Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 16, Issue 1, Article 12 (Jun., 2015) Shu-Nu CHANG RUNDGREN, Lars NYBERG, Mariele EVERS, and Jan ALEXANDERSSON Learning about flood risk: comparing the Web-based and physical flood-walk learning environments Contents Next

Learning about flood risk: comparing the Web-based and physical flood-walk learning environments

 

Shu-Nu CHANG RUNDGREN^1,2*, Lars NYBERG³, Mariele EVERS^3,4, and Jan ALEXANDERSSON³

 

¹Department of Engineering and Chemical Sciences, Karlstad University, SWEDEN

²Department of Education, Stockholm University, SWEDEN

³Department of Environmental and Life Sciences, Karlstad University, SWEDEN

³Department of Geography, Bonn University, GERMANY

 

^*Corresponding author E-mail: shunuchang@gmail.com

 

Received 10 May, 2015
Revised 18 Jun., 2015

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Contents

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Method
  • The development of the questionnaire
  • The design of the research and the participants
  • Data collection and analysis
• Results
• Conclusion and discussion
• References
• Appendix 1: The instrument

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Abstract

Numerous of sustainable development related challenges are emerging today, e.g. flooding problems. Our group has developed ‘the flood walk’ project since 2010 to convey flood risk knowledge in an authentic context. Considering the limitation of time and space to educate people the flood risk knowledge, we tried to transform the physical flood walk field trip into a Web-based virtual trip. In this study, we aim to examine whether the Web-based flood-walk environment can help participants to achieve the same learning outcome as its authentic counterpart. A total of 65 upper secondary school pupils participated in this study. The results illustrate that a physical experience is irreplaceable, and the importance of providing physical experiences for learners in both formal and informal education needs to be emphasised.

Keywords: Risk knowledge, Flood, Web-based, Learning environment, Attitude.