Scaling pro-environmental education beyond traditional fieldwork using IVR interventions

Abstract Geographic learning often relies on field studies, which face challenges of accessibility, cost, and safety, leading to a gap between theory and practice and low student awareness of environmental sustainability. The IVR Geopark Ijen was developed to address this issue. This study aims to fill the research gap that has focused on simple ecosystems and rarely measured their impact on the affective domain. This Research and Development (R&D) study used the SAM model, and the effectiveness of the IVR product was validated through the Kirkpatrick Model framework in 260 high school students using a one-group pre-test/post-test design. The results showed positive user reactions (Level 1) with “excellent” usability (SUS score = 86.03) and a “excellent” user experience in the UEQ measurement. There was a significant increase in cognitive knowledge (Level 2), with an average of 55.29% ( p < 0.001), and a significant change in pro-environmental attitudes (Level 3), with a large effect size ( p < 0.001). This study suggests that the implementation of IVR Geopark Ijen is associated with positive learning outcomes and pro-environmental attitudes.