The Impact of Immersive Virtual Reality Simulations on Student Engagement and Emotional Resilience in Climate Change Education

Abstract

Climate change education is indispensable in higher education institutions due to the need for scientific knowledge, readiness, and awareness in order to cope with escalating environmental problems. The country of Uzbekistan faces various environmental problems, including water shortage, desertification, heat stress, and vulnerability in agriculture, making sustainability education extremely important. In this study, the effect of the use of virtual reality (VR) simulations in terms of increasing the level of emotional resilience and effective climate change education in Uzbek universities was analyzed. A quasi-experimental method was used by conducting a pretest-posttest experiment in two groups, where one group learned about climate change using VR simulations and the other using traditional teaching methods. The VR modules depicted the climate scenarios, including melting glaciers, desertification, flooding in the city areas, heat waves, loss of biodiversity, and shortage of water. It was discovered that in the experimental group, there was an increase in the improvement of the students' engagement level from 3.12 to 4.26, while in the control group, an increase in engagement levels was observed from 3.08 to 3.46. Emotional resilience also increased significantly for the experimental group, with changes from 2.94 to 4.01, while for the control group, from 2.91 to 3.28. There were also improvements in the climate knowledge and level of learning satisfaction.