the
human condition into account in their conception and practice of EE programs. When designing
and developing EE, connectedness to nature is reasoned to be a necessary prerequisite for
engagement in ecological behaviors (Kossack & Bogner, 2012; Frantz & Mayer, 2014; Roczen
et al., 2014). This approach provides intrinsic motivation for adopting a more ecological lifestyle
and mindset, as when we are more connected to nature, we will know how the harm to the
natural environment can impact us directly (Metzner, 1999; Schultz, 2002).
Environmental education should not only teach learners the facts and information about
how humans impact the environment and its consequences but also guide people and show them
ways to nurture and improve the world around them (Reis et al., 2018). However, the practice of
EE in schools has traditionally been for teachers to begin EE by teaching about the environment
(usually in a classroom setting). To change this, a more radical, socially critical pedagogy that
encourages learning with environments has also been suggested (Gough, 2005), which includes
working with learners on local environmental action projects. It has progressed to teaching both
about and in the environment by going outdoors. Educators are encouraged to teach environment
education in traditional classrooms and non-traditional settings such as nature centers, museums,
parks, and zoos. It provides opportunities for learners to connect to nature and to investigate
environments through activities such as observation, data collection in nature, etc. Teaching EE

16
in this way can positively affect motivation, literacy, behavior and academic achievement
(Huston, 2016).
Designing and Developing with Multidisciplinary Approach
Environmental education is a multidisciplinary and collaborative endeavor. Recently, the
overall scope of EE focus has shifted from purely a biophysical environment to the total
environment, which involves three major pillars: natural environment, society (including areas
that are political, cultural-historical, moral, and aesthetic) and economy (Gough, 2006. The
pedagogical approaches for this total EE should cover these three pillars (natural environment,
society and the economy). In addition to developing science knowledge and science process
skills, EE should incorporate a broader multidisciplinary approach that incorporates problem
solving, critical thinking, scientific and social literacy, ethical awareness and sensitivity to the
relationship between humans and the environment. This multidisciplinary approach will help
learners make informed decisions and pledge commitment to engage in responsible actions
(Cole, 2007).
In the school setting for young generations, EE should collaborate in innovative ways
with science educators to promote science and environmental literacy (Wals et al., 2014).
Environmental education curricular objectives such as awareness, knowledge, attitude, skills and
participation should be the central themes in developing various science education subjects. By
integrating environmental education within the context of science teachers’ preparation,
environmental education can make it easier to help young learners become environmentally
literate (Bodzin et al., 2010).
Virtual Reality in Education
Virtual reality (VR) can be defined as

17
a medium composed of interactive computer simulations that sense the participant’s
position and actions and replace or augment the feedback to one or more senses, giving
the feeling of being mentally immersed or present in the simulation (a virtual world).
(Sherman & Craig, 2002, p. 8).
The interest in VR has been trending up for the past 20 years. VR applications rely
heavily on the latest advances in technology. Recent Internet developments with the creation of a
5G network have become critical in developing the network to operate VR at exponentially
increased speeds and traffic capacity (Newman, 2018).
Since the 1990s, researchers have been developing conceptual frameworks to understand
how the unique features of virtual environments can contribute to learning (Winn et al., 1997).
Many have suggested that VR technology has the potential to transform education (Aydede &
Robbins, 2009; Blascovich & Bailenson, 2011). There are three primary reasons why the timing
for the emergence of VR into the educational mainstream is coming. First, the upcoming 5G
network will provide the opportunity for technology to disrupt digital pedagogy across all
educational levels because it will help make more connections in a much faster and more stable
way. Simultaneously, new generations of learners are enthusiastic about embracing the latest
technologies that can help them develop the skills demanded by an increasingly competitive job
market (McGovern et al., 2020). Finally, the increasing financial feasibility of VR has allowed
educational institutions and organizations to incorporate this technology into their teaching
(Hamilton et al., 2021).
Although VR has shown valuable in industries such as tourism, medicine and other areas,
research regarding the implementation of VR in educational settings is somewhat scarce
(McGovern et al., 2020). It is at the nascent stage. More sustained scholarly attention is required

18
to understand the unique contribution of technology to learning, how it can be integrated into the
curriculum, and the pedagogical underpinnings of effective use in the classroom. More research
is required on how students can use the learning affordances of VR to master content knowledge,
develop higher-order thinking, and promote metacognition, problem solving, and collaboration
(Southgate, 2020).
Studies Demonstrating the Effects of VR on Learning
VR technology has been growing rapidly and noticeably influencing different aspects of
life, such as education. Studies have revealed that VR has a strong potential to help students
improve their skills and knowledge, and the value of VR is in helping to learn difficult, tedious,
or dangerous tasks (Janssen et al., 2016). Bridging VR and education can bring teaching and
learning experiences attractively and effectively (Ardiny & Khanmirza, 2018).
VR Creates Simulation to Realize Constructivist Learning
VR could be the next breakthrough in educational technology as it creates simulated
experiences that can be similar to or completely different from the real world. VR provides the
possibility for learners to participate in lifelike simulations/virtual explorations that would
otherwise be infeasible or too dangerous to undertake in reality (Sun et al., 2010).
The Learning Pyramid presented by the National Training Laboratories (Figure 1) shows
how learners can capture more of what is learned interactively using simulation compared to
traditional lecturing (Laseinde et al., 2015).

19
Figure 1
Learning Pyramid Developed by National Training Laboratories

VR has created simulations to allow learners to directly experience environments or
situations that are difficult to replicate by using traditional teaching methods such as lectures,
slideshows, or 2D videos (Hamilton et al., 2021). By creating the simulations, VR can enhance
the learning experience as learners get to look at a detail or process that cannot otherwise be seen
in real life. In this way, through simulations, VR has helped to realize effective constructivist
learning experiences.
Constructivist learning states that learning happens when learners construct meaning by
interpreting information in the context of their own experiences. In other words, learners
construct their own understandings of the world by reflecting on their experiences (Dewey,
1938).
Through the simulations created by VR, learners gain cognitive skills through
experiential learning, such as exposure to explore locations that no longer exist or environments
that would be too logistically problematic to visit in reality (Çalişkan, 2011). Constructivist
learning also helps develop advanced skills such as critical thinking, analysis, evaluation, and

20
creation. It promotes diverse viewpoints. It encourages students to reflect, evaluate their learning,
and identify intermediary skills to acquire based on their needs.
VR Boosts Learners’ Engagement
Learning in virtual worlds empowered by VR can be interactive, collaborative,
multimodal, and situation- and context-aware (D’Agustino, 2013). The VR-empowered learning
environment provides opportunities to boost learners’ engagement (Sharma & Otunba, 2012).
During the exploration and interaction, VR epitomizes the idea of learning from our own
experiences and sharing one’s experiences with others. VR educational experiences could
provide an interactive learning opportunity to support learning in an explorative, practice-based
and visually rich environment that will encourage learners to engage more in their learning. VR
learners could increase theoretical understanding through engaging experiences, visualizing
complex models, and participating more in the VR learning environment (Freina & Ott, 2015).
This virtual environment can also bolster learners’ motivation as the classroom lessons, framed
in problem-based and inquiry-oriented pedagogical practices, support learners’ cognitive
development in learning.
Especially in the environment of distance education, VR enables learners to connect with
each other from anywhere in a real-time digital environment, where hands-on collaborative
learning happens to enhance engagement. In this virtual learning environment, it is easy to
design and develop activities to encourage learners to have empathic interaction between peers
or team members so that they can work and learn together. Even though it is unlike the real
world, learners in virtual worlds can still relate to one another based on what they see, hear, and
feel.

21
VR Makes it More Possible for Personalized Learning
The use of VR in education not only facilitates learners’ motivation to participate in
learning activities but also promotes the ability to exploration at their own pace and to state their
own points of view (Hodgson et al., 2019). Having VR education programs means that
personalized learning is possible. It allows classes tailored to each group of learners’ competence
levels or understanding, from the basic stage to the most advanced one. In this way, the learning
experience will be unique to each individual learner.
One of VR’s most important contributions to education is that according to each learner’s
personal learning need, it allows them to repeatedly practice complex and demanding tasks in a
safe environment, which cannot be carried out for real until a certain level of competency has
been achieved (Alaraj et al., 2011; Larsen et al., 2012). Knowledge may also be gained from
repeating the same act, which is possible with VR.
VR Enhances Knowledge Acquisition
With more usage and the advancement of mobile screen technology, VR, wearables, and
the Internet of Things, what has been called the experience age has been slowly taking over the
“Information Age.” The Experience Age leads to a connection with experience rather than only
having a focus on informational facts. With this shift into the age of experience, there is evidence
that VR can provide solid benefits to educational challenges in the Experience Age by enhancing
knowledge acquisition (Bailenson et al., 2008).
Instead of expressing ourselves and learning through static information updates, people
can now communicate in more dynamic and spontaneous ways. VR can enhance knowledge
acquisition and competence building by increasing learners’ engagement; providing active and
constructivist learning; increasing the frequency of authentic learning experiences; allowing for

22
empathetic experiences; enabling learners to exercise creativity; and providing an arena for
visualizing abstract concepts concretely (Hu-Au & Lee, 2017).
Webster (2016) found that although both the VR environment and a traditional lecture
were effective pedagogical methods for teaching, the VR conditions produced the highest gain in
knowledge acquisition.
Challenges of VR Application in Education and the Future
Although VR has brought with it many opportunities for learning and research has
suggested positive effects of VR on education, certain challenges need to be addressed.
Lack of VR Pedagogy and Content
The use of VR technologies for creating learning environments holds great promise but
also many challenges. One of these challenges is understanding the pedagogical underpinning
that should inform the design and use of these VR systems (Fowler, 2015). Emphasis has been
placed on the technical affordances of VR (such as providing an immersion in a 3D space) but
not enough on the aspects of learning outcomes after using VR. For VR to gain wide-spread
acceptance as a reliable pedagogical method, it must be shown to confer a tangible benefit in
terms of learning outcomes over less immersive or traditional teaching methods (Hamilton et al.,
2021).
The use of technology-aided education as part of a pedagogical method is not a new
phenomenon, and investigations into its utility have been studied for almost half a century.
Recently the economic viability of VR has tackled one of the main entry barriers to adopting this
technology. Today, teaching methods applied both in classrooms and laboratories are changing
fast. The adoption of immersive VR as a pedagogical method in education has challenged the
conceptual definition of what constitutes a learning environment (Hamilton et al., 2021). While

23
preparing learners to cope with emerging and futuristic technological innovations, it is important
to have appropriate learning pedagogy which provides a systematic and thorough process of
conscious and intuitive learning. Even though academic research into the potential benefits of
VR its applied use in pedagogical settings has started to expand (Hodgson et al., 2019), more
research about a new pedagogical approach empowered by VR is needed.
Another big challenge faced by VR in education is the lack of content. Developing
content for VR education programs can be expensive, much more expensive than the traditional
education program. Not every educational institution has the means to hire a software
development company or VR content designers/developers to help them produce the content for
their education programs.
Novelty of VR
Allcoat and von Mühlenen (2018) suggested the novelty of VR could hamper learning
outcomes due to unfamiliarity with the technology. The novelty of VR technology may have
impeded the learning experience, especially if the learners had never used the technology before
or were unfamiliar with it. In a study by Ray and Deb (2016) that ran over 16 sessions on
microcontrollers in computing, the VR group's performance lagged behind that of the control
group, who used slideshows for the first four sessions. Only in the fifth session did the VR group
outperform the control group, and this performance enhancement remained relatively stable in
most of the remaining 11 sessions. In effect, it took the VR group some time to catch up with the
control group, but once they did, they tended to outperform them in the remaining lessons. Ray
and Deb’s study proposed that this may have been due to the novelty of the VR equipment,
which participants took time to become comfortable and competent with.

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Possibility of Virtual Reality Sickness
Virtual reality sickness is very similar to motion sickness and can prevent learners from
learning. The most common symptoms are general discomfort, headache, stomach awareness,
nausea, vomiting, pallor, sweating, fatigue, drowsiness, disorientation, and apathy. Other
symptoms include postural instability and retching (Kolasinski, 2014).
Virtual reality sickness may have undesirable consequences beyond the sickness itself. It
could discourage learners from using the simulators and reduce the efficiency of learning
programs through distractions. Although the evidence for performance decrements due to VR
sickness is limited, research does suggest that virtual reality sickness is a major barrier to using
virtual reality (Brooks et al., 2010).
This kind of cybersickness is diminishing as technology improves. However, more
investment is needed to ensure that learners acclimate to the sensation. Educators have to work
together with companies to create the perfect VR classroom.
Virtual Reality in Environmental Education
Hollweg et al. (2011) defined “an environmentally literate person as someone who, both
individually and together with others, makes informed decisions concerning the environment; is
willing to act on these decisions to improve the well-being of other individuals, societies, and the
global environment; and participates in civic life.” To be environmentally literate, people need to
understand and be able to address environmental issues. VR technologies have been used to help
people be better environmentally literate. VR educational experiences could provide an
interactive learning opportunity that supports learning in an explorative, practice-based, and
visually rich environment that emphasizes more engagement, accelerated learning, and increased
learner attention (Johnston et al., 2018).

25
How Virtual Reality Facilitates Environmental Education
Many studies and researchers have investigated the potential impacts of using VR in EE.
VR technologies provide learning possibilities for EE, including exploring existing places and
things that learners would not otherwise have access to; exploring real things that, without
alterations of scale in size and time, could not otherwise be examined effectively; and interacting
with real people in imaginary spaces to support interactive design (Stuart & Thomas, 1991). VR
technology can also support virtual scientific experiments that otherwise would be out of reach in
the real world (Burdea & Coiffet, 2003).
VR Allows Learners to Directly Experience Environments or Situations
VR technologies can increase access to information, knowledge, and experiences for
individuals around the world. An important characteristic of digital technology is its ability to
include texts, images, animations, sound, and even haptic feedback to create rich and engaging
experiences through a steadily growing supply of interactive applications (Fauville et al., 2021).
Leveraging VR technology, environmental education is better valued as VR can help deliver
complex environmental scientific information to learners (Markowitz et al., 2018). But just
providing information about environmental science is not enough to trigger behavioral change
(Bray & Cridge, 2013; Clayton et al., 2015).
Focusing on personal connection, relevancy and learners’ agency might be more efficient
(Bamberg & Moser, 2007) as direct experience of an environmental issue is more powerful than
second-hand information (Spence et al., 2011). VR has made an important contribution to
education in that it has been used to allow learners to directly experience environments or
situations that are difficult to replicate by using traditional teaching methods such as lectures,
slideshows, or 2D videos. VR technologies can provide learners with great learning experiences

26
by merging the boundaries between the worlds inside and outside the classroom (Annetta et al.,
2009), such as allowing people to visit places that are inaccessible, far away, do not exist
anymore, or even never existed.
While it would be impossible or dangerous to expose the public to the causes of some
environmental problems, such as climate change and ocean acidification, in real life, virtual
environments can offer a powerful alternative to allow the public to experience the negative
consequences of these environmental issues. By enveloping a learner in an authentic, multi-
sensory learning environment, VR technologies can make a subject area come alive and boost
engagement by providing learners with a strong sense of presence and immersion compared to
traditional learning environments while they are doing environmental-related learning (Bailenson
et al., 2008).
VR has been used to enable users to visualize something that would otherwise be
invisible to them, such as CO2 emission or the carbon footprint. By making the invisible visible,
VR technologies make it possible to engage with environmental issues in more specific and
engaging ways (Fauville et al., 2021). Another study looked into the use of VR for teaching
about OA, where 270 participants in different learning settings experienced a VR activity on OA
where they could physically move in the virtual underwater world. This study demonstrated
enhanced knowledge, inquisitiveness, and a positive attitude after the VR activity. They also
suggested that the learning effect would be linked to physical exploration as they showed that the
more exploration the participants did, the greater change in knowledge they displayed
(Markowitz et al., 2018).

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VR Encourages Engagement by Providing the Immersive Learning Environment
VR can provide real-life experience and knowledge through a sense of engagement that
no other technology can currently provide. With VR-based intervention, knowledge and
experience can stimulate motivation and can significantly change attitudes toward environmental
issues (Huh et al., 2020). VR provides learners with immersive learning experiences which can
bring the abstract and distant effects of environmental disasters closer to learners (Trope &
Liberman, 2010). Through VR immersive learning experience, learners can make creative leaps
in the space of imagination and mental models, which has allowed learners to gain cognitive
skills through experiential learning (Çalişkan, 2011). Studies using IVEs to support conceptual
knowledge acquisition have shown encouraging results and a significant increase in students’
motivation and engagement in learning activities (Bailenson, 2018; Dawley & Dede, 2014;
Dunleavy et al., 2009).
Harvard professor Chris Dede has been creating VR learning scenarios for more than 15
years. After many years of working hard to outline all of the pedagogical advantages of
immersing a student in a VR field trip, Dede and his team have seen that VR does help learning.
Dede’s multi-user virtual environment (MUVE) project, River City, has created an interactive
simulation of a 19th-century town that allowed middle-grade students to apply modern
knowledge and skills toward a host of medical problems facing the virtual inhabitants. This
immersion learning experience has encouraged and inspired learners to spend more time learning
and engage more during the class. By taking the role of a scientist in the virtual world, they have
gained more self-efficacy and have started to believe that they can do science. In the words of
Dede and his colleagues: “Our research with River City has found that MUVEs increase
engagement in learning by allowing students to immerse themselves in a virtual world. River

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City has been particularly effective in motivating students who are usually unengaged and low-
performing academically” (Bailenson, 2018, pp.233–234).
Increased learning and engagement likely occurred because the abstract and distant
effects of environmental disasters can be brought psychologically closer to participants in the
immersive learning experience (Trope & Liberman, 2010). VR immersive learning environment
has made it easier for learners to build an understanding of environmental science concepts
unfamiliar to them when they engage with stimulation (Chu et al., 2019). At a local high school
in Palo Alto, Brian Perone set up a full VR system in the classroom for a VR field trip about
ocean acidification (Bailenson, 2018). Perone created an active lesson on how oceans suffer due
to CO2 absorption. In the VR immersive field trip, high school students became scuba divers
who dived to the bottom of the ocean. In this active immersive learning environment, he noticed
that VR increased students’ engagement with the learning content. Learners became more
actively engaged in learning, even those with less interest in the subject. When Perone looked at
the effectiveness of this high school VR ocean field trip, he found a large knowledge gain
through the virtual field trip when he examined test scores from before and after the lesson.
Challenges to Building an Effective VR-Enhanced Environmental Education
VR technologies can function effectively in teaching and learning. However, there are
many challenges that VR technologies have when applied in EE, including the technologies,
their application in teaching, and the learners’ experience (Liu et al., 2017).
First, many environmental issues are partly or completely invisible, which makes it very
difficult for VR/AR to simulate. An example of this is greenhouse gases. It is important for
citizens to understand how their everyday life actions are responsible for releasing CO2 and
other greenhouse gases. Because these gases are invisible to the naked eye, it is difficult for

29
people to grasp both the extent of their emission and the behaviors that are the most damaging to
the environment (Bailenson, 2018).
Second, environmental degradation often takes place far away (temporally and spatially)
from its cause. The negative consequences of our actions might only be felt by future generations
or by our contemporaries who live far away from us or belong to another demographic of the
local population. This temporal, spatial, and social distance leads to a psychological disconnect,
which makes it difficult for VR to capture the severity of environmental issues (Trope &
Liberman, 2010).
A third challenge is that experiencing nature is not always easy, even with VR. It is
important to experience nature firsthand to develop some connectedness with nature, which is
central to pro-environmental behaviors (Bruni et al., 2012). The current VR technologies can
bring a similar experience to the learners for the environments which are far away, expensive to
visit or have safety issues, but some of the experiences are still far from what really happens in
the real world. And sometimes, it is difficult or dangerous to experience some environmental
issues. As this novel technology becomes more affordable and increasingly mobile, there may be
more creative teaching/learning solutions.
In conclusion, VR opens important possibilities to promote both the knowledge
dimension and behavior dimension of environmental literacy (Fauville et al., 2021). It has the
potential to address sustainable behaviors and attitudes in different situations, maximize the
learning potential of the experiences related to environmental changes, and bring a whole new
dimension to the realm of education, resulting in enhanced learning and increased motivation and
engagement (Alizadeh, 2019).

30
Although there is a significant and growing body of research on the impact of VR on
human behaviors, the field of EE and VR is in its infancy (Fauville et al., 2021). VR in EE is not
yet fully developed, and there are still many challenges while applying VR in EE. More research
and studies are needed to understand how to better use VR so that it can be a useful addition to
EE teaching and learning to help address environmental problems that threaten our own survival
and the health of our planet.
Theoretical Framework
Experiential Learning Theory
Experiential learning theory was used as a lens to understand and explore how to design
and develop EE programs leveraging education technologies. This theory is based on interactive
education and was founded by John Dewey, who believed that “education must begin with
psychological insight into the child’s capacities, interests, and habits” (Dewey & Small, 1897, p.
6). Once those are acknowledged, learners should apply their educational interests for further
exploration, developing a desire to discover.
By the 1980s, Dewey’s philosophy evolved into experiential learning, a concept defined
by Kolb as “a perspective from which to approach these practical problems, suggesting a
typology of different knowledge systems that results from the way the dialectic conflicts between
adaptive modes of concrete experience and abstract conceptualization and the mode of active
experimentation and reflective observation are characteristically resolved in different fields of
inquiry” (Kolb, 1984). Both Dewey and Kolb believed in the learner’s direct interaction with the
environment to achieve effective learning.
Experiential education combines active learning with concrete experiences, abstract
concepts, and reflection in an effort to engage all learning styles. This theory believes that

31
“doing” is better than listening and taking notes. There are two goals in the experiential learning
process. One is to learn the specifics of a particular subject, and the other is to learn about one’s
own learning process (Kolb, 1984). The experiential learning theory supports performance
improvement, learning and development. It occurs in many settings and continues throughout our
lives. The way we learn is the way we approach life in general. It is also the way we solve
problems, make decisions, and meet life’s challenges (Peterson & Kolb, 2017).
Benefits of Experiential Learning Theory
There are many benefits of experiential learning theory for teachers and learners. It
provides opportunities to immediately apply knowledge. Experiential learning can allow learners
to immediately apply things they are learning to real-world experiences (Kolb, 1984). This helps
them retain the information better. It also helps to promote teamwork. Experiential learning often
involves working in a team, so learning in this setting allows learners to practice teamwork. It
improves motivation. Learners are more motivated and excited about learning in experiential
settings. Experiments are exciting and fun for learners, and they will be passionate about
learning. It also encourages reflection. Learners using the experiential model are able to spend
time reflecting on what they are experiencing and learning. This is valuable as they are able to
better retain information when they can think about what’s happening to them. Experiential
learning will incorporate real-world practice. Learners can greatly benefit from learning that
helps them prepare for the real world. Experiential learning is focused on using real situations in
the real world to help learners learn so they are then better prepared for their future (Kolb, 1984).

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Experiential Learning Theory As the Underlining Learning Theory for VR-Enhanced
Learning
VR educational applications have a potential element of experiential learning present
(Fowler, 2015). Learners can encounter experiential learning in real or artificial environments
(Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 2007); thus, VR does open possibilities for learners to experience
environments that are difficult to access, dangerous, environmentally damaging, socially, or
culturally unacceptable, or very expensive in real life (Johnston et al., 2018).
As a powerful foundational approach to all forms of learning, Dewey and Kolb’s
experiential learning theory offers insights into how an immersive technology like VR can
improve and deepen users’ learning about EE. It can also offer a lens through which data from
this study can be viewed and offer insight into how these unique aspects of learner experience
and engagement afforded by technology can improve learning outcomes.
Experiential learning theory describes the ideal process of learning, invites learners to
understand themselves as a learner, and empowers learners to take charge of their own learning
and development. By leveraging this learning theory, EE can be more effective and efficient if it
is based on learning through experiences, reflecting on those experiences, and applying the
learning to help address real-world problems. Learners develop knowledge and skills through
authentic and directly meaningful experiences with the environment, environmental issues, and
the community. Outdoor field experiences, in which learners participate in hands-on activities
that relate directly to the local environment, have been shown to improve learner learning in a
variety of subjects, especially in the transmission of environmental knowledge (Jose et al., 2017).
Other than having the EE done in the outdoor field trip, education technologies such as VR can
create a highly realistic world, helping learners to have an immersive learning experience. When

33
these technologies are combined with experiential learning theory, the learning program can
enable learners’ learning to occur experientially with outside “real-life” experience (Kencevski
& Zhang, 2019).
Situated Cognition Theory
Situated cognition is the theory that people’s knowledge is embedded in the activity,
context, and culture in which it was learned. It is a theoretical approach to human learning that
supports the idea that learning takes place when an individual is doing something. The theory
emphasizes that people’s knowledge is constructed within and linked to the activity, context, and
culture in which it was learned (Greeno et al., 1993). Allan Collins, John Seeley Brown, and Don
Norman are often credited with developing situated cognition or situated learning theory. They
are interested in cognition at individual and social levels. According to these researchers, situated
cognition has strong links to artificial intelligence, neuroscience, linguistics, and psychology due
to their focus on understanding the individual mind (Brown et al., 1989).
Humans are socially curious beings and learn mostly through social interaction with
others. Learning does not take place in an individual’s mind; it is situated in a context in which
the participation of individuals in the communities of practice plays a vital role in the situated
learning process. According to this theory, learning is seen in terms of an individual's
increasingly effective performance across situations rather than in terms of an accumulation of
knowledge since what is known is co-determined by the agent and the context. Thus, situated
cognition theory encourages educators to immerse learners in an environment that approximates,
as closely as possible, the context in which their new ideas and behaviors will be applied (Schell
& Black, 1997).

34
Benefits of Situated Cognition Theory
Collins (1988) noted four benefits of situated cognition as a theoretical basis for learning.
First, students learn about the conditions for applying knowledge. Second, students are more
likely to engage in invention and problem solving when they learn in novel and diverse situations
and settings. Third, students can see the implications of knowledge. Finally, students are
supported in structuring knowledge in ways appropriate to later use by gaining and working with
that knowledge in context (Brill, 2001).
Situated cognition theory encourages educators to immerse learners in an environment
that approximates, as closely as possible, the context in which their new ideas and behaviors will
be applied (Schell & Black, 1997). Emerging from anthropology, sociology, and cognitive
science, situated cognition theory represents a major shift in learning theory from traditional
psychological views of learning as mechanistic and individualistic and moves toward
perspectives of learning as emergent and social (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Salomon, 1996).
This theory has helped researchers understand more widely how people learn because it
has focused on what people learn while interacting with each other through shared activities and
through language, as they discuss, share knowledge, and problem-solve during these tasks in
their everyday lives, which are authentic contexts for a variety of skills (Lave, 1988).
Participation and doing take the main place in situated learning. Situated learning takes place
when learning is specific to the situation in which it is learned.
Situated Cognition Theory as the Underlining Learning Theory for VR-Enhanced Learning
Virtual reality is widely recognized as offering the potential for fully immersive
environments. Virtual reality (VR) technology is developing rapidly, with interest from
practitioners and researchers increasing concurrently. Educators and VR designers have an

35
opportunity to optimize learning through the cogent application of pedagogical principles. As
developed in VR applications, situated cognition and direct instruction take place in an
environment specifically constructed to facilitate the experiences (Schott & Marshall, 2018).
In a virtual environment, students become observers and actors according to situated
cognition theory (Johnston et al., 2018). VR provides supportive environments for direct
instruction and situated cognition that may engage students and support skill development.
Vision has been accepted as an aid to learning in the past. “The eye,” Humboldt wrote, “was the
organ of Johnston et al. 431 ‘Weltanschauung,’ the organ through which we view the world but
also through which we interpret, understand and define it.” (Wulf, 2015, p. 248). As VR
educational applications become more pedagogically viable, they create a previously unimagined
way to experience and view the world.
In the virtual environment, situated cognition allows learners to develop multiple skills
through context-based collaborative learning. Learners can not only observe but also follow
others who are social models, engage in role-playing, practice skills within social or contextual
situations, and engage in social interaction and communications with others to learn (Bouta &
Paraskeva, 2013). It also involves the potential transfer of knowledge and skills to reinforce the
learner’s knowledge or learning in both virtual and real-world settings (Harman et al., 2017).
Conclusion
This review of literature imparted an overview of EE and an overview of VR. The
literature illustrated how VR has been used in the education area and, specifically, EE. It also
reviewed the effects of VR on learning, especially in EE. This literature review discussed what
learning possibilities VR can provide for EE and how VR can facilitate learning about

36
environmental issues. It also discussed the challenges of building an effective learning
experience for EE by leveraging VR.
The subsequent chapter details the population and the methodology used in this study. In
Chapter Three, the rationale for selecting a qualitative approach to examining how VR can better
empower EE is explained.

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CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
Environmental education equips learners with the knowledge, skills, and motivation to
address complex environmental challenges in the 21st century. However, there is a lack of a
strong EE system with innovative educational methodological approaches and a variety of
content (Krasny, 2020). Without good EE, individuals cannot develop a deeper understanding of
environmental issues and have the skills to make informed and responsible decisions (EPA, n.d.).
The effect will be a failure to create responsible citizens who consider themselves stewards of
the environment and who are capable of protecting our nature (Buehler et al., 2019). The purpose
of this study was to explore how to design and develop stronger EE programs by utilizing
educational methodological approaches, benefiting from a variety of content, and leveraging
education technologies (such as VR).
The research question for this study is: how can education technologies, such as VR,
advance (or support) EE? This research question will guide the study to develop an
understanding of how to leverage advanced technologies such as VR to empower EE.
A qualitative research approach was used in this study. Qualitative research is most likely
to answer questions such as “why?” and “how?” This research is about if and how the VR-
empowered EE course has helped learners better understand the complex environmental issues
confronting our planet and acquire the skills they will need to be creative problem solvers and
powerful advocates.
Organization Overview
This research was done with support from CSUMB. This study was ceded from USC IRB
to CSUMB for both IRB approval and research oversight.

38
The College of Science at CSUMB encompasses biology and chemistry, applied
environmental science, marine science, math, statistics, computer science, and communication
design programs, as well as science illustration. It has a collaboration with the ABC Private
School (a pseudonym), which is a nonprofit, private, co-educational school serving Grades 5–12,
that opened its doors in the fall of 2000. As of 2022, this school enrolled approximately 1,000
high school students and 400 students in Grades 5–8. The school’s intention is for all students to
become academic achievers, effective communicators, compassionate citizens, and spiritually
minded and involved individuals.
ABC Private School is accredited by the Southern Association of Independent Schools
and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The school is a member of the Association
of Christian Schools International and the National Association of Independent Schools. It is also
a member of the National Association of College Admission Counseling (NACAC) and complies
with its code of ethics and professional practices.
This school offers 20 AP classes. Environmental science is one of these AP classes. The
AP Environmental Science course at this school is designed to be the equivalent of a one-
semester introductory college course in environmental science, through which students engage
with the scientific principles, concepts, and methodologies required to understand the
interrelationships within the natural world. The course requires students to identify and analyze
natural and human-made environmental problems, evaluate the relative risks associated with
them, and examine alternative solutions for resolving or preventing them. Environmental science
is interdisciplinary, embracing topics from geology, biology, environmental studies,
environmental science, chemistry, and geography.

39
Students should have completed 2 years of high school laboratory science: 1 year of life
science and 1 year of physical science (e.g., a year of biology and a year of chemistry). Due to
the quantitative analysis required in the course, students should also have taken at least 1 year of
algebra. Also desirable (but not necessary) is a course in earth science.
CSUMB and the ABC Private School partnered to form an earth and environmental
science learning ecosystem to endeavor to answer the questions such as: which strategies are
most effective for creating inclusive environments in environmental science that are attractive
and supportive to students from groups that have been historically excluded in science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)? And which strategies are best for creating a
system-wide change in K-12 education that will embrace the inclusion of environmental science
into the curricula and classrooms? CSUMB and the ABC Private School collaboratively
developed and delivered a VR-enhanced AP Environmental Science course. The focus of the AP
environmental science course is related to biodiversity to help students think through the
connections between ecosystems, habitats, and food chains, and it teaches the students how
climate change and other environmental problems can disrupt biodiversity.
To make the environmental science learning experience engaging and effective, this AP
program leveraged VR technology to teach one of the lessons, “Observing and Recording Marine
Organisms.” The goal of this lesson was to foster an interest in marine science and conservation
by exploring a real place where scientists study fish along the California coast. In this lesson,
through the VR-enhanced scuba video, students observed how scientists collected data from the
ocean, identified the animal species and their habitats, and recognized ocean environmental
problems. VR created an immersive learning environment to augment this environmental science
course to reinforce knowledge and make connections to real-world challenges for students.

40
Population and Sample
The population for this study was students who took AP Environmental Science at ABC
Private School. For this study, two groups of students took the VR-enhanced class. There was no
difference between these two groups. The students from these two groups all attended the AP
Environmental Science class that same semester. One group had AP Environmental Science on
Monday and Wednesday, and the other group had class on Tuesday and Thursday with the same
teacher and learning the same materials.
Convenience Sampling
Convenience sampling is a type of non-probability sampling that involves the sample
being drawn from that part of the population that is close to hand. It is a sampling method where
the sample is taken from a group of people easy to contact or reach. This method is extremely
speedy, easy, readily available, and cost-effective, causing it to be an attractive option to most
researchers (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015).
Convenience sampling was used for my study because of the access to the diverse group
at the ABC Private School. The study also got good representation through volunteers for
interviews.
Sampling Criteria
All students who participated in the VR-enhanced class in the AP Environmental Science
program were invited to complete the survey. The last question of the survey asked if they would
be willing to participate in an interview. Those who selected “yes” comprised the group from
which purposive sampling was applied to get the interview data; in addition, one student who did
not finish the survey was willing to participate in the interview. The target population was

41
'information rich' as they have taken the VR-enhanced course. By interviewing them, they helped
provide in-depth information and provided relevant data for the research.
Professor Slown from CSUMB conducted interviews with students who enrolled and
completed the AP Environmental Science course on my behalf due to delays in IRB approval
between USC and CSUMB. At the time data were collected, CSU IRB had approved this study,
but USC had not finished ceding this study. USC IRB later acknowledged this study’s approval
under CSUMB on June 3, 2022. This study was approved by USC IRB, UP-22-00090, and ceded
to CSUMB under and authorization agreement (FWA00004379, IRB00003173).
Instrumentation
Two primary instrument tools were used for this study: survey and individual interviews.
Survey
Survey questions were designed to closely align with the purpose of the study and the
research question. Most of the survey questions were related to participants’ experience and their
feedback regarding the VR-enhanced lesson in the AP EE program. This survey’s questions were
designed and developed with the consideration of clarity, comprehensiveness, and acceptability
of the questions presented in the survey (Lochmiller & Lester, 2015). Not all the participants had
a lot of knowledge and experience with VR or EE, so the survey used easy-to-understand
language to clearly and simply stated the questions and responses so that the participants would
not get confused. The participants were able to figure out why they were asked those questions
and how those questions related to each other to support the study. The response rate was high as
this was asked to be done by the AP instructor. The response rate for the survey was 91%; 32 out
of 35 students did the survey. The response rate for the interview was 94%; 33 out of 35 students

42
completed the interviews. There was a student who did not submit the survey but volunteered for
the interview.
Several strategies were applied to improve and ensure the quality of response options,
including more response options (or scale points) to choose from, which allowed a respondent to
distinguish his or her attitude or provide more accurate information (Robinson & Leonard,
2018). In this way, participants’ individual interests, attitudes, and feelings can be understood
with greater precision. There were no open-ended questions in the survey because open-ended
questions in a survey are difficult to help collect and analyze the data for this study.
Five questions asked for participants’ feedback about the VR-enhanced environmental
program using a Likert scale. The research used a set of odd-numbered consistent response
options (Strongly disagree, disagree, neither disagree nor agree, agree, strongly agree) with a
midpoint (neither disagree nor agree). These questions were put together as a cluster of survey
items because they were related. Using Likert scales, these related survey items could be put
together to probe a particular construct of interest with a specific set of consistent response
options (Robinson & Leonard, 2018). Likert scales also provided response options in a simple,
clear, and easy way for participants to understand. The survey can be found in Appendix B
Protocols.
Interview
Interviews are one of the most common types of data collection methods in qualitative
research and can help researchers better understand the interviewees’ points of view and
thoughts (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015).
The second instrument for this study was a semi-structured individual interview, which
served an important role in data collection to get deeper information regarding what the students

43
thought about the VR-enhanced lesson for the AP EE program. This method helped explore
answers to the research question while also allowing open-ended exploration into the students’
unique perspectives on the topic, which was very helpful in seeking richer information.
Qualitative interviews are a tool of research to intentionally learn about people’s feelings,
thoughts and experiences (Rubin & Rubin, 1995). This study’s interview questions were
designed not only to align with the research question but also to guide the conversation and to
allow authentic responses and reflection from interview participants. The total number of
students interviewed was 33. Each interview was between 5 and 10 minutes long. The interviews
were long enough to get detailed answers and not too long to lose the interviewees’ interest.
Appendix A includes the interview protocol designed for this study. These interview
questions can be found in Appendix A.
Procedure
Data were collected in two classes of students who took the ABC Private School’s AP
Environmental Science class. A special 2-hour VR-enhanced environmental science lesson was
designed and developed by Professor Slown from CSU at Monterey Bay. This lesson was given
to two classes from the ABC Private School twice, 1 hour each time. Thirty-five students were in
these two classes. This 2-hour lesson taught students how to observe and record marine
organisms. The goal was to foster an interest in marine science and conservation by exploring a
real place where scientists study fish along the California coast. The learning lesson objectives
by the end of this lesson were the following:
• Identify marine fish species and habitats
• Develop an awareness of a research diver’s perspective
• Collaborate as research scientists

44
• Collect and analyze data from a specific marine protected area
• Construct a claim, evidence, and reasoning statement
At the beginning of the class, Google Cardboards were provided to the students. Google
Cardboard has several advantages over other VR systems, including low costs and ease of use
because the light-weight cardboard glasses allow students to be immersed in the virtual
environment without wearing heavy HMD devices. With advances in smartphones and 3D
display technologies, the cardboard VR can display panoramic images of virtual scenes at a low
cost. Compared with the desktop VR and HMD VR, the cardboard VR is a more suitable
approach for classroom teaching. It provides an immersive environment through the VR 360◦
panoramic technology is easy to set up and operate, and its application is not limited by time or
space (Rupp & et al., 2019).
Students received instructions on assembling the Google Cardboards and attaching their
smart phones to the cardboards to watch the virtual dive video clips taken and edited by
Professor James Lindholm and Thomas Dolan from CSU Monterey Bay. These video clips were
named 360 SCUBA Imagery videos. Ten video clips were provided to students. They were
allowed to choose two clips to watch. After they watched each clip, they were asked to use the
data log sheet template to take notes about their observation, what they noticed, and their
wonderings.
The videos were taken in California, spanning 10 degrees of latitude, which makes up a
large portion of the eastern Pacific Ocean. Due to the issue of certain areas of the ocean being
acidified by carbon dioxide and the problems of climate change, this area has faced diminishing
biodiversity together with the problems of climate change. In this immersive VR lesson, students
participated in activities based on the traditional practices of marine scientists, who dived

45
underwater and interacted with species of flora and fauna to measure biodiversity. This VR
immersive learning experience allowed students to observe and experience the effects of ocean
acidification in their own classroom without diving into the ocean.
At the end of this 2-hour lesson, students completed surveys. Students who were willing
to do the in-person interview participated in them after completing the survey.
Data Collection
Survey
The survey was printed out and presented to the students at the end of the class. The total
number of students who received the survey was 35. The survey data were kept secure without
sharing with other third parties. In the survey, Question 10 says: “Would you be willing to
participate in an interview? If you choose Yes, please let us know your email and phone
number.”
Interview
Before the interview, consent forms were sent to the students’ parents by CSUMB. The
consent form asked for permission to record the interview and offered to share the recording with
the parents and students. Those students who indicated YES in agreeing to the interview did the
in-person, one-on-one interview after the VR-enhanced class finished. The interviews were done
after the classes in the classroom with the AP instructor present. Professor Slown conducted the
interviews. As a faculty member at CSUMB, she collaborated with the ABC Private School AP
instructor, and together, they delivered the VR-enhanced AP Environmental Science class.
The interviews were standardized, asking the same open-ended questions to all the
interviewees. The interviews were also semi-structured. The interviews were recorded with Otter

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AI, an application that can automate meeting notes with audio recording, transcribe text and
highlight summaries.
Data Analysis
The examination of data for common themes and ideas is an important first step in data
analysis (Creswell, 2009). The data analysis started once data was collected from the survey and
interviews. After I received IRB approval, I had full access to all the data collected from the
students who participated in the VR-enhanced learning class. Data completeness and accuracy
were checked to make sure that incomplete data were properly removed.
For survey responses, descriptive statistics, such as frequencies and percentages for
questions with a multiple-choice selection response format, were calculated. For questions with a
Likert scale response format, mean and standard deviation were calculated to analyze averages
among the items.
The data analysis for the interviews started even during the data collection phase. After
this study was ceded and approved by USC IRB, I had full access to the interview recordings.
After cleaning up the auto-generated transcriptions and consolidating the notes from all the
interviews, content analysis was conducted to detect meanings and core consistencies. QDA
MinerLite software was used to help with the data analysis. QDA MinerLite is a free version of
computer-assisted qualitative analysis software. After the interview transcripts were uploaded to
QDA Miner Lite, the software offered initial coding and analyzed the transcripts.
Coding is considered a critical component of effective data analysis (Corbin & Strauss,
2008). A systematic process of coding was utilized to identify themes and attach labels (codes) to
index them. A priori codes analysis strategy was utilized. A priori codes were codes that were

47
developed before examining the current data. These codes were based on the research question,
literature review and theoretical framework.
After that, thematic coding analysis was done based on the analytic codes and by
referring to the research question and conceptual framework. Thematic coding analysis finds
themes in text by analyzing the meaning of words and sentence structure. Using thematic coding
to analyze the data helped identify data patterns and themes and which themes were most
frequent in the data. These patterns and themes directly led to the findings and assertions of this
study.
A first draft of the analytic memos was written so that important themes, emergent
observations, and initial conclusions from the data were captured. A manageable coding scheme
was developed by color-coding the data so that it was easy to identify key themes. During the
whole process, the data collection and analysis were consistently and methodically linked to the
research question and the conceptual framework for this study.
Trustworthiness
Researchers have the moral obligation to uphold the highest ethical standard in planning
and executing the studies. This standard is not only to be seen in the proposal but also must be
implemented throughout the research journey (Creswell, 2009). Appropriate research
methodology and strategies were applied to ensure the ethical considerations around conducting
the research and to achieve high credibility for research findings that best reflect the research
participants’ opinions (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015).
Triangulation, member checks, and analysis of rich descriptive data were applied during
the research to ensure the study's trustworthiness. This study used data from the survey and
interviews. This enhanced credibility by showing that a specific finding was identified by

48
comparing and analyzing data acquired from multiple sources.
Given that qualitative researchers are in much closer proximity to the participants than
quantitative researchers, it was important to consider the fundamentals of ethical aspects
involving human participants. Professionalism and ethical decision-making are important in
participant selection, data analysis and the dissemination of information.
This study ensured participants’ rights to privacy. All study participants were aware that
their participation was voluntary. They also knew that all the discussions were kept confidential,
and they could withdraw at any point without penalty.
Since some of the students who participated in this study were minors, informed consent
forms were sent to all the potential participants’ parents prior to data collection. We complied
with all data collection and data management rules and restrictions set forth on the CSUMB IRB
approval.
Role of Researcher
Although, as the researcher, my experience, knowledge, and understanding of the subject
matter can serve as an asset to the study, it might also have posed bias. Our positionality reflects
the position that we chose to adopt within the study. Some aspects of positionality are culturally
ascribed or generally regarded as being fixed, for example, gender, race, skin color, and
nationality. Others, such as political views, personal life-history, and experiences, are more fluid,
subjective, and contextual (Chiseri-Strater, 1996). If ethical access to data cannot be achieved,
scientific progress will be seriously hindered. Merriam and Tisdell (2015) stated that within the
role of a researcher, all the data should be filtered through personal biases and preferences to
achieve the dual goals of scientific access to data and the protection of individuals. As I was
conducting the qualitative research, positionality was an important consideration because it not

49
only directly influenced how the research was carried out but also determined how data were
collected and how it was analyzed and interpreted.
Research participants were critical to this research. At the most basic level, their consent
was received, protecting them from harm was assured, and all the information collected from
them was guaranteed to remain confidential.
While working with other researchers to better understand how VR would impact the EE,
I kept in mind that the education research community is built on a foundation of trust and
openness. I remained transparent about my research practices, avoided dishonesty, and abided by
the established ethical standards for my field related to VR and EE.
I also recognized that our actions as researchers impact society, especially as I was doing
research related to EE. I tried my best to take ethical responsibilities to make sure that my
research conduct did not break public trust and did not have a deleterious effect on society.
Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to understand how education technologies can advance or
support EE. This study utilized qualitative methodology to help obtain an in-depth understanding
of the students' learning experiences at ABC Private School in their VR-enhanced AP
environmental science program. This chapter provided detailed information about the
methodology for this study. Chapter Four will present the data collection following the
methodology outlined here. Also, the results of all the research components have been detailed in
the following chapter.

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CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS
The purpose of this research was to gather insights and feedback from high school
students who have taken a VR-enhanced AP environmental science class and to answer the
research question: how can education technologies, such as VR, advance (or support) EE? The
study explores how we can design and develop stronger EE programs by utilizing innovative
educational approaches, benefiting from various content, and leveraging education technologies
such as VR.
This study identified three key themes: (a) the immersion created by VR facilitates
learning and makes difficult concepts easier for students to understand, (b) the VR experience
has the potential to deepen emotional connection, and (c) and the VR experience can influence
learners’ behavior.
This chapter starts with a review of the study’s purpose and research question and an
overview of the survey and interview participants. Then it presents the findings from the
interviews and the survey, which were done by the end of the classes. The findings from this
study are presented in this chapter through three main themes that emerged from the research
data.
Overview of Participants
This study collected qualitative data via 33 students’ interviews and quantitative data
from 32 student surveys completed after the AP environmental science course. The interview
data were coded and analyzed to identify the findings. This chapter presents survey and
interview results together, organized into the three themes that emerged from the data.

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Survey Participants
Thirty-five students who attended the VR-enhanced AP Environmental Science class
were given the survey, while 32 completed it. This represents a 91% completion rate. To
maintain confidentiality, all participants were asked not to identify themselves.
Of the 32 students who completed the survey, 24 were between 15 and 18 years old, and
eight were older than 18 (Figure 2). Fourteen students were female, and 18 were male (Figure 3).
Survey participants reported their races as 23 White, two Black or African American, five
American Indian or Alaskan Native, one was Native Hawaiian or another Pacific Islander, and
two were from multiple races (Figure 4). Figures 2 through Figure 4 show the demographic
characteristics of the survey respondents.

Figure 2
Age of Students

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Figure 1
Gender of Students

Deleted: 3

53
Figure 2
Race of Students

Interview Participants
Thirty-three out of 35 students who attended the VR-enhanced AP Environmental
Science class were interviewed. One student who did not finish the survey showed up for the
interview. Pseudonyms have been applied to interview participants to maintain confidentiality.
The interview participants with their pseudonyms and gender are noted in Table 1.

Deleted: 4

54
Table 1
Interview Participants and Their Pseudonyms
Number Name Gender
Participant 1 Jenny Female
Participant 2 Anna Female
Participant 3 Sandy Female
Participant 4 Elaine Female
Participant 5 Nancy Female
Participant 6 Jessica Female
Participant 7 Monica Female
Participant 8 Alex Male
Participant 9 June Female
Participant 10 Andy Male
Participant 11 Ted Male
Participant 12 Tom Male
Participant 13 Jason Male
Participant 14 Alan Male
Participant 15 Amy Female
Participant 16 Kate Female
Participant 17 May Female
Participant 18 Don Male
Participant 19 Rebecca Female
Participant 20 Sabrina Female
Participant 21 Maria Female
Participant 22 Tod Male
Participant 23 Nick Male
Participant 24 Linda Female
Participant 25 Lily Female
Participant 26 Barbara Female
Participant 27 Allison Female
Participant 28 Michael Male
Participant 29 Sally Female
Participant 30 Don Male
Participant 31 Jack Male
Participant 32 Ben Male
Participant 33 Charlie Male

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Findings
The data obtained from participants through individual and focus group interviews were
analyzed to address the research question. Three themes emerged from participants’ responses:
Theme 1: The immersion created by VR facilitates learning and makes difficult concepts
easier for students to understand.
Theme 2: The VR experience has the potential to make learners resonate with issues on a
deeper emotional level.
Theme 3: The VR experience can influence learners’ behavior.
Theme 1: The Immersion Created by VR Facilitates Learning and Makes Difficult
Concepts Easier for Students to Understand
One of the most salient and recurring was that students repeatedly said that the VR
technology made the learning experience immersive, and this immersion made difficult concepts
easier for students to understand.
All of the students used the term “immersive” or “embodiment” during their interviews.
In the interview, 30 participants noted that they felt the VR environment was immersive. They
described that the deep ocean visually surrounded them in a vivid way that helped them feel
present in a virtual body and connected them to the ocean’s ecosystem. They said that they could
“physically look around” using the Google Cardboard, and they felt that they “really saw what
the diver sees.” It has helped them to have the sense of feeling present as it brought the students
to the virtual world of the ocean ecosystem. They said this learning experience “put me in a
different world” and “put me in the environment feel immersed,” which made them feel “more
immersive,” “more real.” For example, Elaine stated:

56
By watching the video that scientists took, we have this immersive experience. And
we’re kind of like being thrown into it rather than just, like, skimming the surface. And
we actually get to see with our own eyes what is going on.
The students said that the VR immersive learning experience facilitated presence and
made them feel the embodiment of being located inside the body of the diver. This made them
feel physically present in and surrounded by the sea, which made learning more fun and
engaging.
Survey data supported that. Since the immersive VR learning experience made learning
more fun and exciting, students got more engaged in learning. In response to the survey question
that asked, “What do you think are the major benefits of using VR in environmental education?”,
17 students agreed, and 15 students strongly agreed that one of the major benefits of this VR
learning experience is that it got them more engaged in learning (Figure 5).

57
Figure 3
Response to Survey Question “Does VR Immersive Learning Experiences Get Students More
Engaged in Learning?”

Also, based on the interview results, students noted the advances in VR technology
enabled more engaged learning for them. Twenty-eight students’ quotes are related to the
concepts of “interactive” and “engaging.” Out of these 28 students, eight of them mentioned that
they felt “a lot more engaged” than in the traditional learning environment. Sandy stated, “I think
VR makes it more interactive with the students. When there are a lot of lectures, it becomes
boring. But VR makes it more fun.” Another interview participant, Tom, said, “I think it made it
easier in the sense that it was an activity that was fun and engaging. So that definitely helped my
learning.”
The VR-enhanced learning environment helped learners to engage in deeper cognitive
processing, which has, in turn, facilitated positive affective outcomes such as enjoyment and
motivation. Through the VR-enhanced learning experience, the students got the opportunity to
Deleted: 5

58
explore the virtual space of the ocean, which was associated with the content they needed to
know. According to the students, they could learn, recall, and retain the causes and effects of the
diminishing of ocean biodiversity well. The students said that this VR class “captured their
attention,” they could “respond better” and “have better understanding” of the learning. Don
stated,
How do I say this? I am at a loss for words. It's more immersive, which I feel like I get to
experience it more firsthand. It's not like you just read something in a textbook. You
understand it more and better. It's not abstracted any more.
Similarly, Alex said, “I like how you don't have to give a lot of lectures to show you things that
you normally wouldn't say. And you get more visual stuff to help you comprehend the concept
and the other stuff.”
Students said this VR-enhanced learning environment made them curious about the
learning and helped them have a better understanding of the topic Ben mentioned:
This VR thing really strengthened my understanding. And also, for people who probably
don't know much, it kind of like can hook them up, get them interested in the topic,
because you really get to see a lot of different things that you won't be able to see and in a
classroom. It is awesome.
Students also stated that this learning experience has made learning easier. Sally said,
I think it has made learning easier. I felt a lot more engaged. I had autonomy over my
own learning. I don't have to stare at a board, and I can actually use my brain and write
things down and look at what I see and just observe better.
In addition to the interview data, the survey data also support that VR made learning easier.
Diminishing biodiversity in the ocean is a complex concept to explain verbally, but VR can

59
explain this kind of difficult concept with easy visualization. Twenty-nine out of 32 students
agreed with the statement that “this VR learning experience has made difficult concepts easier to
understand.” Out of these 29 students, 15 of them strongly agreed with it (Figure 6).

Figure 4
Response to Survey Question “Does VR Immersive Learning Experiences Get Students More
Engaged in Learning?”

Deleted: 6

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The survey also supported the finding that the immersive learning environment facilitated
learning to make students understand the science content better than reading articles or books or
even watching a video. Sixteen participants agreed, and 14 strongly agreed that VR has helped
them understand the problem of diminishing biodiversity better than reading a book or article
(Figure 7). Based on the data, VR has shown great potential to supplement or replace traditional
learning methods. This immersive learning within the VR environment helped improve learning.

Figure 5
Response to the Survey Statement “The Use of VR Has Helped Me Understand the Problem of
Diminishing Biodiversity Better Than Reading a Book or Article.”

Deleted: 7

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And for the survey question of whether the use of VR helps them understand the problem
of diminishing biodiversity better than watching a video, 14 out of 32 participants agreed, and 13
participants strongly agreed that the use of VR has helped them understand the problem of
diminishing biodiversity better than watching a video (Figure 8). Students agreed that VR is
more immersive and interactive than traditional video. The students preferred to learn the same
content in the VR immersive learning environment.

Figure 6
Response to the Survey Question “The Use of VR Has Helped Me Understand the Problem of
Diminishing Biodiversity Better Than Watching a Video.”

Deleted: 8

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In this study, students were immersed in the VR setting, which allowed them to see as if
they were really there. In addition to providing students with immersive learning experiences,
this VR class inspired students' curiosity, sparked their academic interests, and made it easier for
the students to understand complicated environmental problems.
Theme 2: The VR Experience Has the Potential to Deepen Emotional Connection
The EE is difficult because the issues are complex and challenging to internalize (Saylan
& Blumstein, 2011). People may feel undecided or uncertain about environmental problems such
as climate change, specifically because they cannot see the environment changing firsthand or on
a regular basis (Schuldt et al., 2016). But virtual experiences can be psychologically impactful.
Decades of research on VR suggest that people can get curious and excited about environmental
challenges if environmental issues are perceived as psychologically closer or brought to
observers directly (Blascovich & Bailenson, 2011). This study’s findings support this.
All of the 32 students agreed that this VR immersive learning experience got them more
excited and curious about learning more about environmental problems. Fifteen of them
responded with “agree,” and 17 of them responded with “strongly agree” to the survey question,
“Do you think using VR in environmental education got you excited about learning?” (Figure 9).

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Figure 7
Response to Survey Question “Does VR Immersive Learning Experiences Get Students Excited
About Learning?”

Data from this study showed that after taking the VR-based environmental course, learners
resonated with environmental concerns on a deeper emotional level. VR can address
environmental issues by immersing the learners in an environment where they can see and feel
that the problems are happening around them. Data from this study found that the VR experience
brought students’ focus on environmental problems after seeing the accelerated effects of
diminishing biodiversity due to ocean acidification and other environmental challenges in the
world. For example, during the interviews, students were asked, “How has this VR AP
Environmental Science class brought your attention to the problem of diminishing biodiversity?”
Students said that “seeing is believing.” They said that it was “good to see from an actual point
of view” to help them better visualize the environmental problems of biodiversity diminishing.
And this has made the students realize how bad the problems are. For example, Monica said,
Deleted: 9

64
“you can be told a million stories, read a million stories, but you can never actually know what's
going through unless you really see it or put yourself in those places.”
VR immersed learners into the diminishing biodiversity environment and positively
impacted the learners on environmental issues. Andy stated, “It made me realize that a lot of
biodiversity, such as kelp forests, are diminishing, and they're slowly going away because of
pollution.”
Experiencing VR immersive learning helped students have a better understanding of the
problem, which resulted in outcomes such as improved empathy and better decision-making.
Nancy said,
Prior to this VR AP environmental class, I didn't really think about biodiversity problems.
… Seeing it firsthand is different from just hearing about it. It shows how things are
actually genuinely like. It needs to change in order for there to be better biodiversity
around the world.
Emotion and attention interact in the brain (Taylor & Fragopanagos, 2005). Emotion has
a substantial influence on the cognitive processes in humans, including perception, attention,
learning, and problem solving. It has a particularly strong influence on attention, especially in
motivating action and behavior (Tyng et al., 2017). In the survey, 26 out of 32 participants
agreed that the use of VR has brought their attention to the problems of diminishing biodiversity

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Figure 10
Survey Response to “The Use of VR Has Brought My Attention to the Problems of Diminishing
Biodiversity”

This study showed that immersive VR experiences can elicit strong emotional
engagement, which increases empathy. Helping students virtually experience the diminishing
biodiversity problem in the ocean developed, promoted and deepened the emotional connection
between students and the ocean.
Theme 3: The VR Experience Can Influence Learners’ Behavior
One other theme was that the VR learning experience has not only driven learners’
reflective motivation but also influenced students’ behavior.
It is almost impossible for all of the students to go diving in the deep ocean to see the
biodiversity diminishing. But the virtual learning experience provided students with an
opportunity that is difficult or impractical to create in their physical world. The virtual learning
experiences gave the students a special learning environment and had the power to engage and

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inspire students in a unique and powerful way. In this VR learning environment, participants
could have control, feel safe and explore without fear while learning. This helped learners learn
and drove students’ reflective motivations, which can influence the potential behavior changes
and induce target behaviors. These specific and meaningful VR environmental experiences let
the students see the problems of diminishing biodiversity in the ocean. This triggered students’
inner reflections, including thinking of actions they could take to tackle environmental issues.
While making learners think about what they need to do to help solve the environmental
problems, it also made learners think about if they have the skills, knowledge, and capabilities to
take more right actions to protect nature.
Data showed that VR learning about environmental problems stimulated students’
potential for empathy and could influence their actual behaviors. It motivated students to take the
right behavior or change their behavior to avoid future negative consequences that are more
abstract and distant in the physical world. In response to the interview question asking if they
thought they would will fight against diminishing biodiversity, all students said did. Some
students started to think about what actions to take to help fight against environmental problems.
They mentioned “no littering,” “reuse/recycle,” helping with “habitat restoration and
preservation” and “pollute less.” Several of them also said they would help raise awareness to
“get more people aware of the problem,” to “motivate other people to do it to help raise
awareness,” to “encourage people to bring awareness to the environmental problems.” Jenny
said,
Yes, I think I will fight because it helps environment, and we don't want to destroy our
beautiful home. I love the ocean. I love being there, and it would really suck if you can't
go there and see all the fish and coral. And so yeah, I'll help fight for more biodiversity.

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And one way I could do this is maybe, like, lessening my use of, like, plastics and water
bottles. Instead of buying a water bottle and throwing it away, I will reuse it multiple
times. So, it's not hurting the environment more.
Students wanted to raise awareness among other people as it can facilitate both
behavioral change and societal support for the actions needed to ensure a sustainable
environment. Tom said,
Yeah, obviously. Some of the things I can do to fight against diminishing biodiversity,
maybe, are, raise awareness to other people so that we can do things like pollute less and
make ocean environments healthier...
Similarly, Allison stated,
Yes. I don't know exactly what, but I will bring awareness to these problems, like, habitat
restoration and preservation, just to keep the species alive, especially in California.
Students also realized that they are not the only ones who need to take action to protect
the environment. Everyone has to make changes to live more sustainably and care for the
environment. Charlie also said,
I think I'll definitely fight against diminishing biodiversity… I think it's the obligation for
us to do this because we caused it, and we need to fix it… I feel like I can warn people. I
can also tell people what I know about diminishing biodiversity. And I can also tell them
that this is what you can do in real life, that you can help to support this planet.
Some of the students wanted to fight against diminishing biodiversity but felt that they
did not know what to do. Instead of just acknowledging that they do not know what to do, they
showed their willingness to do research about what actions they can take to protect nature. Nancy
said,

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Honestly, I feel like I don't know, like, how to help. I would love to help, but I personally
don't know what I could do to make an impact on, like, diminishing the biodiversity.
Behavior change requires a change in at least one of the following three elements:
opportunity, motivation, and capability (Dirksen, 2015). All the students had the opportunity to
know about the diminishing biodiversity problem and got motivated to protect the environment
in the VR-enhanced classroom. However, some of the students realized that they did not have the
capability. However, even these students showed their willingness to do research about what
actions to take. Monica said,
I would want to, and I think that the first step to that would be to research how to do that.
Right now, I probably couldn't think of anything super specific off the top of my head
that would really help against the diminishing biodiversity…
Similarly, Ben said,
Yeah, I would like to fight against it. I maybe have to do some research on what actual
steps I can take and what actions I can take.
In the survey, students were asked to rate the statement, “I choose to take actions to help
the environment because I think it’s important to take care of the environment,” by using a 5-
point Likert scale, with “strongly disagree” and “strongly agree” corresponding to 1 and 5 points,
respectively. This is to evaluate students’ willingness to do the right things or take the right
actions to strive to live a more sustainable lifestyle and protect the environment. From the survey
answers, 16 agreed, 13 strongly agreed and only three students neither agreed nor disagreed
(Figure 11).

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Figure 8
Survey Response to “I Choose to Take Actions to Help the Environment Because I Think It’s
Important to Take Care of the Environment”

The VR used in this course has enabled the student participants to better understand the
setting and the challenges of diminishing biodiversity in the ocean. It encouraged student
participants to actively think about how to protect the environment, which helped them identify
better real-world solutions. It showed that VR can put an individual into a scenario they could
not have experienced otherwise, which, in turn, can cause behavior change for those individuals.
Conclusion
Interviews with 33 participants and survey data from 22 students provided a wealth of
insights from the students’ experiences of VR-enhanced learning. Overall, EE is difficult because
the issues are complex and challenging for students to internalize and understand. But the VR-
enhanced learning environment, through novel learning experiences, brought immersive learning
experiences to students. This immersive learning experience facilitated presence, which made the
Deleted: 11

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students more excited about learning and got them more engaged in the class. This VR learning
experience facilitated positive affective outcomes such as enjoyment, engagement and
motivation because students felt like they were part of the virtual environment. Also, because
students could visualize the real environmental problems, it made learners resonate on a deeper
emotional level. This study also revealed that in the environmental science class, VR immersive
learning experience has not only increased students’ interests and engagement but also helped
the students better understand environmental science. More importantly, after seeing what is
going on in the VR-enhanced world, students’ empathy increased, and it brought their intentions
of behavioral change. The immersive VR learning experience encouraged them to think more
about what actions they can take to protect nature. Some students who wanted to fight against
diminishing biodiversity but felt they did not know what to do were willing to do research to
know what actions to take to protect nature. All these are crucial in terms of EE. The next
chapter will discuss the implications of the findings as well as recommendations and
considerations for future research.

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CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION
The world is experiencing more environmental problems, such as diminishing
biodiversity. Biodiversity has been declining rapidly in recent years, not only in the ocean but
also on land. The main reasons are related to human activities, with direct exploitation, such as
over-fishing, land use changes, pollution, and climate change. All these human activities are
damaging the valuable ecosystem on this planet. To prevent further damage, it is important for
more people to have an awareness of protecting the ecosystem and take action to achieve the
goal of sustainable development. As EE plays an essential role in this context, high-quality
effective EE programs are needed to raise society’s awareness to protect the environment and
make sure people have the knowledge, capability and competencies to take action.
Although there is a significant and growing need for better EE, there is insufficient
research on how to leverage technology to better design and develop EE programs (Liu et al.,
2017). Research related to the impact of VR in the field of EE is still in its infancy (Radianti et
al., 2020), and more studies are needed to understand how to better use this technology to help
address environmental problems that threaten our own survival and the health of our planet
through the EE (Fauville et al., 2021).
This study sought to understand how we can design and develop stronger, more powerful
and effective EE programs by utilizing innovative educational approaches, benefiting from a
variety of content, and leveraging education technologies such as VR. This study has gathered
insights and feedback from high school students who have taken a VR-enhanced AP
Environmental Science class. The experiences and perspectives of these participants were
important in understanding if and how VR has supported learning in the AP Environmental
Science class.

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This chapter will discuss findings and respond to the research question: how can
education technologies, such as VR, advance (or support) EE? This chapter will also discuss
recommendations for practice, limitations and ideas for future research.
Discussion of Findings
The research question for this study asked, “How can education technologies, such as
VR, advance (or support) EE?” Data from this study support the idea that VR technology can
serve as a tool to empower learning, and VR-enhanced learning can also support meaningful
environmental education.
In this study, VR brought an immersive learning experience to students in their AP
Environmental Science classroom. This study revealed that the VR immersive learning
experience has increased students’ interests and engagement and helped students better
understand environmental science. Because students could visualize the real environmental
problems after seeing them in the VR-enhanced world, the challenges resonated with students on
a deeper emotional level, and their empathy increased. More importantly, this brought about a
commitment to behavioral change and encouraged them to think more about what actions they
could take to protect nature. All these are crucial in terms of environmental education. The
following is a detailed discussion of key findings from this study.
VR Can Facilitate Learning
The immersion provided by VR can aid with learning. In this study, students had the
opportunity to explore the virtual space of the ocean as part of their VR-enhanced learning
experience. One of the most striking and recurring findings in the data was that students
repeatedly stated that the VR technology made the learning experience immersive. This
immersion made learning fun and engaging and made difficult concepts easier for them to

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understand. This VR-enhanced learning environment improved deeper cognitive processing,
which, in turn, facilitated positive affective outcomes such as enjoyment and motivation.
Zavalani and Spahiu (2012) stated that students learn best when they are exposed to a
variety of teaching techniques and learning experiences. This finding helped answer the research
question of how education technologies can advance environmental education. By leveraging VR
technology, this immersive VR class caught students' attention, stimulated their curiosity,
intrigued their academic interests, and made it easier for them to understand complex
environmental problems through visualization as if they were actually there.
VR Can Deepen Emotional Connection
Virtual experiences can be psychologically impactful as VR can address environmental
issues by immersing the learners in an environment where they can see and feel that the
problems are happening around them (Markowitz et al., 2018). Decades of research on VR
suggest that people internalize their virtual experiences and treat them as real (Blascovich &
Bailenson, 2011). VR created a three-dimensional (3D) environment, and students are more
motivated by 3D graphical applications than 2D (Limniou et al., 2008). Better motivated students
tend to learn better (Sutcliffe, 2003) as emotion and attention interact in the brain; emotion has a
substantial influence on the cognitive processes in humans, including perception, attention,
learning, and problem solving (Taylor & Fragopanagos, 2005). It has a particularly strong
influence on attention, especially motivating action and behavior (Tyng et al., 2017).
Data from this study supported these as well. The study found that the VR experience
caught students’ attention to focus on the environmental problems after seeing the diminishing
biodiversity but also showed that VR can elicit strong emotional engagement, which increases
empathy during the immersive learning experience. In this study, after students were emotionally

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surprised to see the diminishing biodiversity in the ocean, the students got excited and curious
about learning more about environmental problems.
Data from this study clearly answered the research question of how education
technologies can advance EE. VR can help create, enhance, and deepen the emotional connection
between students and the ocean by allowing them to virtually experience the ocean's declining
biodiversity. This emotional connection, in turn, led to more curiosity about learning and better
learning outcome.
VR Can Influence Learners’ Behavior
Providing information is not enough to trigger behavioral change (Bray & Cridge, 2013;
Clayton et al., 2015). Focusing on a personal connection, relevancy and learners’ agency might
be more efficient (Bamberg & Moser, 2007; Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002) as direct experience
of an environmental issue is more powerful than second-hand information (Spence et al., 2011).
In this research, VR-enhanced education enabled students to easily approach and understand the
complex environmental science concept and induced changes in their attitudes.
While it would be difficult or dangerous to expose students or the public to the depths of
the ocean, where diminishing biodiversity is happening in real life and in real time, virtual
environments offer a powerful alternative that allows them to see and experience the negative
consequences of these environmental issues. By visualizing invisible phenomena, such as
diminishing biodiversity in the ocean, VR technology helped students understand the subject in
detail and improved motivation for students to learn. Additionally, the powerful influences of
VR technology in education on environmental problems were found. It reinforced students’
attitudes and behavior in a positive way, i.e., by inducing behavior changes in their lifestyle to
contribute to environmental sustainability to protect the environment. This study also showed

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that students started to think about not only what actions they can take to help fight against the
environmental problems but also how to raise awareness among others to protect the
environment. Helping raise awareness and commitment from more people to protect the
environment is critical because we need more people’s behavioral change and societal support
for the actions needed to ensure a long-term sustainable environment.
Learning involves changes in knowledge, beliefs, behaviors, or attitudes and changes in
behavior and attitudes are crucial parts of learning (Kolb, 1984). The findings from this study
showed that VR can advance or support EE by raising students’ empathy and influencing and
changing their behaviors.
VR can Effectively Realize Experiential Learning and Supports Situated Cognition
Learning
According to experiential learning theory, human interactions occur within a social
environment, and knowledge is socially constructed and based on experiences (Kolb, 1984).
Both Dewey and Kolb believed in the learner’s direct interaction with the environment to
achieve effective learning (Dewey, 1938; Kolb, 1984).
Experiential learning is effective, but not everyone can easily learn by doing, and not
everything can be taught easily through experiential learning. With the rapid development of
immersive learning technology such as VR, it is easier to develop an experiential learning
environment. Learners can learn through VR-enhanced learning experiences for more and more
subjects and concepts.
In this study, VR created an experiential learning environment for students. Students
stated that by watching the VR video, they felt that they were in the ocean and exploring the
surroundings with their own eyes. The students also mentioned that this is more learner-centered

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learning, and they managed their own learning instead of being told what to do and when to do it.
They had more responsibilities than the teacher. This kind of experiential learning by leveraging
VR technology had a positive effect on helping students understand this complex concept of
diminishing biodiversity in a more accessible way.
Situated cognition learning is a theory that emphasizes that people’s knowledge is
constructed within and linked to the activity, context, and culture in which it was learned
(Greeno et al., 1993). VR technology supports situated cognition learning as the immersive
experience that takes place in a VR-enhanced environment, which has the potential to create
virtual cognitive learning experiences that make learning more engaging and to cultivate
empathy (Schott & Marshall, 2018).
According to the data from this study, students commented that a VR-enhanced
environment created more empathetic learning than video-watching experiences. Data from this
study also showed that VR learning about environmental problems stimulated students’ potential
for empathy and influenced them to change their behaviors. In turn, it motivated students to take
the right behavior to avoid future negative consequences.
VR technology creates virtual environments that are abstract, distant, or difficult to reach
in the physical world. In virtual learning environments, interactions include watching and
touching and moving and manipulating objects. By interacting with the VR virtual world in these
ways, learners will understand the consequences due to the different behaviors or actions. It will
encourage learners to change behaviors to achieve positive outcomes in the real world.
As VR technology keeps evolving, it will bring students more and better-situated
cognitive learning experiences. It will help learners comprehend and demonstrate a wide range of
knowledge and skills.

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Recommendations for Practice
This study shed light on how education technology such as VR can offer immersive
learning for students to allow them to be immersive in a virtual environment, experience
consequences due to different behaviors, build empathy, and support behavior change.
This study was conducted at a private school during its AP Environmental Science class.
It is important to note that not all learners have access to private school resources, AP courses, or
education technologies such as VR. Also, VR requires a more robust and solid infrastructure,
including storage space and requires substantially more bandwidth. The infrastructure of schools
and communities, especially those that lack 5G internet, may not have enough capacity to handle
VR. Considering how to make environmental learning and education technologies more
available, more accessible, and more affordable is important as equity issues are critical.
This section offers recommendations for educators on better and more effectively
leveraging education technologies to empower education, especially EE. Additionally, this
section will offer recommendations for scaling up the benefits of education technologies by
making them more accessible. Suggestions on how to implement the recommendations are also
discussed.
Recommendation 1: Incorporate Instructional Pedagogies Into VR Learning
It is important to incorporate instructional features and learning pedagogy into the design
of effective VR learning programs that can prompt learners to understand, remember, resonate,
and reflect on what they are learning in the VR learning environment (Johnston et al., 2018). A
variety of teaching elements and instructional components can be integrated into VR learning to
achieve that. For example, teachers can stop the VR lesson at various points and ask the student
to summarize what has been learned so far. Or they can add instructional elements, such as a

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worksheet or ask students to do self-explaining to help them focus on the learning objectives.
Teachers may also use the instructional method, KLEWS chart, especially when they teach
science in the VR-enhanced environment. The components of the KLEW(S) chart are used to
document the following: what do we think we know (K), what are we learning (L), what is our
evidence (E), what do we still wonder about (W), what scientific principles/vocabulary help
explain the phenomena (S) (Hershberger et al., 2013). McNeill and Krajcik (2012) stated that by
using such a framework, students were supported in constructing evidence-based explanations
and that they understood the underlying science ideas better.
VR has made an important contribution to education as it has allowed students to directly
experience environments or situations that are difficult to replicate by using traditional teaching
methods such as lectures, slideshows, or 2D videos. But this new instructional media of
immersive VR—although motivating—also has many attention-grabbing elements that can be
disturbing and result in poorer learning than with conventional learning media. Recently research
found that learning in VR is emotionally arousing (as measured by heartrate and skin
conductance), which can lead to distraction (Torkar, 2022).
VR is best used as a supplemental learning tool together with effective and efficient
instructional methods and pedagogies. It is important to remember that instructional media do
not lead to learning, but instead, instructional methods can advance learning.
Recommendation 2: Integrate VR Technology in Professional Development for Teachers
To make sure teachers will not be replaced by technologies and will not be absent from
classrooms in the near future, more support is needed to help teachers become more effective
educators and help them transition from analog teaching practices to digital ones that are
changing what teaching looks like for now and future (Bodzin et al., 2010).

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To ensure teachers are capable and competent to survive and thrive in the future
classroom, they need to acquire and grasp many new knowledge and skills. Professional training
programs are necessary to help teachers learn how to effectively deliver teaching in the VR-
enhanced environment, such as informing them about what the technology can do for them, what
the general benefits of VR are, how to deliver teaching by leveraging VR technologies, and
specific examples and best practices VR application in their field. It is also necessary to have VR
technical support on-site by hiring IT helpdesk staff who can offer technical support to teachers
and answer questions about VR-related issues.
Policymakers should consider reimagining the qualifications, skills and competencies
teachers need to have in a digitized classroom and outline the guiding principles around how
colleges/schools of education can better integrate technology into their teacher preparation
programs. Policymakers can also strategically allocate federal and local funds to help educators
build their capacity through professional development to use technology effectively in the
classroom. Other than policymakers, school districts and schools also need to support and help
educators learn, understand and apply learning sciences and technologies in their classrooms.
VR technology is creating a new role for teachers in the immersive VR learning
environment. Instead of providing ready-made knowledge and providing a traditional static
classroom, a teacher should facilitate an engaging learning experience with a focus on creating
conditions for exploration and learning. They should be able to devote more time to
understanding students’ learning preferences and needs and, based on their observations, make
adjustments in the classroom (Yildirim et al., 2020). For their new role, teachers’ familiarity and
competences with related technologies, as well as their technological affinity, are very important
in the teaching-learning environment leveraging technologies such as VR (Vladova et al., 2021).

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Teachers are still key to the effective use of instructional materials and instructional media (such
as VR), mainly in their roles in selecting, implementing and, in some cases, creating multimedia
instructional materials. They need to know how to connect with students authentically while
using technology. They also need to know how to create conditions for students to explore rather
than providing ready-made knowledge and information for students.
In this study, students also realized that VR devices seem to substitute their teacher’s
teaching roles and responsibilities. From an optimistic perspective, these students think that
teachers will not be replaced and may instead feel less burdened and give more agency to
students for their own learning. VR will not fully substitute for the personal interactions between
students and teachers, and hybrid teaching forms hold promise for the future of learning and
teaching at universities (Vladova et al., 2021).
Recommendation 3: Make Technologies Such as VR More Accessible by Granting More
Funding
We need to make environmental learning available, accessible, and affordable for
everyone on the planet. Education technologies can play an important role here, such as VR.
Many educators embrace the benefits of VR in education, but some are still reluctant to use it in
their classrooms. One of the reasons is that most VR devices have high costs. Utilizing VR
software in the classroom involves the costs associated with the initial purchase of hardware
and/or software and ongoing costs, including maintenance, support, and training (discussed more
in the Section Training below). However, the actual cost of the initial purchase of educational
VR technologies can also be high, and many schools may be unable to justify the expense. It is
difficult for teachers or school administrators to decide to push forward and adopt these
technologies inside the classroom. To make VR education more readily available and accessible,

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school districts need to look for affordable VR hardware and fund VR projects to make it more
accessible. It is possible to create VR experiences by using the devices users already have and
repurposing them into powerful tools for education. For example, a smartphone and $20 to $100
headset devices, such as Google Cardboard, should be enough to give students good VR
experiences.
Policymakers should consider laying out the national and state vision for effective
EdTech use around the themes of equity, active use and collaborative leadership. They can
convene diverse stakeholders to establish a shared plan around what digital teaching and learning
should look like and how to realize that. Policymakers can influence the budget process around
the strategic deployment of federal and local funds. Policymakers should also consider working
with other stakeholders, such as in venture capital, private equity, or philanthropy, to seek
funding. The funding should be granted to provide more access to technologies for schools and
to train, compensate, or incentivize educators to become comfortable and capable of using
technology. After the funding has been allocated, leaders from school districts and schools need
to continue encouraging and supporting the use of technology to support teaching and learning.
Recommendation 4: Identify Potential Drawbacks of VR for Educators
VR has some potential drawbacks of which to be aware. Cybersickness, obesity,
radiation, sleep disorders and visual symptoms are the most frequently identified side effects and
concerns for learners using VR, especially concerning young children’s physical development
(Servotte et al., 2020). Educators need to be aware of these potential drawbacks and design VR
learning activities accordingly.
VR is not meant to be used for hours at a time. Relatively common physical reactions
such as motion sickness or eye soreness can be manageable by shortening the time for VR

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activities (Rebenitsch, 2015). When used for learning, VR should be designed as a short activity
to integrate into the program. VR headset manufacturers like Oculus suggest a “10 to 15-minute
break every 30 minutes, even if you don’t think you need it.” As further research is required to
assess the duration of cybersickness symptoms, it is suggested that the most effective method of
recovering seems to be limited use (about 15 min) with satisfactory breaks between sessions (UK
Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy, 2020).
There are also psychosocial development considerations, especially with younger
students, surrounding the use of VR in the classroom (Luo et al., 2021). Some young children
can suffer psychological effects from the experience. Therefore, VR adventures may be better
suited for middle school students aged 12 and older (Luo et al., 2021). During the experience,
teachers should choose to monitor the students for any signs of distress. Moreover, virtual
formats should not fully replace personal interaction, as hybrid teaching forms are most
promising for the future of learning and teaching when VR technology is used (Vladova et al.,
2021).
Limitations
The findings from this study should be interpreted with care. There are some limitations
that should be highlighted and addressed in future studies.
First, this study included a limited number of participants who underwent the VR
immersive learning experience. All participants are high school students from an upper-division
high school who attended the AP Environmental Science program for quite some time. These
samples, however, are not indicative of larger and broader populations. The results from this
study should be interpreted with this limitation.

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The second limitation is that the research was done in May 2022, after nearly 2 years of
the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the impending spread of COVID-19, schools worldwide
abruptly stopped face-to-face teaching and switched to technology-mediated teaching for 12
months or even longer, depending on locations. As a result, the use of technology in the learning
processes became essential because it was the only way to teach, communicate and collaborate
during that period. The students who participated in the study went through COVID and were
better prepared to accept and get used to technology-mediated learning. However, students’
acceptance and readiness for technology-mediated learning might vary in other studies.
The third limitation is that due to the delay in getting IRB approval, the in-person
interviews were done with help from a collaborator at CSU Monterey Bay. The faculty
collaborator conducted the interviews with the students on my behalf. She asked the questions
from the prepared question list and recorded the students’ answers by using Otter.ai. Everything
the students said was captured in the recording, but there could be some emotions or nuances
missed from the in-person interviews. Also, it was difficult to deepen an understanding of
students’ feedback and to address the ambiguity of some answers without the ability to ask
additional questions.
Another limitation is related to the long-term learning effects of VR. This study collected
data right after the participants finished their learning experience. It investigated the instant
learning impact due to the limited time and the inconvenience of additional continuous
observations, surveys and interviews. This study did not involve follow-up observations,
questionnaires, or surveys to analyze the long-term and continuous behaviors of student
participants.

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Lastly, for this study, we only used Google Cardboard. There are many other VR
headsets that can provide immersive VR learning experiences. The research results might be
different if the study was conducted using other VR hardware.
Future Research
There is more to understand about how to advance learning and teaching by using VR
technology. Limited research on how VR can empower education speaks to the need for more
extensive research on this topic. Future research should aim to broaden the participant pool and
apply the findings to additional communities. This study captured the VR-enhanced learning
experience in the AP environmental science classroom at one high school. Future studies should
be conducted with a larger sample in other different contexts or circumstances.
Students who participated in the study went through COVID and were better prepared to
accept and adapt to technology-mediated learning. However, students' acceptance and abilities
for technology-mediated learning may vary. Future research is needed most students are now
having in-person learning experiences.
This study looked into the immediate learning impact due to time constraints and the
difficulty of further continuous findings. For future research, long-term and continuous behaviors
can be analyzed, and follow-up studies are recommended with subsequent observations,
questionnaires, or surveys after a certain period.
For future studies, it will be good if it can have a true control condition. It can be used to
compare non-VR and VR immersive learning experiences. The comparison can be about
different environmental issues besides the diminishing biodiversity in the ocean.

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Lastly, for this study, we used Google Cardboard. There are many other VR headsets that
can provide immersive VR learning experiences, and more research is needed to compare how
different VR headsets can impact learning.
Conclusion
The need for powerful EE has increased significantly. Environment and education need
to be truly integral, with the well-being of future generations and the planet at stake (Erhabor &
Don, 2016). To promote environmental awareness in the community, a thorough understanding
of environmental issues is crucial. Environmental education is more than information about the
environment; it should teach individuals critical thinking and enhance individuals' problem
solving and decision-making skills so that they can take the right actions to protect the
environment (Buehler et al., 2019). So, better ways to know, understand and tackle sustainability
issues through meaningful EE are in great need.
VR can be a great tool for EE by allowing people to go to places with environmental
problems or by exposing them to the consequences otherwise impossible or dangerous to
experience. Virtual reality (VR) possesses much potential and has gained great interest from
researchers and practitioners in the field of education. Researchers have explored the benefits
and applications of VR in different scenarios. But there are still many limitations to the
technology itself, such as the cost, logistics required to deploy it, and limited knowledge about
how to leverage it and other instructional pedagogies to make effective learning (Kavanagh et al.,
2017).
As VR technology continues to develop, we will see more and better usage of it in the
education area, especially in the EE area. However, little systematic research currently exists on
how researchers have applied immersive VR for EE (Radianti et al., 2020). Due to the limited

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number of experimental studies and mixed evidence (Fauville et al., 2021), more research and
studies exploring how VR can be an effective teaching and learning medium for EE are in great
need.

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Appendix A: Survey
1. What do you think are the major benefits of using VR in environmental education?
Strongly
disagree
Disagree Neither
disagree
nor agree
Agree Strongly
agree
Gets students excited about
learning
1 2 3 4 5
Eliminates distractions during
lesson
1 2 3 4 5
Makes difficult concepts easier
to learn
1 2 3 4 5
Encourages student creativity 1 2 3 4 5
Gets students more engaged in
learning
1 2 3 4 5
No benefit at all 1 2 3 4 5

Other (please specify)__________

2. What are your top concerns regarding VR technology in environmental education?
Strongly
disagree
Disagree Neither
disagree
nor agree
Agree Strongly
agree
May cause motion sickness 1 2 3 4 5
Headaches or other body
uncomfortableness
1 2 3 4 5
Technology is too hard to
manage during class
1 2 3 4 5
Could be a distraction for
learning
1 2 3 4 5
None, I have no concerns about
VR
1 2 3 4 5

Other (please specify)__________

3. VR learning experience feedback
Strongly
disagree
Disagree Neither
disagree
nor agree
Agree Strongly
agree
It was easy to use the VR
technology to learn about how
climate change can disrupt the
ocean ecosystem.
1 2 3 4 5

103
The use of VR has helped me
visualize the damage that climate
change can cause in the ocean
ecosystem.
1 2 3 4 5
The use of VR has helped me
understand the climate change
and its impact better than
reading a book or article.
1 2 3 4 5
The use of VR has helped me
understand the problem of
climate change in the ocean
ecosystem better than watching a
video.
1 2 3 4 5
The use of VR has brought my
attention to the environmental
problems such as climate
change.
1 2 3 4 5

4. Will you choose to take actions to help the environment?
• Yes (If yes, please answer the following questions in the next table by choosing from
Strongly disagree to Strongly agree)
• No (If no, please move to question 5)

Strongly
disagree
Disagree
Neither
disagree
nor agree
Agree
Strongly
agree
I choose to take actions to help
the environment because I would
feel guilty if I didn't do anything.
for the environment.
1 2 3 4 5
I choose to take actions to help
the environment because I think
it’s important to take care of the
environment.
1 2 3 4 5
I choose to take actions to help
the environment because I'm
concerned about what could
happen to me if I don't do
anything.
1 2 3 4 5
I choose to take actions to help
the environment because I'm
concerned about what could
happen to the natural world if I
don't do anything.
1 2 3 4 5

5. Do you feel confident about taking action to protect the environment?

104
• Yes ((If yes, please answer the following questions in the next table by choosing from
Strongly disagree to Strongly agree)
• No (If no, please move to the demographic questions)
Strongly
disagree
Disagree Neither
disagree
nor agree
Agree Strongly
agree
I feel more confident in my
ability to help protect the planet
than before taking this class.
1 2 3 4 5
I am capable of making a
positive impact on the
environment.
1 2 3 4 5
I believe I can contribute to
solutions to environmental
problems through by my actions.
1 2 3 4 5
Compared to other people, I
think I can make a positive
impact on the environment.
1 2 3 4 5
I believe that I personally,
working with others, can help
solve environmental issues.
1 2 3 4 5

Demographic questions

6. Age: Which category below includes your age?
o 11 or younger
o 12-14
o 15-18
o 18+

7. Race: Are you White, Black or African-American, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian,
Native Hawaiian or another Pacific Islander, or some other race?
o White
o Black or African-American
o American Indian or Alaskan Native
o Asian
o Native Hawaiian or another Pacific islander
o From multiple races
o Some other race (please specify)

8. Gender: What is your gender?
o Female
o Male
o Transgender
o Non-binary/non-conforming
o Prefer not to respond

105

9. If you would like to be entered into our drawing for a gift, please enter your email address
below.
● Name: __________________________
● School/Organization _______________
● Email Address_____________________

10. Would you be willing to participate in a 10–15 minutes interview?
● Yes
● No
If you choose Yes for question 10, please let us know your email and phone number:
Your email address__________________
Phone number: ______________________

106
APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Research Question
How can education technologies, such as Virtual Reality (VR) advance (or support)
environmental education?
Interview questions for students
1. Before this class, how familiar were you with the concept of virtual reality (VR)?
2. While taking this VR AP Environmental Science class, what were the challenges or
concerns you have experienced?
3. How has your teacher’s role changed in this VR AP Environmental Science class
compared to a regular class without using VR?
4. How difficult/easy was it to make you think through the connections between ecosystem,
habitats, food chains, etc. in the ocean ecosystem in this VR class?
5. Will you please identify things that help you make quick connections in the VR class?
6. How difficult/easy was it to make you think about how climate change can disrupt the
ocean ecosystem in this VR class?
7. Will you please identify things that help you think about how climate change can disrupt
the ocean ecosystem in the VR class?
8. After this VR AP Environmental Science class, do you think you will fight against
climate change? If so, what actions do you think that you can take to fight against climate
change?
9. Compared to non-VR-empowered classes, what are the things you have liked about this
VR-empowered class?
10. What recommendations for improvement do you have for this VR-empowered class?

107
APPENDIX C: USC IRB APPROVAL LETTER

108

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Asset Metadata

Creator Chen, Dinghong (Joy) (author)

Core Title Examining the role of virtual reality in environmental education

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Global Executive

Degree Conferral Date 2023-05

Publication Date 03/30/2023

Defense Date 03/29/2023

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag environmental education,experiential learning,immersive learning environment,learner engagement,OAI-PMH Harvest,qualitative approach,simulation,situated cognition theory,virtual reality

Format theses (aat)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Tambascia, Tracy (committee chair), Maddox, Anthony (committee member), Picus, Lawrence (committee member)

Creator Email dingdingc@yahoo.com,dinghong@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC112850373

Unique identifier UC112850373

Identifier etd-ChenDingho-11540.pdf (filename)

Legacy Identifier etd-ChenDingho-11540

Document Type Dissertation

Format theses (aat)

Rights Chen, Dinghong (Joy)

Internet Media Type application/pdf

Type texts

Source 20230330-usctheses-batch-1013 (batch), University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

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Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu