two graduate students University of Saskatchewan Created a virtual world to teach people about the oceans in the Prairies.
Kristin Moskalik said the curriculum she created for the project focused on teaching people about sustainability through a variety of technology.
“It was just the idea of our students being from the prairies, being landlocked, a lot of our students never go to the ocean, so they maybe don’t understand what it’s really like out there,” Moskalyk said. Used to be.”
Last year, Moskalik and his research partner Nicole Lamoureux presented their virtual reality metaverse, titled “Technical Teacher”, at the United Nations Science, Technology and Innovation Forum.
“I think putting students on one platform gives them a different opportunity to learn,” Lamoureux said.
Lamoureux and Moskalik met with UN representatives on stage inside their virtual world and gave them a tour of what they had created.
The pair finished the competition as finalists, placing in the top 15 out of 257 groups.
Paula McDowell, assistant professor of curriculum studies, said students who are landlocked may not think about the impact they have on the ocean and marine life as a result of the distance between them.
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“What’s special about their project is using technology in a very meaningful way,” McDowell said. “It is very high level; A remarkable level of student engagement in learning about a topic. Their metaverse that they have designed – students get to experience being a global citizen.
He said that through the Metaverse, students can experience issues of plastic pollution, marine life and sustainability.
“I hope that more teachers and students will take advantage of the opportunities we have with the different media, technology, and AI content creation tools we have and use them for good,” McDowell said. “We have technologies that connect us and we should use them to learn about each other.”
Moskalik hopes teachers will use the resource through Frame VR Online in their classrooms and that more virtual reality headsets can be made available in schools.
“It is very important for teachers and people in educational roles out there to be innovative in their approach and create attractive opportunities for students,” he said.
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