Project dates: 16/03/2019 - Ongoing
In this project we engage school children and communities in science, activating them to address the dangers of mosquito borne disease. This is through the creation of the Mozzie AR App and Toolkit. The App is a bespoke digital app, where students act as ‘junior scientists’, using an Ipad as ‘lens’ for detecting mosquito habitats (shown as Augmented Reality (AR) visualisations overlaid on their real classroom). School students are directed and taught by a virtual scientist and move around to find mosquitoes, as it aligns with Australian curriculum needs for year 4-5 science and digital technology. They act out environmentally sound and healthy behaviour using our App, embodying sustainable actions while learning about science curriculum content. The Mozzie AR App sets a new benchmark for science engagement, positioning interactive science communication with virtual agents for virtual social communication, while promoting active and embodied learning. The Mozzie AR Toolkit is a first step towards a broadly available resource kit for communities to activate citizens by educating and engaging school children. This is through a unique design of embodied experiences with engaging technology and creative experience designs where students role play as scientists, ‘mozzie’ detectives and play creative games.
Funding / Grants
- Competitively selected and funded through State Government grant for "Engaging Science", 2019. (2019)
Chief Investigators
Partners
Queensland GovernmentOther Partners
To complement the QUT Design lead, our project has a transdisciplinary team that includes external partners from science, health and education: CSIRO Biosecurity, CSIRO Data61, Metro South Health’s Zika Mozzie Seeker Citizen science researchers, and Department of Education.
Publications
- Seevinck, Jen, Montgomery, Brian L., Rezayan, Leo, Trewin, Brendan, Pagendam, Daniel, Shepherd, Darren (2019) Mozzie AR Toolkit. Mozzie AR App Project Posters: National Science week exhibition.
- Seevinck, Jen, Montgomery, Brian L., Pagendam, Daniel, Trewin, Brendan, Shepherd, Darren (2019) Mozzie Science, Art +Tech 4Kids!: Science engagement for school children and communities, activating us to address the dangers of mosquito borne diseases
- Seevinck, Jen, Rezayan, Leo, Montgomery, Brian L., Trewin, Brendan, Shepherd, Darren, Pagendam, Daniel (2019) MozzieAR App. Mozzie AR App Project Posters: National Science week exhibition, (Beta).
- Seevinck, Jen, Magee, Sophie, Montgomery, Brian, Montgomery, Brian, Williams, Craig (2020) Mozzies in your backyard: Friends or Foe?: Four projects engaging citizens through surveillance and education. National Science Week 2020 online event: Mozzies in Your Backyard: Friends or Foe?.
- Seevinck, Jen (2021) Next Gen Citizen Scientists? Introducing School Children to Urban Mosquitoes. Mosquito Control Association of Australia (MCAA), (14th).
Events
Several public engagement activities have been conducted to date, including a project presentation for National Science Week at the QUT Cube in 2018, the Mozzie AR App presentation to the general public at the RNA Brisbane show (2019), 3 primary school workshops (2018), two workshops at Scout Den (2021) and a presentation at the Queensland Museum (2021)