A VR lesson architecture for environmental engineering: Five scenario designs

Virtual reality is increasingly used in engineering education, yet many implementations provide limited detail on lesson structure and scenario specification, which constrains reuse across courses and institutions. This paper reports the design and implementation of a VR software package for Environmental Engineering organized as five scenarios covering wastewater sampling methods (introduced in a DAF-related context), a poultry slaughterhouse wastewater treatment process modeled with membrane bioreactor technology, and three immersive virtual laboratory modules addressing ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, and UV disinfection. The contribution is a reusable lesson architecture that separates a conceptual micro-lesson layer from a practice-oriented workflow when applicable. In the theory-only scenarios, learners navigate structured explanations and decision prompts intended to support procedural reasoning. In the virtual laboratory scenarios, the lesson structure extends to guided assembly of an experimental stand, controlled process simulation, and measurement capture, followed by a debrief designed to connect parameter choices with observed system behavior. Scenario descriptions are presented using a consistent specification template (objectives, task sequence, interactions, outputs, and debrief prompts) intended to support extension to additional unit operations. A preliminary mixed-method teacher evaluation (N = 10) is also reported, indicating high perceived clarity of structure and teaching readiness. Future work targets learner-based feasibility measures (e.g., time-on-task and completion rates) and subsequent controlled studies using objective performance outcomes.