An Immersive Integrated Adaptive Learning Environment to Promote Systems Thinking

Systems thinking has become an essential competency for addressing complex educational and societal challenges; however, designing learning environments that effectively foster this competency remains a significant challenge. This study aimed to design and develop an immersive integrated adaptive learning environment to promote systems thinking by synthesizing theoretical foundations, instructional design principles, and emerging immersive technologies. Using a design and development research approach, the study was conducted in three phases- (1) a systematic synthesis of relevant literature to identify core components and instructional processes, (2) model development integrating immersive learning, adaptive mechanisms, and systems thinking pedagogy, and (3) expert-based validation of the proposed model. The validation phase involved a panel of seven experts in educational technology, instructional design, and systems thinking, who evaluated the model using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, including mean and standard deviation, were used to analyze the evaluation data. The results indicated a very high level of perceived appropriateness of the proposed learning environment (overall mean = 4.69 out of 5.00). The findings suggest strong expert agreement on the coherence of the model’s design, instructional structure, and pedagogical alignment with systems-thinking principles. This study contributes a conceptual and design-level framework for integrating immersive and adaptive learning to support systems thinking. The results provide initial validation evidence and offer practical guidance for future implementation and empirical testing in authentic learning contexts.