News

VR game simulates earthquake to help children stay safe

<div class&equals;"col-xs-12 col-lg-7 offset-lg-1 content-area">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"section contentintrotextcomponent">&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"intro">A virtual reality game that could save lives during an earthquake has won the education category of the University of Auckland’s 2019 Velocity Challenge&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"col-xs-12 col-lg-7 offset-lg-1 content-area">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"imagecomponent section">&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"imagecomponent&lowbar;&lowbar;fig"><picture><source srcset&equals;"&sol;&sol;cdn&period;auckland&period;ac&period;nz&sol;aem&sol;content&sol;auckland&sol;en&sol;news&sol;2019&sol;07&sol;11&sol;vr-game-simulates-earthquake-to-help-children-stay-safe&sol;jcr&colon;content&sol;leftpar&sol;imagecomponent&sol;image&period;img&period;1024&period;medium&period;jpg&sol;1562881019612&period;jpg" media&equals;"&lpar;min-width&colon; 768px&rpar;" &sol;><source srcset&equals;"&sol;&sol;cdn&period;auckland&period;ac&period;nz&sol;aem&sol;content&sol;auckland&sol;en&sol;news&sol;2019&sol;07&sol;11&sol;vr-game-simulates-earthquake-to-help-children-stay-safe&sol;jcr&colon;content&sol;leftpar&sol;imagecomponent&sol;image&period;img&period;768&period;medium&period;jpg&sol;1562881019612&period;jpg" media&equals;"&lpar;min-width&colon; 480px&rpar;" &sol;><&sol;picture><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"text section">&NewLine;<p>The result of a collaboration between experts in education&comma; computer science and engineering&comma; the game simulates what might happen in an ordinary school classroom during and after an earthquake&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Aimed at Year 7&comma; 8 and 9 students&comma; the five to ten-minute game gives players different pathways and right and wrong options&comma; with the overall goal of helping them stay as safe as possible should the real thing happen&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>One of the project partners&comma; engineering PhD student Zhenan Feng&comma; says the visual landscape of the game is based on an actual building in Ormiston Junior College in Flatbush&comma; East Auckland&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I wanted to design the game realistically&comma; so I took photos and made a model of a particular building at Ormiston&comma; and included the sound of a real earthquake&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He later trialled the game with 150 students from the school and there was a significant improvement in the students’ knowledge about what to do in an earthquake after playing it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Some students had thought running outside to escape being crushed was a good idea&comma; for example&comma; whereas it&&num;8217&semi;s best to get under something solid like a desk and stay inside until the shaking stops&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"pullquotecomponent section">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"pull-quote">&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;I was working in Christchurch at the time so I know how important it is to be prepared when these terrible things happen&comma; and the sorts of things that will increase people’s chance of surviving&semi; they need to become a reflex action&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"quote-author&lowbar;&lowbar;name">&&num;8211&semi; Associate Professor Carol Mutch<&sol;span><span class&equals;"quote-author&lowbar;&lowbar;title">Faculty of Education and Social Work<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"text section">&NewLine;<p>The original idea for the game came from Dr Vicente Gonzalez&comma; a senior lecturer in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering&period; Dr Gonzalez won a Ministry of Business&comma; Innovation and Employment &lpar;MBIE&rpar; Natural Hazard Platform &lpar;NHP&rpar; Grant to develop the concept&comma; alongside Professor Robert Amor in Computer Science&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Zhenan Feng joined the group in 2017&comma; having changed his original PhD topic to focus exclusively on developing the prototype&period; Associate Professor Carol Mutch from the Faculty of Education and Social Work came on board as Zhenan’s co-supervisor in 2018&comma; adding her extensive expertise in teaching and learning&comma; and also her own experience of having survived the Christchurch earthquakes of 2010 and 2011&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I was working in Christchurch at the time so I know how important it is to be prepared when these terrible things happen&comma; and the sorts of things that will increase people’s chance of surviving&semi; they need to become a reflex action&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A part-time resident of Christchurch&comma; Dr Mutch has done a lot of work with children post-quake&comma; including leading a UNESCO project which recorded the earthquake memories of some of the primary school children affected by the disaster&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The next step for the project is to develop a business case for the game’s launch to market&comma; with the team hoping to take out the big &dollar;40&comma;000 Velocity prize&comma; open to all category winners in August&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Says Zhenan&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We see this game being globally attractive&comma; with a range of possible emergency situations&comma; users and locations&semi; including offices and outdoor environments&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The game&comma; called the Editable Immersive Virtual Reality Serious Game&comma; has already cleared the first hurdle&comma; having been chosen as one of the best projects out of hundreds in the 2019 Velocity Challenge&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The team hopes the value and uniqueness of the game will see it made widely available&comma; both nationally and internationally&comma; for everyone’s future benefit&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><i><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;velocity&period;auckland&period;ac&period;nz&sol;about&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Velocity<&sol;a> is an entrepreneurial programme based at the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;auckland&period;ac&period;nz&sol;en&sol;news&sol;2019&sol;07&sol;11&sol;vr-game-simulates-earthquake-to-help-children-stay-safe&period;html" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">University of Auckland<&sol;a> that supports innovative projects through various stages of development&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;

Explore our latest issue...
School News

School News is not affiliated with any government agency, body or political party. We are an independently owned, family-operated magazine.

Recent Posts

Curriculum rewrites lack clear frameworks and definitions

Curriculum rewrites at the Ministry of Education are struggling with a lack of clarity, according…

5 days ago

Chisnallwood Intermediate: A place of opportunity

Opportunities are critical for preteens to build confidence and capability, says Chisnallwood Intermediate, acclaimed for…

5 days ago

Are AI detection tools biased against English language learners?

AI detection tools are trained on native English users, which could create bias.

5 days ago

Wrong room, wrong focus

Opinion: Why the Minister’s announcement on open-plan classrooms distracts from what really matters in education.

5 days ago

From Stress to success: Supporting teacher and student wellbeing

Positive wellbeing means resilient communities and effective learning.

5 days ago

New campaign aims to lift the mana of teachers

A new campaign from the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand aims to lift the…

2 weeks ago