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U. Starker et al.
Table 1 Topics of the educational nature trail for developing sustainability competency
Topic
Addressing of
emotional/multisensory
aspects
Related topics/conflicts
Flora and fauna in and around
water
Touching: own observations
(e.g. with magnifying glass)
Hearing: forest noises
personal questions
Self-cleaning of waters,
influence on drinking water
quality
Smelling: smell of moss and
plants information
Recovery and tourism,
meaning in the ecosystem
forest, healing effects
Seeing: pictures from the
forest with and without bark
beetle
Climate protection (also
related to the water footprint)
and adaptation, tourism
Flood
Pictures and personal
experience reports
Climate protection and
adaptation, forest as water
tank, civil protection
Energy generation
Touching/trying: producing
water power
Nature conservation,
intervention in the landscape
or waters
Drinking water
Tasting: tasting, comparison
of different waters
Expenditure of the processing
of drinking water, transports
of mineral water
biodiversity or energy generation (Fig. 3). Furthermore, each drop can be in a different mood, depending on the current status of its function, which is shown in Fig. 4.
The goal of the game is to make all drops happy. By scanning marker-graphics,
which are placed on each station of the trail, with his smartphone, the player can
collect new “Droppy” characters in the digital game. Using augmented reality (AR)
technology, these characters can be seen as emerging from the marker-graphic and
seemingly “coming to life” inside the actual natural scenery when observed through
the lens of the smartphone-screen. The player can thus uncover a hidden world at the
stations of the nature trail and interact with it. Each newly collected “Droppy” confronts the player with a new question or task, with different solutions or answering
possibilities. Every decision the player chooses, influences other drops and makes
them either more satisfied or dissatisfied. However, there are no “right” or “wrong”
answers in this game. The player has to recognize interdependencies, set personal
priorities and operate flexibly to create an ecosystem of equally happy “Droppys”.
The nature trail as well as the game are to be completed within the next year, in
close cooperation between students, water authorities and the local tourism office.
U. Starker et al.
Table 1 Topics of the educational nature trail for developing sustainability competency
Topic
Addressing of
emotional/multisensory
aspects
Related topics/conflicts
Flora and fauna in and around
water
Touching: own observations
(e.g. with magnifying glass)
Hearing: forest noises
personal questions
Self-cleaning of waters,
influence on drinking water
quality
Smelling: smell of moss and
plants information
Recovery and tourism,
meaning in the ecosystem
forest, healing effects
Seeing: pictures from the
forest with and without bark
beetle
Climate protection (also
related to the water footprint)
and adaptation, tourism
Flood
Pictures and personal
experience reports
Climate protection and
adaptation, forest as water
tank, civil protection
Energy generation
Touching/trying: producing
water power
Nature conservation,
intervention in the landscape
or waters
Drinking water
Tasting: tasting, comparison
of different waters
Expenditure of the processing
of drinking water, transports
of mineral water
biodiversity or energy generation (Fig. 3). Furthermore, each drop can be in a different mood, depending on the current status of its function, which is shown in Fig. 4.
The goal of the game is to make all drops happy. By scanning marker-graphics,
which are placed on each station of the trail, with his smartphone, the player can
collect new “Droppy” characters in the digital game. Using augmented reality (AR)
technology, these characters can be seen as emerging from the marker-graphic and
seemingly “coming to life” inside the actual natural scenery when observed through
the lens of the smartphone-screen. The player can thus uncover a hidden world at the
stations of the nature trail and interact with it. Each newly collected “Droppy” confronts the player with a new question or task, with different solutions or answering
possibilities. Every decision the player chooses, influences other drops and makes
them either more satisfied or dissatisfied. However, there are no “right” or “wrong”
answers in this game. The player has to recognize interdependencies, set personal
priorities and operate flexibly to create an ecosystem of equally happy “Droppys”.
The nature trail as well as the game are to be completed within the next year, in
close cooperation between students, water authorities and the local tourism office.