Section 2: Execute

Learning Through AR and Interactive Exploration (Delightex)

To help students better understand the complex relationship between climate change and biodiversity loss, this learning unit uses Augmented Reality (AR) through Delightex (CoSpaces Edu). AR makes abstract and distant environmental processes visible and interactive, allowing students to explore ecosystems and species that are normally difficult or impossible to observe directly.

How Delightex Will Be Used (Teacher + Students)

In this unit, the teacher creates one interactive AR “world” in Delightex (CoSpaces Edu). The world includes 3–5 simple AR scenes (for example: coral reef, Arctic food chain, forest fire). Students open the teacher’s link or QR code on their phones/tablets and explore the scenes in AR mode.

Each scene contains short info panels, images, and task prompts (questions). Students complete a worksheet or digital exit ticket while exploring. They can work individually or in pairs, and then compare findings in a short class discussion.

Instead of learning only from texts or videos, students actively explore, observe, and interact with digital models. This supports deeper understanding, especially for visual and kinaesthetic learners, and helps students connect scientific knowledge to real-world environmental problems.

Species Focus Tasks

Students interact with AR objects representing endangered or climate-sensitive species. Each AR object includes:

• a short description of the species;
• information about climate-related threats (temperature rise, habitat loss, ocean acidification);
• guiding questions such as:
  
  • How does climate change affect this species?
  • What happens if this species disappears from the ecosystem?

This task helps students understand that species extinction does not happen in isolation, but affects entire food chains and ecosystems.

Interactive AR Challenges

Students complete short AR-based challenges designed as simple quests. Examples include:

• matching species to the ecosystems they live in;
• identifying main climate threats for a species;
• linking adaptations (e.g. migration, camouflage, root systems) to environmental conditions.

These challenges support active learning, keep students motivated, and help teachers check understanding without formal testing.

Reflection and Discussion

After the AR activities, students take part in guided reflection:

• short group discussions;
• written answers to reflection questions;
• comparison of observations between different ecosystems or species.

This step helps students verbalise what they learned, connect AR experiences to scientific concepts, and practise communication skills.

Pedagogical Value

Using AR in this section supports:

• better understanding of complex environmental processes;
• increased student engagement and motivation;
• stronger emotional connection to biodiversity loss;
• development of critical thinking and environmental responsibility.

Research shows that AR-based learning improves conceptual understanding and long-term retention in environmental education (Chong & Kiew, 2020).