Abstract:

We would like to discuss the challenges that arise when dealing with the fields of virtual reality, augmented reality, and virtual environment in current education.
This question is approached by teachers, parents and workers of other fields with different and sometimes very extreme perspectives. Hearing either side we might assume they are right.
We would like to raise awareness to some new phenomena, both in their detrimental nature and the inherent possibility they carry. We chose to review the future generation's current behavior, especially the world of fables, how the children in nursery schools and primary education interpret those virtual realities. We assume that in several countries it has become a problem that little children using current technical achievements already on their own has not yet received formal education in natural sciences. In many times they struggle with processing and differentiating between reality and fables on their own, or accept things that seem real without questions. In their imagination the technical advancements appear as tangible but they might think of it as unreachable, and that may frustrate them. The change in the concept of time was conspicuous, specifically the changes in the duration of natural phenomena, that lessened the necessity of protecting the environment. The ideas of restoration and repair might merge. The boundaries of their perceived world and those of some virtual realities might blur together, the methods can be interchanged but the results will be different. As our country, Hungary, is not a prominent country when it comes to technical achievements and the distribution of those, it is common that children attribute advancements in virtual worlds as reality of more advanced countries. They already know, use, and sometimes fear many concepts and phenomena and share that knowledge among each before they could even learn about them on the basis of natural sciences.
In our lecture we cover how virtual realities seemingly improve the social behavior of children, and how those avatar worlds should improve it actually. A group of children who have outstanding knowledge about some virtual heroes, by living these models' lives they alienate themselves from the real children community.
This might raise ambivalent feelings in educators, on the one hand admiring the knowledge, on the other hand respecting the reduction of conflicts with their age group, but it is hard to realize how they narrow down their interests, and become unable to function according to the schools expectations in community activities and thinking together. In those imagined worlds no real conflict appears, lead roles do not get opposition, and it should also be mentioned that many virtual entity prefer individual solutions.
It is a well-known fact, that utilizing avatars can be beneficial to human behavior. So why couldn't we educate the future generations with such, familiar methods? Is it necessary to insist on heroes of old tales, or can we open up to modern tales for models boldly but carefully? How can we solve the fears written about by many with the help of such mediated knowledge? In our lecture we seek to answer how and with which methods environmental education can promote responsibility in youth. We should not avoid the task to make the cognition of these realities more friendly to adults working with children and instead of the common ban and rejection, cooperation could be given rise to.

Keywords:

Virtual Environment in Education, virtual world, Fables, Children Social behavior