Abstract
Bees are significant contributors to our diverse flora, as they pollinate plants and trees. In addition to honeybees, their “wild sisters” provide further support with this task. There are more than 560 different species of wild bees known in Germany alone. Unlike honeybees, they lack protective beehives and the care of beekeepers. More than half of them is endangered or already became extinct. Potential consequences of this development are far reaching and devastating for the diversity of our ecosystem. As wild bees play such a crucial role, the question emerges why we do not protect them adequately. The answer is rather simple: Most people lack knowledge about these species, their living conditions, and the tremendous impact on our lives. In this talk, we introduce a project that has the goal to change this situation and build a sense of responsibility already at an early stage in life. A mobile application for classroom settings is developed and integrated into project workshops, inviting students on an insightful journey into the world of wild bees. By combining hands-on environmental actions with virtual game elements, this approach strives to sensitize students at a young age to the dramatic consequences if wild bees were to become extinct. The project follows a child-centered design process and builds on findings from multimedia learning research, for example, on intelligent agents that accompany learning and provide feedback and support. The talk will present results from an evaluation of the combined concept in school contexts and discuss potential future directions.
Users
Please
log in to take part in the discussion (add own reviews or comments).
