Development of A Metaverse-Based Teaching Material on Rainforest Ecosystem for Nigerian High School Biology

This study focused on the development of a metaverse-based rainforest ecosystem for highschool students and tested its effectiveness in terms of students’ academic achievementand learning satisfaction. In this study, the metaverse platform ZEP is used to simulate arainforest ecosystem. ZEP jointly developed by Supercat and Naver Z was formally launchedin Korea on March 16, 2022. ZEP is a platform where users can integrate through avatarsand integrates the metaverse’s virtual space map, video conferences, materials, moviesand presentations displayed in object form. Ease of access, cost-effectiveness, interactivity,and user-friendliness are some of the strengths of the ZEP metaverse platform. The ZEPmetaverse materials for high school biology were developed to serve as a hybrid worldbetween the real and the virtual world. Data collection for the metaverse group was carriedout using the pretest-posttest method, comparing it with two control groups—one usingtextbooks and the other using videos. The results indicate that the experimental groupwith metaverse technology is effective in improving students’ learning achievement andsatisfaction. Therefore, it is proposed that the metaverse in education is valuable for teachersand learners because it could lead to student engagement and motivation in the classroom.