Immersive VR: Empowering kids to survive in fire, flood, and war

Date:
April 26, 2022
Source:
University of South Australia
Summary:
When you live in the driest State in the driest country in the
world, bushfires are an unfortunate, and all-too-regular part of
life. Learning how to survive such emergencies is important for
all people, but especially for our youngest citizens.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
When you live in the driest State in the driest country in the world,
bushfires are an unfortunate, and all-too-regular part of life. Learning
how to survive such emergencies is important for all people, but
especially for our youngest citizens

==========================================================================
Now, a new virtual reality (VR) experience developed by the University
of South Australia is educating children about bushfires and helping
them learn how to be safer in a bushfire incident.

Focusing on children aged 10-12 years, the new VR experience presents
a scenario where children are tasked to look after a friend's dog just
before a fire event begins to unfold. They participate in a series
of problem-solving activities to help save and protect themselves and
the dog.

Published in the Journal of Educational Computing, the research
demonstrates how immersive VR experiences can deliver significant positive learning outcomes for primary children, independent of their gender,
background knowledge or perceived ability to respond to bushfire hazards.

The findings showed that more than 80 per cent of children agreed
or strongly agreed that they felt more confident to calmly evaluate
the options and make wise decisions to protect themselves from a
bushfire. This is especially significant considering that 91 per cent of participants originally lacked any knowledge of fires, and that 67 per
cent had said that they were too young to make safety decisions in a fire.

The project was part of Safa Molan's PhD project. Her supervisor and
fellow researcher, UniSA's Professor Delene Weber says immersive VR
experiences have enormous potential to engage, educate and empower
younger generations.



==========================================================================
"VR has enormous potential to teach children about emergencies. As digital natives, they are engaged by technology, so when it's immersive -- as
it is with VR -- they can experience events realistically, yet within
safe parameters," Prof Weber says.

"Well-designed VR can provide an opportunity for children to apply newly acquired knowledge, reinforce their learnt concepts, and enable immediate feedback -- all incredibly valuable learning tools.

"In this scenario, we applied best practice in terms of VR and educational design, showing how VR can achieve higher order learning skills such
as analysis and application of information to a new situation. And we
tested the effectiveness on one of the most vulnerable groups -- children.

"Because children have fewer life experiences to build resilience,
aren't as physically strong, and are less likely to have learned much
about bushfire safety, they're often most at risk. Yet the capacity for children to contribute to bushfire safety at their household level should
not be underestimated.

"Children do not need to be passive victims of disasters and with
purpose-built virtual reality experiences such as these, we can help
empower children to understand the risks but realise they can help."
Prof Weber says immersive VR technology could potentially be used for
other disaster scenarios such as floods or war environments.



========================================================================== "Building resilience before a traumatic event occurs is invaluable,
which is where VR can help," Prof Weber says.

"VR is empowering children to understand how their can control aspects
within a disaster or can cope by themselves, and it helps them build
their confidence so that they can contribute positively rather than
being afraid.

"This technology could easily be applied to other disasters such as floods
and wars -- which is particularly pertinent now with extreme floods
still affecting New South Wales and Queensland, and the atrocities of
war occurring in Ukraine.

"There is certainly no reason you wouldn't get the same positive
results when focused on different traumatic events -- although the more predictable the processes are, the easier it would be for designers to
create a relevant scenario." Heading into school holidays, the CFS is currently warning families and young people to take care if considering a campfire, especially with dry grass and warm weather still lingering. And
with teens often trusted to enjoy some independence alone, it's important
that they pay attention.

In line with holiday trends, Prof Weber is also hoping to investigate
VR education scenarios for teenagers and young adults.

"Building competencies and resilience in young people of all ages is
vital for their ability to survive in disaster situations -- nothing
in life is guaranteed, but we want to make sure that our children are
given the very best chance."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_South_Australia. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Safa Molan, Delene Weber, Matin Kor. Shaping Children's Knowledge
and
Response to Bushfire Through Use of an Immersive Virtual Learning
Environment. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 2022;
073563312110545 DOI: 10.1177/07356331211054569 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220426101740.htm

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