ForestLearning’s hugely successful ForestVR™ technology has expanded, with the impending launch of five new engaging, immersive and educational VR experiences.
The new experiences explore diverse themes including how Australia’s trees have adapted to suit their different environments, careers in the forest and wood products industry and the concept of putting trees to work on farms for multiple benefits, also known as agroforestry.
With the help of 360-degree experiences and virtual tours, students can be transported into Australia’s forest and wood products industry and discover why wood is the ultimate renewable resource.
The original ForestVR™ toolkit was launched in 2019 and designed in extensive consultation with teachers and the forestry industry, with the goal of educating students on the renewable cycle of timber in an immersive and engaging way.
Soon after its launch, there was an onset of restrictions on excursions in Australian schools due to COVID-19 and ForestVR™ provided a timely solution to geographical access problems, while also overcoming the safety issues associated with visits to physical forests and timber processing facilities.
The latest suite of VR experiences represents a significant expansion to ForestVR™ and is a testament to the popularity of the resources among our nation’s teachers.
“Teachers across Australia have told us how they have found ForestVR™ to be a novel and highly effective way of engaging school students by allowing them to visit places they wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to access during a school field trip,” explained Beth Welden, ForestLearning Program Manager.
“With this latest suite of experiences, we hope to provide even more meaningful educational opportunities, aligned to the Australian Curriculum, that educate students on sustainable and renewable forest and wood products.”
The new ForestVR™ experiences include the Forest Science Explorers series, which was developed for primary school students. It covers Australia’s four unique forest types — the wet eucalypt forests of Tasmania, Cypress Pine forests of western Queensland and New South Wales, dry eucalypt forests of eastern Australia and Jarrah forests of Western Australia.
By journeying through these different forest types, students can look for clues to discover how forest environments adapt to suit local conditions.
Students learn about the ways expert foresters use science to keep forests healthy and sustainable, now and for future generations.
Meanwhile, the Careers in Forests and Wood resources will give students a first-hand insight into the everyday of three different careers in forestry and wood processing industry.
And finally, the Trees at work on the farm: Agroforestry 360-degree experiences and virtual tours provide high school students with an immersive visit to different farms around Australia that are incorporating trees into their environments. This practice brings many economic, social and environmental benefits to farms.
This theme is of particular interest to teachers looking to showcase achievable and sustainable practices that help Australia towards its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
This exciting second phase of ForestVR™ has been made possible by funding from the Australian Government and will be released in Q2 of 2022.
ForestVR™ experiences and teaching resources can be found for free at the ForestLearning website — forestlearning.edu.au — and VR tours and 360-degree experiences can be viewed using a VR headset or just as easily using an iPad or laptop.
