Breathing Spaces: Educating Indoor Plant Carbon Absorption through Interaction

Climate change is a constant natural phenomenon. However, human activities over the last century have caused drastic changes well beyond its natural trajectory. Due to the unprecedented changes to the environment, rapid solutions to combat the consequences of climate change need to be implemented. Whatever strategy is adopted, education is key in order to achieve goals. Education interventions can be used to facilitate knowledge acquisition, skill development and build attitudes. Art-based education has become increasingly popular among educators, specifically in explaining scientific principles within a visualised environment using the latest technologies. Interior Design is a discipline that relies on visual thinking but lacks empirical work on using these developing technologies to capture student attention and transfer knowledge. This paper presents a study that explores digital art created to communicate the principle of using indoor plants as a means to purify air. The research is designed as a four-step action research project in which one cycle is completed. The results revealed that students were interested in the artwork, regardless of their level of prior knowledge of the subject.