The focus of the Water INTENsE: INteractive TEchNology Education project is to develop environmental virtual reality (VR) curriculum for water/wastewater technologies and agriculture/water conservation education in two-year colleges. The Advanced Technology Environmental Education Center (ATEEC) will:
Partner with business and government agencies to determine curriculum content needed for VR experiences for students.
Partner with EON Reality to create VR curriculum.
Develop a manual and training webinars for educators using VR in classrooms.
Pilot-test the VR modules with NSF ATE community colleges and business to determine the effectiveness in meeting program learning objectives.
Disseminate the VR modules on ATEEC’s website.
The STEM-based instructional materials will focus on simulating learning situations in the fields of water/wastewater and agriculture/water conservation. The simulations will allow technology students to receive hands-on, applied training in a contextual environment, providing students with practice on virtual real-world equipment when actual field equipment is often cost-prohibitive for most educational institutions.
The project will leverage ATEEC’s work in occupational analysis, curriculum development, and instructional material projects in water technology. Due to ATEEC’s national environmental technology network with industry and education, the project is well positioned to supplement and enhance existing water and agriculture technology curricula, utilize a wide variety of content experts in the fields, and determine and fulfill workforce needs.
