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Introducing the
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This education project is designed to make experiential sustainability education about distant places accessible to NZ school students; without the need to travel. It seeks to make learning about other countries, cultures and sustainability meaningful by fostering situated active learning.
To achieve this, students visit a digital replication of the main square of Machu Picchu Pueblo (also known as Aguas Calientes), at the base of the world-famous and heavily visited Machu Picchu archaeological site. The town's square and alleys are developed using virtual reality gaming software which allows students to explore the area through an avatar.
Students can hear from eleven different community stakeholders about life in the town, the positive and negative impacts of tourism, and their aspirations for the year 2030 (to tie in with the UN's Agenda 2030 and the SDGs). The stakeholders include the mayor, representatives of local government, business owners, the local doctor, a tour guide, a busker, a porter, a community member with limited contact with tourism, and a tourist.
The learning tool is freely available and designed to support Years 8-10 Social Studies, Sustainability, Geography and Tourism education. Versions of the learning tool are available for Windows computers, Apple/Mac computers and Chromebooks. Please see the TeachAPAC website for links to the different versions of the learning tools, as well as learning & teaching resources.
The project has been developed by a multi-disciplinary team from Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand in collaboration with the community members and local government of Machu Picchu Pueblo. The project is supported by the Latin America Centre of Asia-Pacific Excellence (LatAm CAPE)
To achieve this, students visit a digital replication of the main square of Machu Picchu Pueblo (also known as Aguas Calientes), at the base of the world-famous and heavily visited Machu Picchu archaeological site. The town's square and alleys are developed using virtual reality gaming software which allows students to explore the area through an avatar.
Students can hear from eleven different community stakeholders about life in the town, the positive and negative impacts of tourism, and their aspirations for the year 2030 (to tie in with the UN's Agenda 2030 and the SDGs). The stakeholders include the mayor, representatives of local government, business owners, the local doctor, a tour guide, a busker, a porter, a community member with limited contact with tourism, and a tourist.
The learning tool is freely available and designed to support Years 8-10 Social Studies, Sustainability, Geography and Tourism education. Versions of the learning tool are available for Windows computers, Apple/Mac computers and Chromebooks. Please see the TeachAPAC website for links to the different versions of the learning tools, as well as learning & teaching resources.
The project has been developed by a multi-disciplinary team from Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand in collaboration with the community members and local government of Machu Picchu Pueblo. The project is supported by the Latin America Centre of Asia-Pacific Excellence (LatAm CAPE)
Privacy Policy for the Android Apps/Chromebook version of the Virtual Machu Picchu Learning Tool
Project leader, Dr Christian Schott, explains the motivation for the 'Virtual Reality for Sustainability Project', of which this learning tool for schools is a core component |
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International Awards
The concept behind the learning tool published in the Journal of Computer-Assisted Learning (JCAL), the User Experience research published in the Australasian Journal of Educational Technology (AJET), and the learning tools about sustainable development in Fiji and Peru were awarded the highly competitive
GOLD Award Sustainability in 2020
BRONZE Award for the Oceania Region in 2019
from the 'Oscars of Education', the Wharton - QS Reimagine Education Awards in London.
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Our Fiji-based sustainability-focused learning tool that also employs the concept of VR Experiential Education was awarded AACSB's prestigious 'Innovations that Inspire' honour in 2018 for Enhancing Approaches to Leadership Education.
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