Problem
Identification
Sustainability education is often overlooked in underfunded schools, where the majority of students are Black and Latinx. These students grow up in environments impacted by environmental racism, but without the knowledge or tools to recognize the issues affecting their communities. The lack of environmental literacy in these low-income areas prevents children from understanding how environmental problems relate to their lives, hindering them from taking active steps toward change. The solution we developed is Entwined, a fun and engaging educational app designed to bridge this knowledge gap.
Understanding the User
The target audience for Entwined is young, animal-loving environmentalists who may feel uncertain about where to start with sustainability. A key pain point for our users was a lack of engaging and interactive educational experiences, which often leads to disinterest in learning about such crucial topics. Our solution was to make the learning process exciting and immersive through augmented reality, interactive games, and a chatbot, while also allowing users to befriend virtual animals and explore fun photo booth features.
Solution Ideation
We created Entwined as a visually appealing and engaging mobile game that uses augmented reality to teach eco-friendly habits. By interacting with endangered animals in the game, users take part in charade-like quizzes that both educate and entertain. The app features fun games, rewards users with avatar upgrades, and presents these animals in the real world through the camera lens, providing a captivating and dynamic learning experience.
Prototypes
demo
Upon launching the Entwined app, users were welcomed with our branded logo, setting the tone for the educational experience ahead. From there, the onboarding screens guided users through the features and functionality of the app.
The first step was selecting a mascot: a penguin, a seal, or a turtle. Each mascot taught users about its endangerment status, how climate change affected it, and how human practices had impacted its survival.
For this demo, we chose the Seal. Afterward, users were prompted to type in their name, adding a personal touch to the experience.
Next, I demonstrated how the charades game worked. Players selected a level and were given instructions for gameplay. The game began with a screen displaying the first word to guess. As the player guessed, they swiped upwards for correct guesses and downwards for incorrect ones. Players had 40 seconds to guess as many words as possible. Once the game ended, a results page appeared, and users were returned to the home screen.
Then, I showed Flora, our sustainability chatbot. Flora answered questions about eco-friendly practices. For example, if you asked, “Are there any recycling centers near me?” Flora provided a list of the nearest options.
If you tapped the AR feature at the bottom right, Flora guided you through recycling practices. In future updates, we planned to introduce additional interactive quizzes and task-based scenes, such as reminding users to unplug unused electronics, to further enhance the learning experience.
Finally, the photo booth feature allowed users to take pictures and save them. In future versions, we planned to add stickers and filters to further personalize the experience and make it more fun for users.
Story and Impact
The Entwined app aims to empower the youth to develop eco-friendly habits while providing an educational and visually pleasing experience. It’s designed to engage children who are socially conscious, love animals, and enjoy games. By integrating AR, games, and quizzes, the app keeps users interested and motivated to learn, reinforcing their knowledge of sustainability through interactive play. we want to make learning about the environment easy to absorb and fun, especially for students in communities that need it most. Through this project, we hope to ignite the passion for environmental advocacy in the next generation.
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