Virtual Worlds as Restorative Environments

The overpopulation of our planet creates pressures, not only upon natural and human-created environments, but also upon human well-being. Responding to the Australian government’s focus upon education as a means for improved health, well-being and economic competitiveness, schools and universities strive to embed environmental sustainability and creativity in a crowded curriculum. The use of virtual worlds as restorative environments may help to realise this vision, which is shared by other nations with technologically rich, but time-poor and urbanised societies. This chapter draws upon the final stage of a three-stage study into pre-service teachers’ perceptions of personal well-being, sense of belonging, social connectedness and personal creativity and engagement. It considers how these senses were impacted by participants’ immersive experiences in a natural-seeming virtual world environment in Second Life and in their comparative experience in a formal garden setting. Findings suggest that Second Life may serve as a restorative environment if participants are sufficiently familiar with the user interface and virtual world environment.

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