Garden of Choices

Garden of Choices is our first product in the Astrid suite. It is a virtual reality role playing game for youth to discuss and debate climate change issues. Youth learn and debate together in the same physical space whilst also being together in a virtual space. As they encounter a variety of climate change issues, they must decide which future decisions would be best for people, planet and economy.

A message to teachers

Imagine your classroom – as five students experience the virtual world of the Garden of Choices for 20 minutes, the rest of your students engage in learning activities around climate change. These might include the Astrid card game, worksheets, presentations, quizzes, stories and more. We equip you, the teacher, with the tools and resources needed to share the most relevant scientific information with your students, engaging them in critical thinking and discussion.

A message to students

We know that it can seem overwhelming to think about all the difficult decisions and responsibilities of climate change, and most importantly, your role in this. In Garden of Choices, we acknowledge that society as a whole needs to act on climate change and so we give you the opportunity to role play with your fellow students, exploring, discussing and debating climate change issues in a one-of-a-kind virtual world where we focus on hope for the future.

"We who work on the carbon emissions bookkeeping are always looking for ways to communicate better to the public. This collaboration is extremely rewarding for all of us."

Rafn Helgason

Advisor in the Department for climate and green communities at the Environmental Agency

"The problem in itself is not hard to explain, but all solutions have this multidimensionality which requires a critical creative mind to be able to understand and evaluate"

Hrafnhildur Hannesdóttir

Glaciologist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office

The setup

Garden of Choices has been developed using the Oculus Quest, a virtual reality headset where everything from visuals, to sound, to wifi, is housed within the headset itself.

Setup takes approximately 10 minutes, creating spaces on the floor where five students will stand to participate in the experience.

Once these five spaces are identified using a simple and easy to follow tutorial of defining the space, then you click on the Garden of Choices logo, and students can put on the headsets and enter the virtual world.

After 20 minutes, the experience is completed and students should then use the provided worksheets to further discuss their decisions and why they made them. At this point, the next round of students can begin.

Try Garden of Choices in your school

We are currently testing Garden of Choices in schools to ensure we are creating the best experience for youths.