Virtual reality‐facilitated engineering education: A case study on sustainable systems knowledge

Abstract

Sustainability research findings are imperative to reach a wide audience but are often hard to interpret for the general public because of their complex and interdisciplinary nature. Virtual reality (VR) is an emerging tool in education and research dissemination that can make information more accessible and engaging. This case study leveraged VR, gamification theory, and art design to develop an immersive experience that educates the general public with environmental engineering and sustainability knowledge. Through a series of informative and interactive games, this experience presented scientific findings while providing realism and entertainment throughout. This paper presents step‐by‐step guidelines for transferring engineering knowledge into a pedagogical VR experience, including human–computer interactions, storyboard development, data visualization, and gamification theory implementation. Participants provided positive feedback on the learning experience and stated that the experience sparked a curiosity to learn more about sustainability concepts. Improving opportunities for future development proposed during beta‐testing were also documented to guide future development. This case study contributes to the body of knowledge by validating the feasibility and effectiveness of incorporating VR and gamification theory in engineering education. Practically, the proposed development procedure can be implemented in various engineering education contents and scenarios.