Virtually traveling from a Kenyan classroom. Students at this school in Nairobi’s capital are on a field trip with a twist by donning virtual reality (VR) headsets.
In the country of East Africa, VR is being used in classrooms to supplement conventional education to educate kids about environmental and social issues.
Theoretical instruction alone, according to the organizers, is insufficient to help kids comprehend issues like plastic waste and climate change.
However, thanks to VR technology, students may witness the effects on the environment firsthand.
In Nairobi’s Mathare neighborhood, students at Mcedo Beijing School have been studying the collection and sorting of rubbish.
By segregating plastics and other waste, UKWENZA VR has aided myself and other students in protecting the environment.
“In the past, I would consume plastic bottles and discard them in whatever way, but I no longer purchase soda or water in a plastic bottle. Rooney Odhiambo, a different student, says, “I purchase soda in glass bottles.
Kenya-based Ukwenza VR primarily works with schools in low-income communities, giving kids access to virtual field trips that would otherwise be impractical owing to budgetary restrictions.
The social enterprise focuses on problems including climate change and plastic litter.
The risks that plastic trash poses to the environment have been made clear to students, who have been motivated to take action.
“How can we get kids to care about something enough to change their behavior when it comes to something as complex as plastic pollution or even climate change? which is very difficult, says Njeri Ndonga, co-founder and CEO of Ukwenza VR.
“Virtual reality assists students in two ways. It first helps them conceptualize the issue. Don’t throw away waste is one thing, but understanding that if I throw away a plastic bottle, it will wind up in the Indian Ocean and harm marine life would be quite another, as I want to eat that fish, is quite another. In order to assist people connect their activity to each event along the way, you can establish a chain.
Anne Njine, an expert in education, supports the endeavor. She claims that virtual reality fosters children’s empathy for the topics they are learning about. Because VR is more effective in project-based activities, a lot of collaboration and discussions result from those activities, according to Njine. “What VR does is that it helps the children get the right emotions in place,” she adds.
“There is a conversation about what can be done about it since it can only get worse when children see turtles swallowing papers beneath the water or when youngsters see dumpsites full of papers. What shall we do as a result?
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