Earthquake education in the physical world interactive metaverse

This research aims to train secondary school students to raise awareness of earthquakes and enable students to experience the moment of an earthquake with Earthquake Education in the Physical World Interactive Metaverse Universe. The research was conducted using a sequential explanatory design, a type of mixed research method. While the quantitative part of the study employed a pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design, the qualitative-part utilized a phenomenological design. A convenience sampling type was used to determine the sample, and a criterion sampling type was used to determine the study group. Two groups were formed in the research: experimental/control groups. Earthquake training was carried out with the experimental group’s physical world interactive metaverse universe and the traditional approach in the control group. The study used earthquake achievement tests and quasi-structured interview questions. An independent samples t-test was used to analyze the quantitative data, and content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. It was determined that there was a significant increase in the participants’ success in the experimental group after FDEMEDE. Furthermore, qualitative findings revealed that the students perceived the training as practical and heavily favored FDEMEDE. The study was conducted with 76 secondary school students (experimental = 39, control = 37). The obtained p-value of F(1.73) = 24.10 was < 0.001; the effect size was η²p = 0.25. The results indicated a medium-to-large effect in favor of the experimental group. In line with these results, suggestions have been made, such as expanding earthquake training with a physically interactive metaverse universe.