The Art Nouveau Path: Integrating Cultural Heritage into a Mobile Augmented Reality Game to Promote Sustainability Competences Within a Digital Learning Ecosystem

João Ferreira-Santos () and Lúcia Pombo ()
Additional contact information
João Ferreira-Santos: CIDTFF—Research Centre on Didactics and Technology in Education of Trainers, Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Lúcia Pombo: CIDTFF—Research Centre on Didactics and Technology in Education of Trainers, Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 18, 1-32

Abstract: The integration of sustainability competences into education presents significant challenges, particularly in embedding Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into contextually relevant learning experiences. This study presents the design and validation of the Art Nouveau Path , a Mobile Augmented Reality Game (MARG) developed within the EduCITY ecosystem to foster competences, such as sustainability values, systems thinking, and future literacy. Grounded in the GreenComp framework and employing a Design-based Research (DBR) approach, the intervention was validated with 33 in-service teachers through a simulation-based workshop and a curricular review and complemented by a diagnostic questionnaire was administered to 221 students. This questionnaire (S1-PRE) provided the baseline data on sustainability awareness, digital readiness, and heritage-related learning interest. The teachers confirmed the MARG’s curricular adequacy value and interdisciplinary potential, while the students’ diagnostics revealed mixed conceptions; although 73.30% considered sustainability competences important, only 61.10% expressed interest in learning more about them. Also, 72.40% showed interest in learning about sustainability through local Art Nouveau heritage, and 79.60% considered the theme attractive, indicating potential for emotional and cognitive engagement. The Art Nouveau Path provides an exploratory and replicable model of curriculum-integrated ESD, connecting cultural heritage with competence-based learning for the operationalization of the GreenComp framework in support of SDG 4.7.

Keywords: Art Nouveau; sustainability competences; digital teaching and learning ecosystems (DTLEs); place-based learning; augmented reality; mobile learning; game-based learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/18/8150/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/18/8150/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:18:p:8150-:d:1746487

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().