Search Results (670)

The continued marginalisation of Indigenous knowledges and practices in environmental education sustains curricula and pedagogies grounded in Western worldviews. This exclusion reinforces limited or deficit-oriented perceptions of Indigenous cultures, environments, and epistemologies. Therefore, this study draws on the theory of critical consciousness to examine the need for Indigenous peoples and educators to become critically aware of the forces shaping their educational experiences and to use this awareness to transform their lives and teaching practices for a sustainable future. To illustrate how this transformation might occur, a qualitative study was conducted with ten Nigerian secondary school teachers who engaged with the design and implementation of a decolonisation model for environmental education. Findings show that seven participants successfully adopted the model, and several demonstrated notable shifts in their perspectives during the process. The study offers two key contributions: a conceptual framework for understanding decolonisation in environmental education and a practical decolonisation model for teachers. These contributions have broader relevance for educational reform and environmental education in countries with similar contexts to Nigeria and in marginalised communities in the Global North, where learners are often alienated from their local realities in favour of globalist perspectives. Full article

This study utilises mobile augmented reality (AR) to enhance our understanding of multiword expressions (MWEs) and emphasise that linguistic diversity is part of cultural heritage. The main objective was to implement and evaluate the impact of a multilingual AR resource (in Moldovan, English, Russian, and Spanish) in educational settings and to identify a corpus of MWEs located in Spain. The research was conducted by applying a marker-based AR system in five academic subjects involving N = 220 undergraduate students enrolled in education degrees. Data were collected through two surveys, using both qualitative and quantitative methods that combined descriptive statistics with content analysis. Large Language Models (LLMs) were used to assist with data coding, complemented by iterative human validation. The findings revealed that the application was highly positively received, with 94% of participants acknowledging its usefulness and 83% expressing satisfaction. Furthermore, this study identified a teaching–learning procedure to enhance linguistic diversity in classrooms. Overall, the results suggest that mobile AR constitutes an effective and inclusive pedagogical tool that fosters active learning as a multimodal learning process and provides valuable localised MWE data to support future developments in corpus annotation. Full article

The present study explores the relationship between the systemic approach, educational innovation, and the use of digital technologies in higher education, with an emphasis on military academies. The aim of the research is to shed light on how systemic thinking can support strategic planning, the quality of education, and the effective integration of innovative practices, such as artificial intelligence, information and communication technologies, and virtual reality. The methodology was based on quantitative research using a questionnaire, which was distributed to 452 members of the Hellenic Non-Commissioned Officers Academy educational community (teaching staff, cadets, and recent graduates). Data analysis showed that the adoption of a systemic approach is positively associated with the readiness of trainers, including both instructors and future professionals (cadets), to support and implement educational innovations. Furthermore, it was found that the clarity of educational objectives and the alignment of critical elements of the educational system (resources, technology, instructors, trainees, and processes) significantly reinforce the intention to adopt innovative practices. The findings also show that educators’ positive perceptions of artificial intelligence and virtual/augmented reality are associated with a higher appreciation of learning benefits, such as improved performance, trainee satisfaction, and collaboration. In contrast, demographic and professional factors have a limited effect on attitudes toward innovation. Overall, findings indicated that innovation in military academies is not limited to the technological dimension, but requires a holistic, systemic approach that integrates organizational, pedagogical, and strategic parameters. The study contributes both theoretically and practically, providing empirical evidence for the role of systemic thinking in the design and implementation of innovative educational policies in military and broader academic education. Full article

This paper proposes E-MOTE (Emotion-aware Teacher Education Framework), an ethically grounded conceptual model aimed at enhancing teacher education through the integrated use of the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Virtual Reality (VR). As a conceptual and design-oriented proposal, E-MOTE is presented as a structured blueprint for future development and empirical validation, not as an implemented or evaluated system. Grounded in neuroscientific and educational research, E-MOTE seeks to strengthen teachers’ emotional awareness, teacher noticing, and social–emotional learning competencies. Rather than reporting empirical findings, this article offers a theoretically structured framework and an operational blueprint for the design of emotion-aware teacher training environments, establishing a structured foundation for future empirical validation. E-MOTE articulates three core contributions: (1) it clarifies the multi-layered construct of emotion-aware teaching by distinguishing between emotion detection, perception, awareness, and regulation; (2) it proposes an integrated AI–FACS–VR architecture for real-time and post hoc feedback on teachers’ perceptual performance; and (3) it outlines a staged experimental blueprint for future empirical validation under ethically governed conditions. As a design-oriented proposal, E-MOTE provides a structured foundation for cultivating emotionally responsive pedagogy and inclusive classroom management, supporting the development of perceptual micro-skills in teacher practice. Its distinctive contribution lies in proposing a shift from predominantly macro-behavioral simulation toward the deliberate cultivation of perceptual micro-skills through FACS-informed analytics integrated with AI-driven simulations. Full article

Mobile augmented reality games (MARGs) generate rich digital traces of how students engage with complex, place-based learning tasks. This study analyses gameplay logs from the Art Nouveau Path, a location-based MARG within the EduCITY Digital Teaching and Learning Ecosystem (DTLE), to develop a learning analytics workflow that uses detailed gameplay logs to inform sustainability-focused educational design. During the post-game segment of a repeated cross-sectional intervention, 439 students in 118 collaborative groups completed 36 quiz tasks at 8 Art Nouveau heritage Points of Interest (POI). Group-level logs (4248 group-item responses) capturing correctness, AR-specific scores, session duration and pacing were transformed into interpretable indicators, combined with error mapping and cluster analysis, and triangulated with post-game open-ended reflections. Results show high overall feasibility (mean accuracy 85.33%) and a small subset of six conceptually demanding items with lower accuracy (mean 68.36%, range 58.47% to 72.88%) concentrated in specific path segments and media types. Cluster analysis yields three collaborative gameplay profiles, labeled ‘fast but fragile’, ‘slow but moderate’ and ‘thorough and successful’, which differ systematically in accuracy, pacing and engagement with AR-mediated tasks. The study proposes a replicable event-based workflow that links mobile AR gameplay logs to design decisions for heritage-based education for sustainability. Full article

Scientific literacy is a key element in today’s society, shaping everyday life and fostering informed decision-making and critical thinking. However, the traditional transmission of science, among other factors, has fostered a simplistic and negative view of this field of knowledge, leading to a detachment of the population from it. In this context, teachers need to assume a transformative role. To this end, it must be recognised that didactic change cannot be limited to cognitive aspects, given the relevance of attitudes as a key component of professional knowledge and as a driver of a consolidated shift. Concern about this reality leads us to describe the structure and content of scientific knowledge related to the study of Primary Education teachers’ attitudes towards the teaching of the Nature of Science and Technology. A mixed-methodological design was employed, comprising a documentary-bibliometric study with a science-mapping approach and documentary analysis. The results showed that studies often focus on the cognitive component of attitudes, mainly on beliefs about knowledge or self-efficacy. However, studies on affective or conative components remain scarce, and none have been found that comprehensively address all three components of attitudes, despite their potential to provide a deeper understanding of their role in educational change. The need to address teachers’ attitudes holistically is highlighted to better understand the evaluative and motivational factors that guide teaching practices. Likewise, the importance of moving towards studies based on educational interventions that promote the development of science as useful for life is emphasised. Full article

Although conventional lectures can provide a wide range of information to a large group of people, maintaining attention and ensuring knowledge transfer can be a challenge. Therefore, it is important to look for new, engaging, and effective approaches. This pilot feasibility study explores the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) in increasing student engagement and knowledge transfer during lectures in the field of supply chain logistics and inventory selection systems. An educational VR game was developed through the systematic design of application logic, the creation of 3D assets, the construction of virtual scenes, and the implementation of gameplay. The application simulates three inventory picking methods: conventional selection, Pick by Light, and Pick by Vision systems. A total of 22 master’s students participated in the pilot study. They tested three different versions of the VR game, compared the time they needed to complete it, and participated in a guided discussion and questionnaire. The preliminary student reports indicated that students felt more engaged in the learning process and reported a perceived higher engagement with inventory picking systems compared to the traditional lecture format. On the other hand, participants mentioned concerns about nausea and the unavailability of VR headsets. The pilot results indicate that VR shows potential as an educational tool for teaching industrial logistics because it transforms the typical classroom environment into a more active and playful one, leading to a more natural understanding of the subject. Full article

Behavioral and educational researchers increasingly rely on rich datasets that capture how students respond to technology-enhanced instruction, yet few open resources document the full pipeline from experimental design to data curation in authentic classroom settings. This data descriptor presents a clustered quasi-experimental dataset on the impact of an instructional architecture that combines virtual reality (VR) simulations with artificial intelligence (AI)-driven formative feedback to enhance undergraduate students’ communication and problem-solving performance. The study was conducted at a large private university in Mexico during the 2024–2025 academic year and involved six intact classes (three intervention, three comparison; n = 180). Exposure to AI and VR was operationalized as a session-level “dose” (minutes of use, number of feedback events, number of scenarios, perceived presence), while performance was assessed with analytic rubrics (six criteria for communication and seven for problem solving) scored independently by two raters, with interrater reliability estimated via ICC (2, k). Additional Likert-type scales measured presence, perceived usefulness of feedback and self-efficacy. The curated dataset includes raw and cleaned tabular files, a detailed codebook, scoring guides and replication scripts for multilevel models and ancillary analyses. By releasing this dataset, we seek to enable reanalysis, methodological replication and cross-study comparisons in technology-enhanced education, and to provide an authentic resource for teaching statistics, econometrics and research methods in the behavioral sciences. Full article

Background: This study addresses a common challenge in music education: students’ limited emotional engagement during music listening. Objectives: This study compared two teaching methods—externally guided augmented reality (AR) integration and internally generated simulation—in terms of their neural and behavioral differences in guiding students’ visual mental imagery and influencing their musical affect processing. Methods: Using Chinese Pipa music appreciation as our experimental paradigm, we employed fNIRS hyperscanning to record inter-brain synchronization (IBS) during teacher–student interactions across three instructional conditions (AR group, n = 27; visual imagery group, n = 27; no-instruction group, n = 27), while simultaneously assessing students’ performance in music–emotion processing tasks (emotion recognition and experience). Results: At the behavioral level, both instructional methods significantly enhanced students’ ability to differentiate emotional valence in music compared to the control condition. Crucially, the AR approach demonstrated a unique advantage in augmenting emotional arousal. Neurally, both teaching methods significantly enhanced IBS in brain regions associated with emotion evaluation (lOFC) and imaginative reasoning (bilateral dlPFC). Beyond these shared neural correlates, AR instruction specifically engaged additional brain networks supporting social cognition (lFPC) and multisensory integration (rANG). Furthermore, we identified a significant positive correlation between lFPC-IBS and improved emotional arousal exclusively in the AR group. Conclusions: The visual imagery group primarily enhances emotional music processing through neural alignment in core emotional brain regions, while augmented reality instruction creates unique advantages by additionally activating brain networks associated with social cognition and cross-modal integration. This research provides neuroscientific evidence for the dissociable mechanisms through which different teaching approaches enhance music–emotion learning, offering important implications for developing evidence-based educational technologies. Full article

Although emerging technologies are increasingly adopted in teaching and learning, their potential to enhance educational administration remains underexplored. In particular, few studies examine how conversational agents, virtual reality (VR), and robotic process automation (RPA) can jointly streamline administrative workflows in multilingual and multicultural university environments. This study addresses this gap by presenting an integrated solution deployed on the website of an engineering faculty where programs are delivered in foreign languages. The proposed system combines a multilingual chatbot, a VR-based administrative guide and virtual tour, and RPA modules supporting certificate generation, password resets, and exam scheduling. Through an A/B usability test, usage analytics, and qualitative feedback, we evaluate the effectiveness of these technologies in improving access to information, reducing response time, and lowering administrative workload. Results show that this triad significantly enhances efficiency and student experience, particularly for international students requiring continuous support. The paper contributes a replicable model for leveraging emerging technologies in educational administration and offers insights for institutions seeking scalable and student-centered digital transformation. Full article

Cultural heritage is framed as a living resource for citizenship and education, although evidence on how in situ augmented reality can cultivate sustainability competences remains limited. This study examines the Art Nouveau Path, a location-based mobile augmented reality game across eight points of interest in Aveiro, Portugal, aligned with the GreenComp framework. Within a design-based research case study, the analysis integrates repeated cross-sectional student questionnaires (S1-PRE N = 221; S2-POST N = 439; S3-FU N = 434), anonymized gameplay logs from 118 collaborative groups, and 24 teacher field observations (T2-OBS), using quantitative summaries with reflexive thematic analysis. References to heritage preservation in students’ sustainability conceptions rose from 28.96% at baseline to 61.05% immediately after gameplay, remaining above baseline at follow-up (47.93%). Augmented reality items were answered more accurately than non- augmented reality items (81% vs. 73%) and involved longer on-site exploration (+10.17 min). Triangulated evidence indicates that augmented reality and multimodality amplified attention to architectural details and prompted debates about authenticity. Built heritage, mobilized through lightweight augmented reality within a digital teaching and learning ecosystem, can serve as an effective context for Education for Sustainable Development, strengthening preservation literacy and civic responsibility and generating interoperable cultural traces for future reuse. Full article

It is hard to envision a modern world where information technology does not facilitate daily tasks, including learning and teaching. This paper explores the use of virtual reality (VR) simulations in chemistry education, focusing on how immersive VR environments can enhance the learning experience for students. With chemistry often posing challenges due to its abstract and complex concepts, VR technology allows for a more interactive and visual approach, enabling students to visualize molecular structures, chemical reactions, and laboratory procedures. The study concludes that virtual reality (VR) simulations are crucial in modernizing chemistry education by making abstract and complex concepts more interactive and visual. Through a comprehensive analysis of current VR tools and simulations, the article discusses their strengths and limitations, providing a critical overview of the role of VR in modernizing chemistry education. The findings suggest that VR simulations can significantly improve students’ engagement with and understanding of complex chemistry concepts. Also, the results suggests that integrating VR into chemistry education can revolutionize traditional teaching methods, providing a more immersive and engaging learning experience. Full article

This study aimed to design a virtual reality (VR)–based mountaineering education system and examined its effects on junior high school students’ learning outcomes, motivation, and cognitive load in compass operation and map reading. The system integrated 3D terrain models and interactive mechanisms across four instructional modules: Direction Recognition, Map Symbols, Magnetic Declination Adjustment, and Resection Positioning. By incorporating immersive 3D environments and hands-on virtual exercises, the system simulates authentic mountaineering scenarios, enabling students to develop essential field orientation and navigation skills. An experimental design was implemented, with participants assigned to either an experimental group learning with the VR system or a control group receiving slide-based instruction. Data were collected using pre-tests, post-tests, and questionnaires, and analyzed using SPSS for descriptive statistics, paired-sample t-tests, independent-sample t-tests, and one-way ANCOVA at a significance level of α = 0.05. The findings indicated that the experimental group achieved significantly higher post-test learning performance than the control group (F = 6.37, p = 0.014). Moreover, significant or highly significant improvements were observed across the four dimensions of learning motivation—attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction. The experimental group also exhibited a significantly lower extraneous cognitive load (p = 0.024). Therefore, the VR mountaineering education system provides an immersive, safe, and effective approach to teaching mountaineering and outdoor survival skills. Full article

Recycling education is important for promoting pro-environmental sustainable behavior, yet traditional approaches often lack engagement and impact, particularly among younger audiences. This study presents a digital, turn-based card strategy game designed to teach recycling principles and concepts through interactive city-building mechanics. Set in an augmented reality environment, the game challenges players to balance population growth, resource use, and waste management to maintain a high well-being score for their city. Players construct digital buildings (houses, recycling facilities, resource infrastructures), each influencing waste production, recycling efficiency, and overall well-being. The game integrates educational content with engaging decision-making, aiming to foster system thinking and eco-conscious behavior. Unlike prior AR approaches, this game focuses on digital interaction, leveraging immersive game-based learning. Usability and engagement were evaluated using the in-game version of the Game Experience Questionnaire (GEQ). Findings support that users responded positively to the prototype’s game experience, suggesting that the digital game is promising. The study contributes to the growing field of digital pro-environmental education, providing insights into how interactive gameplay can support environmental awareness and laying groundwork for future evaluation of its educational impact. Full article