A word of thanks

There are too many people and moments that inspired me to successfully write this thesis to list them all. However, I will be remiss not to mention a few of them. First of all, to my internship supervisors, Romain Reulier, Armelle Couillet and Sébastien Rey-Coyrehourcq, thank you all so much for this opportunity to do this internship with you and with the laboratories. For taking a chance on me and making me feel welcomed in Caen and in Rouen. This thesis would not have been possible without you and without your help and guidance throughout these five months. I am so grateful.

To my parents, Guy and Maryse, all the way from Seychelles, without your constant love, encouragement, wise words, and patience, I would not have made it through, especially in the difficult moments. I will be forever grateful to you. To my extended family as well, thank you for the support.

Special thanks go to my friends in Seychelles and here in France. A couple of them stands out, especially the ones who have gone through the same process of thesis writing as me throughout these few months.

Argyro, Anaclara, Natalie, Anh Dao, thank you girls so much for supporting me, for the regular video calls to always give some words of motivation to do my best. You have become family. Much appreciated.

To the International Development Studies (IDS) class of 2020/21, you all are wonderful people, and I am happy I got to share the moments of learning and sharing of experiences as well as the many activities that we had.

Huge thanks to all my IDS professors, especially Cristina Del Biaggio and Kirsten Koop, first of all for accepting me in this master's program. Secondly, coming from a different field of study I feel that it was truly a great experience, where I got to learn new things and develop my skill sets further. It made me come out of my comfort zone and to see things in different perspectives. In addition, you always managed to make us feel good in class. To my professor and supervisor Stéphane Héritier, thank you very much for your guidance, for your support as well and for our video calls. You really helped me focus on the important things for this thesis and it was always a pleasure talking to you. Our conversations always gave me the boost I needed.

Last but surely not least, special thanks also go to the many people who I contacted for information about the AR Sandbox, thanks for your replies and for sharing your experiences with me.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction

A. Background

With rapid globalization associated with fast and significant social, cultural, economic, and environmental changes in this modern era, it is no surprise that we should also see continuous advancements in technologies today. It is even harder to imagine a world without these technologies as it has become so much part of our daily lives. No matter the circumstances of people, no matter the disparities that exists in what we know as the 'developed' and 'developing' countries, technologies has become a way of normalcy, of integration and the feeling of also being part of this new advancement path that the world has taken to today. Whether it be information technology, medical and biotechnology, communications technology, industrial and manufacturi ng all the way to educational technology, construction, aerospace, environmental and artificial technology, these has become so normal that we do not even stop to think sometimes about how far we have come since the early 90's.

This study though focuses more particularly on one type of technology that has become more and more widely used in recent decades and that is the Augmented Reality (AR) technology more specifically the Augmented Reality Sandbox (AR Sandbox or ARS). Augmented Reality is a variation of a virtual environment or virtual reality. It is an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer -generated perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities [START_REF] Álvarez Sánchez | Augmented reality sandbox: a platform for educative experiences[END_REF] . AR technology has provided a new technological platform for 'mirror worlds', where layers of information, meaning, and functions are integrated with a digital twin of the real world (Leinonen et al., 2021).

The AR Sandbox, which functions similarly, is a 3D, interactive, dynamic educational tool being used in the scientific arena, for many purposes notably in classrooms for teaching various concepts, as exhibits in different science fairs/festivals, open days at universities, museums, or scientific centers, by scientists as a means to communicate with others about their research by relaying and expressing information as well as for fun, to make children interact with each other and thus learn some core values. Furthermore, there has been an increase in its commercial fabrication and construction by various companies around the world who see it as a potential for collaboration and of course a source of income by making and selling the ARS product to potential clients.

Initially developed and introduced however, in an educational setting, for its ability to overlay virtual information onto physical environments, the AR sandbox is an extremely effective scientific mediation tool which enthralls children and adults alike, teaching various properties of topography, hydrology, geomorphology, land management amongst others. Which is why, the LETG (Littoral, Environnement, Télédétection, Géomatique) and IDEES (Identité et Différenciation de l'Espace, de l'Environnement et des Sociétés) laboratories of Caen and Rouen respectively, decided to offer a masters 2 internship (in Caen and Rouen over a period of 5 months) in regard to their AR Sandboxes.

The ARS of Caen, the Dynam'eau, was developed in 2014 after winning a call for a project proposal whilst the AR Sandbox of the IDEES laboratory was built later in 2017 for the Fête de la Science of that same year. It was above all a joint project imagined by the two laboratories. As it has been many years now, the laboratories which falls under the universities of Caen and Rouen, Normandie, wanted to improve both sandboxes to make it more modern and introduce new modules that could be simulated and calibrated on, to sensitize people about the developmental processes in the environment and how we, by our actions can influence these processes for better or for worse.

Furthermore, the labs hoped that in doing so, environmental management policies could be properly drafted for the Normandie region.

B. Problem Statement

During my time in both laboratories, it has been quite enjoyable to get the chance to interact with the sandboxes, to see its functioning's and its set-up. Thus, as I got the chance to immerse myself in this AR Sandbox world, which was previously quite unknown to me, the question I wanted to focus on for this thesis which was in line with the internship aims was, what are the opportunities to further improve and develop the AR Sandboxes in the two laboratories keeping in mind the values of the transference of knowledge? This would help us to think about what more can be done with this tool that can be so useful for various reasons. Moreover, in line with my master's 2 in International Development Studies, I wanted to pay particular attention about its influence on and use in two particular fields that I find to be very important, that is the education field more specifically in the Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) education which has grown in recent years as a curriculum that aims to skill students by presenting a cohesive learning platform largely based on real-world applications and hands-on experiences. And in the environmental field in the context of Disaster Risk Reduction, in both developed and developing countries.

Furthermore, it became quite clear to me early on in the internship how this technology was available in only certain regions of the world. That there were imbalances of this, from the developed countries (Northern countries) to the developing countries (Southern countries), the developing countries not using nearly enough of this scientific mediation tool. Thus, I wanted to find out why that was so as well, in addition to our initial question. Was it as simple as; an issue of funding to introduce this technology in such fields as education and/or the environments in the countries of the south? Or was it more along the lines of "we" are not familiar with this type of technology but once we know of it, it could be useful to implement in those settings. Or is it more complicated than that, in that, "we" are focused more on other issues, and so "we" have to focus our energies and resources on those than these AR technologies.

It is known that the developing countries do the extra to strive towards improving their economies, their social statuses, to try and improve the quality of lives of all their citizens. Socioeconomic development is thus an integral part of their mandates. Often times however, insufficient skills, limited funds, limited access to information and ineffective institutional frameworks impede these, especially science and cooperation within the developing countries (OECD, 2011) of which the ARS can be an effective tool for science and cooperation as we will see further on. As said in the OECD (2011) report, science and co-operation can accelerate technology development and diffusion, realize economies of scale, create a common pool of knowledge, use complementary expertise and pool resources for research funding. Moreover, Avgerou and Walsham (2017) goes on to say that information and communication technologies offer significant potential benefits for socio-economic developments which are as relevant in developing countries as in the advanced economies.

Thus, to help me answer these overarching questions, I will show how the AR Sandbox is in fact a very good tool to implement in the educational systems of countries whether it be the developed and developing countries more specifically in terms of the STEM educational programs, as well as its use in the environmental field focusing more on disaster risk reduction particularly in preparing and improving disaster responses in countries where disaster events can be prominent. I will show some of the different design set-ups of the sandboxes in France and around the world, I will discuss what we managed to find out when searching for information about the device including what to do and what not do, that is some general advice. Last but not least, if possible, I would like to go a bit further to explore, if there is a way to replicate the sandbox in a low technology way so that it can benefit the many (to make it more affordable for people, communities, schools, and organizations ).

Additionally, this could lead to how my host organizations can benefit with my findings/research and by doing so we can look into the local context of, if the ARS provokes a reaction and excitement amongst researchers, students, public and other local organizations in the Normandie region. Thus, perhaps fostering collaboration between the laboratories and these partners so that potential developmental practices and skills can be harnessed for current and future projects.

II.

An overview of our two key Laboratories

A. LETG CAEN

The French National Centre for Scientific Research -CNRS, created the joint research unit LETG in 1996 to bring together geographic research conducted at four Universities (Nantes, Brest, Rennes, and Caen). Since its inception, it has actively pursued an increasingly effective process of scientific integration that optimizes member organization to achieve scientific objectives determined by the national and international priorities in its fields of investigation (LETG, 2021). LETG studies geography of the environment. With its expertise in human geography, physical geography and geomatics, its scientific program aims to contribute to knowledge on nature-society interactions through a modelling and integrative approach of geographical interfaces between land, sea, and atmosphere (LETG, 2021). Many successive research contracts as well as scientific results on different issues in this vast field of research have been obtained using a resolutely spatial and spatio-temporal approach. The unit's uses of geographic methods and toolsboth significantly impacted by the emergence of the digital era in the 1990sand the field experience gained over many years and in different environments, has led to the integration of several research groups and active participation in the progressive application of a broader and multifaceted interdisciplinarity regarding not only the Humanities and Social Science disciplines, but also Geosciences, Life Sciences, and ICT (LETG, 2021).

The LETG project fully matches the INEE-CNRS (Institut Écologie et Environnement) scientific outlook which is to respond to the planetary challenges posed by global changes and to promote research between the major disciplinary fields, Earth, Life, Human and Social Sciences, in order to make Environmental Sciences emerge as an integrated scientific field (INEE-CNRS, 2021). Furthermore, it focuses on several research priorities of societal interest relating to the functioning and evolution of coastal and continental systems affected by different dynamics. These include the consequences of climatic hazards on bio-/abiotic environments and on man and their activities, changes in uses and practices of the former and their interactions with resources, and the contribution of new tools for environmental governance (LETG, 2021). The labs research uses a wide range of spatial and temporal scalesthe former ranging from local to global and the latter from the present (for some localized data) to the Holocene to account for long-term changes and to predict future scenarios. These scales are used in scientific themes based on different inputs from the digital processing of geographic information (image processing, spatial analysis, and modelling-simulation) (LETG, 2021). The laboratory focuses on two specific investigative areas, which both face a variety of issues that are directly or indirectly linked to the multi-scalar consequences of climatic and socio-economically driven global changes: littoral (the sea and coastal catchment areas) and continental environments. The experiments carried out using digital innovations feed a reflective and critical approach to concepts and methods while remaining attentive to public action.

B. IDEES ROUEN

UMR IDEES (a mixed research unit associated with the CNRS) is a team spanning several locations and disciplines and comprises primarily geographers (IDEES, 2021). It also brings together teachers, researchers, research and/or study engineers and doctoral students. The dynamics of such a unit means that the number of members varies from one year to the next, but it brings together around 120 researchers in specialties recognized in France and internationally. As it is transdisciplinary, UMR IDEES is also composed of not only geographers, but sociologists, historians, economists. Furthermore, it was decided, that as of next year, January 2022, the LETG Caen laboratory will be merging with the IDEES lab, so that there will be a complete rebalance of 3 sites that of Rouen, le Havre & Caen to strengthen their position within the Normandie commune. The UMR IDEES will thus fully be a tri-site UMR present in the three major university centers of Normandie, each site with more than 15 full time professors.

Furthermore, this new joining of the LETG laboratory will bring about eight Enseignants Chercheurs within the fold, conducting research activities in physical geography and environment. This will intensify research activities in geoarchaeology, and physical geography influenced by and structured around local, regional, and international projects, allowing the opening of a very promising perspective, that of positioning the UMR as a UMR INSHS + INEE which is a double registration (UMR IDEES, 2021).

Thus, allowing for the enhanced participation of the UMR in inter-institute programs as well as to diversify the attractiveness of the laboratory for CNRS research competitions (section 31 and interdisciplinary commissions) (UMR IDEES, 2021). The same will apply to the relations established between researchers and engineers of the UMR, specialized in computational sciences, more specifically in the modelling field.

Moreover, with this merging, the capacity for doctoral supervision will be clearly reinforced making the UMR a continued force at the regional level for obtaining doctoral grants affirming their stance towards the promotion of higher educational learning.

One of the major strengths of the UMR is that it has become a key regional player in the field of social, territorial, and environmental sciences, being able to respond to requests related to major social and environmental issues at regional level. The broad thematic areas it offers allows it to be proactive on themes such as risks management, health, and housing. The UMR is well positioned on the scientific priorities of the Institut des Sciences Humaines et Sociales (INSHS), which are "modeling and simulation", "risks" linked in particular with global changes (climatic and anthropic) and finally with "archaeological sciences" (UMR IDEES, 2021). This new structure will be based on five main objectives centered around four thematic axes (as seen in figure 1 below). These objectives include:

1. To confirm the scientific structuring of the UMR as a methodological and transversal entity, which is already one of the strengths of the UMR. This aims to further highlight the engineering skills acquired by the laboratory thanks to the support of the staff. The scientific links with other Institutes such as that of Ile-de-France, Normandie, Lyon and the creation of tools and platforms such as GAMA, ESCAPE, OpenMole will permit this to be realized which will allow for the dissemination of these tools and platforms in research programs carried out by the UMR researchers (UMR IDEES, 2021).

2. To reinforce the visibility of the main themes and fields of studies of the UMR which are that of social and territorial sciences, environmental sciences, and modeling. A more explicit visibility in these last two fields is envisioned which will attract more researchers and to invest with more confidence in the search for new scientific partnerships, especially at the international level (UMR IDEES, 2021). The theme of risks, both environmental and technological, in particular, in relation to health issues, will make it possible to bring together many researchers which will increase collaboration opportunities.

3. To further assert itself as a key UMR at the regional level in the major societal and environmental issues by developing themes that are even better articulated to major fields (modeling, environment, territorial and social) to facilitate the recognition of the UMR within regional public and private institutional actors (UMR IDEES, 2021). One example is that of the fire of the Lubrizol plant in 2019, researchers of the UMR in various fields has been part of a collective of actors to submit a project with the Normandie region to study the consequences of this accident and to participate in the setting up of a Normandy Risk Observatory project. This I find falls really well under the field of Disaster Risk Reduction.

4.

To strengthen the diverse thematic and interdisciplinary fields by creating a new multi-thematic and multidisciplinary axis, which will be a place of exchange and animation around a common matrix called "Inequalities, vulnerabilities and public action". The priority of this axis will be to create intra-and inter-axis synergies on subjects where a dialogue is necessary between the social and the environmental and between the social and the territorial (UMR IDEES, 2021). For example, the theme of access implies a spatial and social dimension that are determining factors for all projects related to health, mobility, and digital technologies.

5.

Last but not least, to develop a culture whereby management plans and where a place for exchanges on the ethical issues of research (relationships with respondents, sponsors, and reflection on the environmental effects of our work) can be carried out at the UMR level, in the "Sources, Models, Simulations" axis (UMR IDEES, 2021). To this end, the UMR will continue to develop this role of expert advice on the deposit, the archiving, and the valorization of the scientific products (life cycle of the data), in connection with the policy (DMP) and European (FAIR) policies for the transparency of scientific data (UMR IDEES, 2021).

Therefore, the four main thematic axes are:

1. The axis " Sources, Modèles, Simulations", which incorporates in its structure the international visibility of methodological research and centralizes resources which will facilitate exchanges with the other thematic axes. The omnipresent and constantly evolving digital environment (big data,

open data, open access, artificial intelligence, social networks, etc.) with which researchers are confronted raises many scientific, ethical, and social questions and, more broadly, questions about the relationship between research and its sources, data, and models (UMR IDEES, 2021). The axis intends to lead a critical reflection on both the epistemological and theoretical foundations of these components, but also on the ethical and social issues they raise. As mentioned in the report of UMR IDEES (2021), It also aims to increase the pedagogical practices of researchers, to participate actively in the current dynamics of dissemination of data, tools and knowledge in the humanities and social sciences, and to become firmly rooted in the national and international scientific landscape.

2. An emerging axe of "Interactions Environnements-Sociétés" integrating LETG-Caen, reinforcing the UMR's focus on environmental issues. This research area focuses on the study of natural and anthropogenic dynamics of bio-physical environments at different spatial and temporal scales. The cross-cutting research themes of this axis target the interactions between ancient and current societies and their environment not only in France but from around the world, at different spatiotemporal scales, in order to understand the past, present, and future mechanisms that drive them.

As mentioned in the report of UMR IDEES, (2021), these interactions, often complex and not simply deterministic, concern all compartments of geosystems in a land/sea continuum (e.g., slopes, valleys, coastline, subsoil/karst...) by considering their interrelations and the temporalities of their genesis and evolution (temporal continuum: long time, quaternary, archeo-historical, present, and future -prospective domain). These "Society-Environment" relationships are studied here in very different geographical and cultural contexts, ranging from the temperate domain to the active periglacial domain of high latitudes, through the Mediterranean and tropical environments. The transversal apprehension of this geographical diversity the interweaving of scales according to a systemic approach has for main objective to improve the fundamental knowledge (acquisition / observation / experimentation) on geosystem(s) (Nature/Society interface) in order to better understand how societies impact and shape the territories they inhabit, but also how natural processes and environmental factors, in return condition the living environments of societies (UMR IDEES, 2021). The AR Sandbox project thus falls very well under this axe.

3. A historical axe, "Recompositions territoriales, Réseaux, Espaces Maritimes", which reinforces the thematic visibility of research that has made the UMR's regional reputation popular amongst public and private actors on issues of territorial management and economic development.

C. How does the objectives of the laboratories relate to the question of development?

I would like to believe that the fact that the laboratories decided to offer an M2 internship project to improve and value a scientific mediation tool prompts us to really focus on their new objectives, thematic axes and how these actually aims to be geared towards effecting developmental changes in the region, in the country and internationally. This will become evident in our analysis as we go along.

First of all, we can say that it reinforces their stance towards creating a network and synergy of partnerships, to promote and develop the use of this device in the country as well as on an international level, evident with all the contacts that we have acquired throughout this internship. Promotion of this kind of mediation tool not only in the countries that know of this tool but within those that as of yet, have not heard about it and its advantages. This for me prioritizes the valorization of learning, the acquisition of new knowledge by embracing a technological resource which can lead to social transformation of developing human skills and capital. Thus, in searching for information on this device, this can lead to collaborations and partnerships not only locally but internationally, creating a wider field of opportunities which can be available, attracting more researchers to the UMR and to help in the investment with confidence in new scientific knowledge and partnerships. Therefore, the project itself falls well into the reinforcement of the visibility of the main themes and fields of studies of the UMR, that of social and territorial sciences, environmental sciences, and modeling. Lahiri-Dutt (2017), said that "It is important to remember that some people are able to do development because they can: they feel that they have the power to do so because of their knowledge, authority and expertise". I am not entirely sure if she meant this on a slightly bad note, but I choose to interpret it in a good sense, the UMR strives to improve its already good status, it has many strengths and it is well placed to effect positive changes throughout the Normandie area and internationally. With its many qualified and approachable researchers, professors, engineers, geographers in the interdisciplinary fields, it can provide the expertise needed to effect changes and this is further possible due to its well-established status more so in future when it has its double Secondly, it can be linked to the fact that they are embracing researchers and engineers from LETG Caen and attracting new researchers as mentioned above as well as continuing to be very present at the regional level for obtaining doctoral grants, which not only promotes higher educational learning but puts human progress and development at the forefront to be able to deal with the issues of economic, social and environment that is ever so present today. This links well to The Human Development Approach which have long acquired momentum and popularity as a part of developmental discourses over the years.

Human development addresses the need to invest in people. The approach makes a strong case for combining equity and growth along the lines of human capital; this can be extended with a stronger perspective on the social dimensionas social development (discussed in axe 4). The perception of the centrality of 'human capital' in growth is important. Human development as improvement in human wellbeing, and thus as more than human resource development, the building of human capital to support economic growth (Gasper, 2002). People are not just the principal means but, even more important, the principal ends of development (Anand and Sen, 2000). Economic growth must be seen as a means towards human development rather than human development as being for economic growth, the latter being the case for so long. This is said due to the fact that development measures are nearly always quantitative expressed in numerical form. We can see that in this modernized world, development is looked largely in economic terms. Development should be reconceived as about decent human lives, not in terms of per capita or GDP. In addition, the human development label evokes the 'Development of Humans'-Human

Resource Development and its functionality for economic advance, essentially a concern for 'human capital', but now seen in a broader way (Gasper, 2002). Development means widening the 'range of human choices', the expansion of capabilities plus participation, empowerment and opportunities are as important, as said in Gasper, (2002). Furthermore, education comes to have a special priority so that people should not only have the opportunity to become educated but use it. This links us to the Capability approach put forward by Amartya Sen, which highlights the importance of improving individuals' substantive freedoms or real opportunities to achieve valuable states of being and doing. These approaches mentioned above are a good segway into looking at our thematic axes further.

Axe 1 intends to lead reflections on the epistemological and theoretical foundations of resources and its sources, data, and models, on the ethical and social issues that they raise. It also aims to increase the pedagogical practices of researchers, to participate actively in the current dynamics of dissemination of knowledge in the social sciences.

Axe 2 looks at the Societal-Environmental relationships, how these two affect each other and how they intertwine. These "Society -Environment" relationships are studied in geographical and cultural contexts, that is how societies will impact and shape the environment around them and how environmental processes in return will affect societies. Culture has had a place in recent years in development discourses, addressing the notion that development is a cultural practice and that it must take into account cultural diversity which then takes into account social diversity. I mentioned previously that our ARS falls well under this axe, as you would see in more detail in the following sections of our thesis below, it enhances learning processes of children, students, and the general public, making them engaged into discussions about the environment and showing them how different processes can affect them. Furthermore, it gives them another perspective of how technology can play a role in learning and sensitization about different aspects of the social sciences. In addition, the ARS can be a tool that can be adapted to various geographical and cultural contexts depending on regions and countries, which is very effective. All of this also falls well under the human development and capability approaches mentioned above.

Last but not least axe 4, Inequalities and Public Action. This axe reminds me well of my

Alleviating poverty and Inequalities course I had during my studies. So much can be said in regard to this topic. First of all, as per the Human Development Report of 2019 (HDI), Inequality tends to encompass unfairness. We can see the trend emerge whereby inequality still exists in the world today both in developed and developing countries. According to the report, this is rooted to social structures that are resisting change thus resisting the move forward out of this inequality situation. The HDI report (2019), also mentions that human development is defined by "the freedom that a person has in choosing from the set of feasible functioning's, which is referred to as a person's capability". Therefore, inequalities of capabilities bringing us back gain to the capability approach. But capabilities do not only evolve with certain conditions but also with values and people's changing demands and aspirations. The HDI report (2019), takes a different view as well: it considers that the inequalities we care about may indeed be moving targets and thus aims to identify patterns and dynamics of inequality in a wider set of capabilities that may be increasingly relevant during the 21 st century. Unfairness in equalities exists far and wide, inequalities in access to health, education, food and water, security which are resources that people are entitled to have. There is a clear evidence of the increasing desire for more equality. Moreover, it is not difficult to find econometric confirmation for the general positive correlation between equity or equality and growth: 'virtually every single statistical study concludes growth is positively related to equality' (Esping Andersen, 1994: 723)2 ; 'most econometric studies conclude that inequality is harmful to growth'.

These opinions can encourage discussions, actions, support as well as policy changes that benefits those most affected. Axe 4 thus, proposes to question the spatial and temporal dimensions of social inequalities throughout the life cycles of people by understanding the global and political logics and aspects that structure them. but they continually adapt and renegotiate their plans based on their interactions with the materials and people they are working with". There is a long tradition of tinkering in many cultures around the world.

In almost all countries, people have developed a do-it-yourself mindset, sometimes out of economic necessity, making use of whatever tools and materials happen to be available to them at a given time (Resnick and Rosenbaum, 2013), which links well also to the fact that the ARS can be built with what materials is found in ones local area.

Being also interdisciplinary, the ARS links different fields of study together such as geosciences, archeology, information technology as well as engineering. In geosciences courses, it represents important conceptions of geology, hydrology, ecology, topographic mapping etc. in a very entertaining and spectacular way. It can be an irreplaceable tool for improving the knowledge of children and students as well as people that is the general public on various processes especially disastrous events such as floods especially when it gives the opportunity to make virtual rain and isolating flooded areas depending on the relief and the watersheds (Savova, 2016).

Thus, there is opportunity here to use the AR sandbox as a system and instrument for displaying disaster events to then sensitize children/students and public to prepare and train them in effective disaster responses techniques. This is further discussed in our literature review. In addition, as we will get to see further in this thesis there is different kinds of sandboxes depending on one's wants, needs and objectives.

It can be a project of many possibilities.

So how is a standard AR sandbox built? It has a hardware system and a software system, the hardware is not too difficult to acquire and build, the software system on the other hand is a bit tricky as you will need someone who knows information technology to install it and run on the sandbox. But all in all, it could be a fun hands-on project.

A.

Hardware system of the AR Sandbox

Kinect Sensor

The hardware consists of the depth sensor usually a Kinect Sensor by Microsoft (for example Kinect-for-Xbox 1414 and 1473, Kinect for Windows, and Kinect for Xbox One also known as Kinect v2 launched in 2010) (figure 4 below). First used as a video game accessory to track the movements of players using an Xbox console, it was then used in other applications. More or less 1 year after the release of the first version, Microsoft provided a software development tool called ''Kinect for Windows'' to create different applications using the Kinect. In 2013, a new version of the Kinect was released to replace the first version, the Kinect v2 or Kinect for Xbox One, to improve the accuracy of distance measurements and the resolution of the camera color. And in 2019, the Azure Kinect DK or Kinect v3 was launched, and some are undertaking the task to use it with the AR Sandbox, although it seems that there have been some difficulties which I will not go into details on.

2.

Video Projector and Computer A short throw length digital video projector with a native 4:3 aspect ratio to match the field-ofview of the Kinect camera and a digital video interface such as HDMI/DVI is needed. It is recommended however, to use a centerline short-throw projector. The downside of this type of projector is that it is rare and very expensive. The most important factors of the projector needed for use, are its size, weight, and brightness. Because of the way the projector will be mounted above the box, a smaller and light projector is good to ensure its stability. With the majority of projectors at this size providing a brightness of 50-100 lumens, the 900 lumens projector makes it highly suitable for its intended purpose (Louis and Lather, 2020). But again, it will depend on one's wants, needs and objectives as well as funding. If you have the opportunity funding wise to buy a much more powerful projector then that will be great. Usually, we can find this in science centers (further details in the results & findings section). The sensor and projector would be then connected to a computer, the ideal computer being one running a version of the Linux operating system with a consumer-level graphic chip such as NVIDIA GeForce. However, running under Windows will also do the trick, although some people who attempted this said that it limited the performance of the ARS especially the water flow simulation (references for this are found in the forum sections of the arsandbox.ucdavis.eu site). It should also have a good CPU with some space (2GB of space should do for the software install) or a large hard drive to install both Linux and software (20GB). Linux operating system is more stable which is why it is recommended.

3.

Sandbox Finally, you will need a sandbox designed and built with the structure itself having a 4:3 aspect ratio, to match the fields-of-view of the Kinect camera and the projector which will be mounted directly above the box, and your sand ready to go. So, when the sand is shaped by hand, the camera perceives changes in its shape, and the projected image will then change. I discuss this further in our results and findings below.

The whole setup prices as of 2017 are displayed in figure 5 which can be found in Appendix A.

B.

Software system

For this part, I will not be going into details about the whole software process setup as it is quite a long process. However, all the information required to setup the software and run it on your AR Sandbox is available on the UC Davis site by using the link below: , it is plausible that an augmented reality environment may have the potential to support the development of spatial skills and engagement among its users as we were previously mentioning. Thus, Ryker et al., (2017) works amongst some others, also made a call for research to be done to understand the efficacy of using the sandbox as well as exploring connections to spatial thinking.

It is almost like the knowledge of the efficacy of the ARS is known but not quite accepted yet, despite the evidence and the studies that have tried to prove the effect it has on students in their learning processes.

In the article by Soltis et al., (2020), the authors mentions another interesting thing, in that by considering engagement linked to learning gains and knowledge development, we are acknowledging the constructivist principle that in order to understand student learning, it is useful to first explore engagement. Which is interesting for me also in that I have heard people that I have contacted for information on the ARS say something relatively similar, along the lines of children/students learn the most when they get to experience science which in other words is the basic tenet of constructivism, is that students learn by doing rather than observing. John Dewey suggested that Constructivism assumes that all knowledge is constructed from the learner's previous knowledge, regardless of how one is taught (UCD Teaching and Learning, Date Unknown). Thus, even listening to a lecture involves active attempts to construct new knowledge (UCD Teaching and Learning, Date Unknown). As Mascolo & Fischer, (2005) [START_REF] Fröhlich | VRBox: A Virtual Reality Augmented Sandbox for Immersive Playfulness, Creativity and Exploration[END_REF] , also says, cited by UCD Teaching and Learning, (Date Unknown), "Constructivism is the philosophical and scientific position that knowledge arises through a process of active construction" which is kind of funny in view that you are literally constructing something using the ARS (pun intended). There has been much work done to assess and promote engagement in students, most of these work focuses on educational learning as engagement is essential to the learning process. In other words, I believe that if you as a student are not really into a subject or a field of study, that is, you are not engaged in it then it will be difficult to have that motivation to learn. This can lead to discouragement, disappointment to as far as feeling a sense of depression. It is especially hard in this modernized world of today, where education is fundamental to someone who wants to excel, and change their situations, good or bad. There can thus be a pressure associated with it. In addition, Coates (2005) [START_REF] Gaillard | VULNERABILITY, CAPACITY AND RESILIENCE: PERSPECTIVES FOR CLIMATE AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY[END_REF] children take an active role in the learning process, acting much like little scientists as they perform experiments, make observations, and learn about the world (Cherry, 2020) which can also be linked to the tinkering approach mentioned previously. As kids interact with the world around them, they continually change their abilities, add new knowledge, build upon existing knowledge, and adapt previously held ideas to accommodate new information (Cherry, 2020). However, this does not only apply to children but to adults especially to researchers as well, when doing and effecting research, software's such as NetLogo, a multiagent programmable modelling environment, created for research can do exactly that. Piaget describes this with two processes, that of assimilation and accommodation. [START_REF] Gelernter | Mirror Worlds: Or the Day Software Puts the Universe in a Shoebox … How It Will Happen and What It Will Mean[END_REF] . Children gradually transform shared ideas through engaging in social activities with peers, family and community and internalize them as their own, a process called 'semiotic mediation' (Vygotsky 1987) [START_REF] Giampiccoli | Tourism development in the Seychelles: a proposal for a unique community-based tourism alternative[END_REF] . Vygotsky (1978) [START_REF] Giorgis | Visualizing topography and the rule of v's using an augmented reality sandbox[END_REF] highlighted the important role of 'tools' in cognitive development, noting how humans use tools, create tools and show others how to use them to extend their abilities. As for technology supported learning environment tools, he suggested that students should be encouraged to share their knowledge and ideas with their classmates (Živković, 2016).

Vygotsky especially emphasizes that the process of working with others, the learner is able to adapt subjective interpretations to become socially accepted (Brau, 2018) cited by Kimmons and Caskurlu, (2018)). Can you thus see a pattern here? We are describing the ARS; it is a technological tool that promotes, enhances all of these fundamental processes in individuals. He also believed that learners could achieve much greater level of learning through the help of a More Knowledgeable Other (instructor) as well. If we really look more into the Constructivism approach, we can find four principle proposed by Fosnot (1989) [START_REF] Giorgis | Instructor-Led Approach to Integrating an Augmented Reality Sandbox into a Large Enrollment Introductory Geoscience Course for Nonmajors Produces No Gains[END_REF] , which says: "learning, in an important way, depends on what we already know; new ideas occur as we adapt and change our old ideas; learning involves inventing ideas rather than mechanically accumulating facts; meaningful learning occurs through rethinking old ideas and coming to new conclusions about new ideas which conflict with our old ideas". It means that constructivism focuses on activities such as problem solving, decision making, creative and critical thinking, active and reflective application of knowledge (Driscoll, 2000) [START_REF] Gómez Martínez | The development of our "sandbox" project[END_REF] . All this works cited above relates well with the AR Sandbox. Whether it be to promote teacher to student learning, students to students learning, which then promotes collaboration, groupwork, social skills, thinking skills, problem solving skills, spatial skills.

Constructivism and Social Constructivism are two similar learning theories though, which share a large number of underlying assumptions, and an interpretive epistemological position (UCD Teaching and Learning, Date Unknown). Both approaches suggests the following (cited by UCD Teaching and Learning, Date Unknown):

➢ Learning is perceived as an active, not a passive, process, where knowledge is constructed, not acquired (as mentioned frequently above).

➢ Knowledge construction is based on personal experiences and the continual testing of hypotheses (which is often the case with the sandbox use, especially with smaller children that has free reign in playing and designing their own representations of what topographies should look like, with hills and valley and rivers. Often their creative minds just construct scenarios that makes sense to them and often they try to make others around them understand what they have done. This is similar as well with the Tinkering approach mentioned earlier. For example, a recent study by Hong, Ko, and Lee (2019) [START_REF]TECHNOLOGY NEEDS ASSESSMENT REPORT -ADAPTATION[END_REF] explored also how 4-5-year-old children used an AR Sandbox to enhance their spatial thinking, they found that children demonstrated exploration, model representation, imagination, and collaboration, which all assisted in enhancing their spatial thinking which then brings us to the statement below.

➢ Each person has a different interpretation and construction of knowledge process, based on past experiences and cultural factors.

To sum up the above the ARS shows a representation of what happens in the real world, the complexities that occurs within it through the simulations of how water will behave on a steep slope topography for example, or how it will flow and were would it go, most likely towards a valley floor to meet a river perhaps until it exits through the river mouth. If we take a drastic scenario, simulating a storm and how the presence of a settlement nearby will get affected, most likely by flooding. These scenarios are often what students get to construct, learn, and to understand. The AR Sandbox thus gives them that opportunity to think, to problem solve about what can they do to prevent, what can be the solution and to just think about the processes behind the events that leads to a consequence. The sandbox further encourages that sense of social cohesiveness amongst the students, meaning that working together as a group, they will come together to figure things out. To figure out how to resolve a problem, put ideas forward, test them and readjust if it does not work out, to manipulate the scene in order to achieve a better outcome within the sandbox setup. This is the collaborative construction of knowledge through social negotiations which also has a link to the axe aims of the UMR. The acquisition of knowledge therefore requires the individual to consider the information andbased on their past experiences, personal views, and cultural backgroundconstruct an interpretation of the information that is being presented to them (UCD Teaching and Learning, Date Unknown). As said by Mr. John Dewey, "If you have doubts about how learning happens, engage in sustained inquiry: study, ponder, consider alternative possibilities and arrive at your belief grounded in evidence" (Reese, 2013).

Further expanding on Vygotsky's theories, especially theories of play, Elkonin (2005) [START_REF] Huitt | Piaget's theory of Cognitive Development, Educational Psychology Interactive[END_REF] reflected on how play is a leading activity to develop children's general capabilities. Elkonin described four impacts of play on children's learning: increased motivation, increased ability of perspective taking, the [START_REF] Huitt | Piaget's theory of Cognitive Development, Educational Psychology Interactive[END_REF] development of mental representations, and intentional behaviors (Bodrova and Leong, 2015) [START_REF] Jon | Improving Geoscience Learning and Increasing Student Engagement Using Online Interactive Writing Assignments with Calibrated Peer Review[END_REF] .

Significant cognitive development occurs in children's ability to establish, follow, and justify their own rules during their role-play (Elkonin 2005). Whether their use of props, language or interpretation of the roles are logical, children's reasoning leads to the development of their rules (Bodrova and Leong, 2015).

Educators have an influential position in children's play, both directly and indirectly. The social environments in which children play are a construction of culture: the educator's viewpoint of play can be seen in their arrangement of spaces, time allowed to play, the tools provided, and the structure of children's social groupings (Dockett and Fleer, 1999) [START_REF] Joshi | A Manual on Participatory Three-Dimensional Modelling (P3DM)[END_REF] . As facilitators of play, educators also engage with children during play through modelling, questioning, discussing, and scaffolding to enhance children's knowledge, skills, and capabilities (Wood 2010) [START_REF] Kelly | AR Will Spark the Next Big Tech Platform-Call It Mirror World[END_REF] .

Another modern-day approach is Behaviorism, which is based on the proposition that behavior can be researched scientifically without recourse to inner mental states. It is a form of materialism, denying any independent significance for a mind. This approach states that basically, students learn through practice, reshaping what they learn and/or from their positive experiences. According to behaviorist thinkers like Skinner [START_REF] Kelman | Indigenous knowledge and disaster risk reduction[END_REF] , Pavlov [START_REF] Kimmons | The Students' Guide to Learning Design and Research[END_REF] and Thorndike 26 learning is a change in behavior caused by external stimuli in the environment. The main difference between the behaviorist and constructivist approaches is that in the former, one sees the learner as a relatively passive accumulator of knowledge and in the latter the learner is an active creator of their own knowledge.

All this literature reviews above brings us to studies that led to the evidence that the AR Sandbox influenced engagement and learning. In the article by (Soltis et al., 2020), they actually undertook an innovative study to try and validate engagement by using galvanic skin conductance on students in a class where the sandbox was in use. Galvanic skin response or Electrodermal Activity (EDA) is the measure of subtle electrical changes across the skin's surface due to changes in the amount of perspiration (Soltis et al., 2020) and it is a way to measure and analyze engagement. According to Soltis et al., (2020), changes [START_REF] Jon | Improving Geoscience Learning and Increasing Student Engagement Using Online Interactive Writing Assignments with Calibrated Peer Review[END_REF] Bodrova, E. and Leong, D.J. (2015) 'Vygotskian and Post-Vygotskian Views on Children's Play', American Journal of Play, 7(3). [START_REF] Joshi | A Manual on Participatory Three-Dimensional Modelling (P3DM)[END_REF] Dockett, S., & Fleer, M. (1999). Play and pedagogy in early childhood: Bending the rules. (1 ed.) Harcourst Brace. [START_REF] Kelly | AR Will Spark the Next Big Tech Platform-Call It Mirror World[END_REF] Wood D.J. (2010) 'Measuring Corporate Social Performance: A Review', International Journal of Management Reviews, 12(1):50 -84 [START_REF] Kelman | Indigenous knowledge and disaster risk reduction[END_REF] Skinner, B. F., "About behaviorism", Knopf, New York, 1974. [START_REF] Kimmons | The Students' Guide to Learning Design and Research[END_REF] Pavlov, I. P., "Conditioned reflexes", Clarendon Press, London. 1927. [START_REF] Kothari | Buen Vivir, Degrowth and Ecological Swaraj: Alternatives to sustainable development and the Green Economy[END_REF] Thorndike, E. L., "Educational psychology: The psychology of learning", Teachers College Press, New York, 1913. in skin conductance correspond to activation of the sympathetic nervous system, the same system that controls the body's flight or fight response. The sympathetic nervous system is activated by excitement or stressors and these stressors may be physical, emotional, or cognitive in nature Malmivuo & Plonsey, (1995) [START_REF] Kumar | What Leaders Need To Know About Augmented Reality?[END_REF] , which also correspond to the dimensions of engagement as said by Fredricks et al., (2004). More recent research, however, has demonstrated that the EDA signal is also discernable and useable when the biosensor is worn on the wrist (Poh et al., (2010) [START_REF] Kundu | Geospatial Risk Communication and Visualization of Natural Hazards Using Augmented Reality Constructs[END_REF] cited in Soltis et al., (2020)). Wrist skin biosensors have found use in a variety of diverse settings including measuring stress among autistic students during social interactions (Goodwin, (2016) [START_REF] Lahiri-Dutt | Thinking "differently" about a feminist critical geography of development[END_REF] cited by (Soltis et al., 2020)), and even while participants engaged in activities like painting, using scooters, jumping into a ball pit, and riding a zipline (Soltis et al., 2020). Therefore, EDA is becoming quite a popular method of measuring and analyzing engagement in a quantitative manner across various settings and scenarios.

So, the study by Soltis et al., (2020), took a mixed methods approach to address some pertaining questions in relation to the AR Sandbox use. They asked the following research questions, how engaged were the students using the AR sandbox and how does pedagogical treatment affect engagement? How were students using the sandbox? What factors (including spatial reasoning skills, topographic maps skills, means of interaction, and demographic information) predict participants' engagement? And lastly, what did students think of the sandbox and what are their suggestions for future use? (Soltis et al., 2020). These questions reminded me of when I spoke to one of our contacts in Australia at the University of Sydney. It was an interesting conversation, and I was told that the university's Faculty of Civil Engineering & IT and Faculty of Science, works a lot with the AR Sandbox. They have in fact upgraded the source code and added simulations of air pollution and traffic flows using Legos to represent buildings so that you can see cars moving around the Legos on the sandbox. They also conducted a mini study to teach technical concepts such as slope and topographical stability and contaminant migration to a diverse group of students coming from civil engineering as well as the geology field. A number of learning activities were established for different learning contexts but in line with chemical engineering, geology, and civil [START_REF] Kumar | What Leaders Need To Know About Augmented Reality?[END_REF] Malmivuo, J., & Plonsey, R. (1995). Bioelectromagnetism: Principles and applications of bioelectric and biomagnetic fields. Oxford University Press. [START_REF] Kundu | Geospatial Risk Communication and Visualization of Natural Hazards Using Augmented Reality Constructs[END_REF] engineering, such as "an ability to apply engineering fundamentals along with the basics of science and mathematics to engineering problem solving" and an "ability to exercise critical decision making in defining solutions as well as the understanding of the design process within engineering" (University of Sydney, 2017, document kindly provided by Dr Benjy Marks, of the Faculty of Engineering). They conducted a two-hour tutorial session around the ARS, explaining its functions and the opportunities associated with it while the remainder of the session was up to the students to brainstorm about various potential innovative uses of the sandbox for the future. In a class of 80 students about 22 surveys were collected and out of these 22 when asked if the sandbox had a positive impact on their learning experience, 18 said yes (University of Sydney, 2017). When asked if the AR Sandbox activity was enjoyable, 19 replied yes. According to the students, the best parts about the activity was that the sandbox promoted and enhanced their creativity, that it was great to be able to do something new that was educational, fun, and interactive (University of Sydney, 2017). The AR Sandbox activity was thus a hands-on approach that intertwined interdisciplinary fields of studies together. As said by Dr Samantha Clark who moderated the session, "The ARS really helped to develop the 3D visualization and spatial skills of the advanced students. They found it great to be able to experience in real-time the theoretical concepts they have been Going back to our study of Soltis et al., (2020), the period of interaction typically lasted 10-20 minutes of a two-hour lab period whereby students were placed in groups based on their seating in the classroom. Due to a limited number of Empatica skin biosensors or commonly known as E4 wristbands, groups rotated through using the sandbox, meaning that groups used the sandbox at different points during the lab period (Soltis et al., 2020). When students were not at the sandbox, they were completing a traditional topographic map activity, answering questions about 2-D topographic maps (Soltis et al., 2020). The non-sandbox portion of the lab was the same for all students regardless of section, each lab section was randomly assigned a treatment at the sandbox: unstructured (those that did not get a worksheet or instruction to engage with the sandbox), semi-structured, or structured (Soltis et al., 2020). So they analyzed how students interacted with each other, how they projected social behaviors which was either on-topic or off-topic discussions, and how they interacted collaboratively with the sandbox (Soltis et al., 2020). It appeared that the unstructured participants spent more of their time working individually during the unstructured lab than when compared to the structured or semi-structured lab (Soltis et al., 2020).

Meaning that the students that did not have a guidance let us say of what to do, tried to figure it out on their own, whilst when given guidance in forms of worksheets tended to work together as a unit (affirming our Social Constructivism approach). When doing the interviews with the students to know if they enjoyed the sandbox and felt engaged, they rated their experiences an average rate of 8.7 out of 10. Use of the sandbox regardless of treatment showed significant increase in EDA readings when compared to reading taken prior to the sandbox use. Thus as said by Soltis et al., (2020), using EDA as a proxy for engagement demonstrates the potential of the AR Sandbox in engaging students. The study also revealed that there was a statistically significant relationship between spatial reasoning skills and percent change in EDA (Soltis et al., 2020). While on average, students with all spatial skills in the study showed an increase in engagement based on the EDA data, those who had low as well as high spatial thinking skills showed a greater change in engagement, than those in the middle range. I thus wondered if it was because of knowing that you are not too good at spatial interpretations especially in topographical analysis which will make you motivated to do the extra to be better. Perhaps the introduction of something new that could potentially help you achieve this, is motivation enough as well. Those with already high spatial thinking strives even more to do good and stay good whilst those in the middle ranges knows that they have the potential to be better however, they might feel comfortable at the level in which they are as long as they do not reach lower in terms of skills. This further supports the works by McNeal et al., (2019), that suggested that a relationship between spatial thinking and topographic map performance after exposure to the sandbox, finding that students with both higher and lower spatial thinking skills performed better on a topographic map assessment than students in the middle range after using the AR Sandbox.

Counter Arguments about using the AR Sandbox

However, no matter how many researchers believe in the AR Sandbox uses to positively impact learning which I believe in as well, there are counter arguments to the statements I have made above, for example work by Wu et al., (2013) found that learning gains from sandbox use, to be shallow, and that some research have focused mainly on positive student response to the sandbox. In addition other recent work from Giorgis et al.,(2015) did not demonstrate any significant learning gains and cited the amount of exposure students need to the sandbox as a possible factor limiting learning gains. This statement I found to be somewhat true, as with the many conversations that I have had with people in the different schools and universities, infer to the fact that it is difficult to make the most out of the sandbox sometimes, as with a class of many students let us say around 30 (which could be thought of as the normal number of students per class in a school/university), different activities and lessons needs to be made with relation to the sandbox by the teachers. For example, whilst a group (of 5-8 students for example) will be engaging with the sandbox, the other groups would be doing another activity until they get their chance to engage with it. Thus, they will rotate, so that at the end of the class everyone would have had the chance to learn, understand and engage to a maximum with the sandbox, similar to the study done by Soltis et al., (2020) above. Furthermore, it was also brought to my attention that the AR Sandbox's designs, and size plays a significant factor in the time students get with the sandbox thus this will play a role in the amount of knowledge or experiences they will take out of that engagement with the sandbox. (Mönter and Otto, 2018). In a Sociologist's perspective, it is: (...) an event, concentrated in time and space, in which a society, or a relatively self-sufficient subdivision of a society, undergoes severe danger and incurs such losses to its members and physical appurtenances that the social structure is disrupted and the fulfilment of all or some of the essential functions of the society is prevented (Fritz, 1961) [START_REF] Leinonen | Augmented reality sandboxes: children's play and storytelling with mirror worlds[END_REF] . An Anthropologist's Definition consists of: "An event characterized by a series of time stages and spatial dimensions, each associated with different activities and roles embedded both in the pre-disaster system and the conditions imposed by the event itself" (Wallace, 1956). Some other global actors such as the United Nation, define it as: A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources (Un-Habitat, 2007). Therefore, it is safe to say that 'disaster' is hard to define as its concept is complex. We know then that it could be a process or a situation whereby damage, livelihoods disruptions, and/or casualties can occur due to a hazardous event that then makes it difficult for the area affected and the people found there to deal with on their own. There are controversies however, in using the word disasters, in that disasters are essentially outcomes or consequences emitted from hazards (this is so in the case of the natural) (Varley, 1994). As mentioned by Varley (1994), hazards are natural, but in general disasters are not, and should not be seen as the inevitable outcome of a hazard's impact. The stress here is on the condition of the people which makes it possible for a hazard to become a disaster. This includes the extent and types of their vulnerability in combination with the technical issue of how society deals (or does not deal) with the hazard in terms of mitigation and preparedness (Varley, 1994). To concentrate on preparedness and mitigation of hazards without considering the social and economic systems that both generate vulnerability and determine the type of technical interventions leads to inadequate and potentially dangerous situations (Varley, 1994). Nature presents humankind with a set of opportunities and risks which vary greatly in their spatial distribution. Opportunities (raw materials, energy sources) and risks (hazards affecting production for example) are fashioned by the varying characteristics of different types of social system, and the differing demands each society puts on nature combined with the varying impacts that nature may have on varying types of social system (Varley, 1994). This means that there are no really generalized opportunities and risks in nature but instead there are sets of unequal access to opportunities and unequal exposures to risks which are a consequence of socio-economic system (Varley, 1994). Furthermore, Varley (1994), argues that explanation of disaster causality is only possible by understanding the ways in which social systems themselves generate unequal exposure to risk by making some groups of people, some individuals, and some societies more prone to disasters than others. In other words, disasters are not "natural" (not even sudden ones) because hazards affect people differently within societies and may have very different impacts on different societies. For example earthquakes of equal energy may cause devastation in one country but not in another (Varley, 1994). Inequalities in risk (and opportunity) are largely a function of the principle systems of power operating in all societies, which are normally analyzed in terms of class, gender and ethnicity, these in turn may be seen as social structures rooted in (and mutually influencing) the patterns of national and international economic and political systems (Varley, 1994).

There has been a shift in the growth in awareness of development problems and the difficulties of improving people's living standards in the so called third world countries or southern countries where it seems that disasters make the most impact and destruction. Many now realize that the impact of disasters in the third world often produces only a more acute, more extreme form of the general chronic daily suffering of many of the people (Varley, 1994). We thus see that disasters are not just of natural events such as earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis but can be directly or indirectly influenced by human action such as with famines instigated by wars or the climate change issue or poor environmental management leading to degradation. The more widespread recognition of human destruction of the environment and that natural hazard themselves can be precipitated (or exacerbated) by human interactions towards the pursuit of economic and social goals which hitherto were seen as the normal objectives of economic growth (Varley, 1994) is even more so today. Therefore, there is a widespread awareness or change in attitudes than perhaps ever before in regard to the fact that economic and political factors are also causes of disasters which forms part of the problem system. Furthermore, we often see that it is the vulnerable people who are the victims of disasters. What do we mean by the most vulnerable? Those are the indigenous communities, women, children and elderly, refugees, homeless, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities found in both northern and southern countries. Sometimes we see that disaster trends are often over-generalized and framed to depict an opposition between regions of the world which are supposed to be 'safer', and others meant to be dangerous. But people's vulnerability and behavior in facing natural hazards reflect their chronic daily marginalization in the society thus a marginal position within the society leads to poor access to means of protection and other resources. It is evident in widely different circumstances. These include the enforced marginalizing of people onto less productive land, or the need for those who earn low wages, have few resources, or are discriminated against, to live in particular places where hazards strike more harshly (and this could be seen again in both the north and the southern countries) (Varley, 1994). Often times, many natural hazards have a more severe impact because alreadyvulnerable people have to cope and survive by engaging in practices which degrade the environment of lands.

The manner in which social systems assign resources for the reduction of the impact of hazards is particularly important (Varley, 1994). It often fails to take account for people's needs. The level of scientific knowledge of both hazards themselves and their impact, and the allocation of the resulting technologies which has the means for intervening to reduce the intensity or impact, are normally determined by the power of private companies and government agencies (Varley, 1994). These are driven by their own need for success which often times does not correspond with the needs of people.

Vulnerability may be divided into three aspects; the first is the degree of resilience of the particular livelihood system of an individual or group, and their capacity for assisting the impact of a hazard (Varley, 1994). This reflects economic resilience, including the capacity for recoverability which can then be called or associated to 'livelihood resilience' which has some affinity with Sen's concept of entitlement (Sen, 1981) [START_REF] Louis | Augmented Reality Sandboxes for Civil and Construction Engineering Education[END_REF] . A person or group's livelihood requires a certain minimum set ('basic needs') of goods, services, and cultural satisfactions to be adequate for survival; its participants normally welcome and seek more than this minimum in order to increase their satisfaction, this closely relates to Sen's Capability Approach as well. Livelihoods especially if it is sustainable, concept by Robert Chambers (1995) makes the individuals or groups cope with and recover from the stresses and shocks and maintain or enhance their capabilities or capacities and assets both now and in future without undermining the natural resource base.

However, livelihoods, that provide people with little more than basic needs are unlikely to enable the provision of self-protection, so any associated lack of social protection for such people will result in high levels of vulnerability. Therefore, livelihoods consist of such things as effective natural resources management, redistribution of livelihood resources, health care, abolishing unnecessary restrictions and hassle that can be of burden, and safety nets for the vulnerable people during bad times. The second is the 'health' component which includes both the robustness of individuals (itself largely a function of livelihood strength) and the operation of various social measures (Varley, 1994). The third component is the degree of preparedness of an individual or group. This is determined by the protection available (for a given hazard), something which depends on people acting on their own behalf in regard to social factors (Varley, 1994). Preparedness is the area, which is the most recognizable in disaster planning, because it relates to the various technical interventions that are commonly seen as necessary for disaster avoidance especially warning systems, land zoning and preparedness planning (Varley, 1994). As said by Varley (1994), what turns a natural hazard into a disaster is not simply a question of economics (e.g., how much is available within a given country to spend on precaution and alleviation). It is more a matter of why some people are more vulnerable than others, and of why some countries have more to spend, why known technologies are utilized in some parts of the world but seem more difficult to introduce in others, and why it is that certain topics are regarded as research and action priorities in some societies and not in [START_REF] Louis | Augmented Reality Sandboxes for Civil and Construction Engineering Education[END_REF] Sen A. (1981) Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

others (Varley, 1994). Moreover, we often see that vulnerable, marginalized people are not helpless 'victims' in facing disasters. Often times they will find resources and strategies to resist, cope with and recover from it. These resources and strategies forms part of people's capacities. Capacities can be rooted in resources which are endogenous to the community, and which rely on traditional knowledge, indigenous skills, technologies and solidarity networks (Gaillard, 2010), including a large array of enmeshed resources upon which people rely to face hazards and disasters. Coping strategies rely extensively on local knowledge, notably in reference to past hazardous events and disasters and are embedded in people's daily life and culture (Gaillard, 2010).

The AR Sandbox as a tool for effective Disaster Risk Reduction

Bridging the gap between the advance of scientific knowledge, international policies and local practice, in the larger context of DRR within development, requires re-affirming the theoretical principles on which policies claim to be inspired by (Gaillard, 2010). The needed measures must be sensitive to local geographic, social, economic, and political contexts in order to respond to needs that vary amongst This gap needs to be addressed for DRR to be successful. Instruments for risk communication and visualization in the form of hazard maps, booklets, and videos as mentioned above, currently are the instruments for holistic learning which attempts to reduce this knowledge gap between specialists and local people. The ARS presents an approach that seeks to add to this and to fully activate all aspects of the learner's/participant's personality (intellect, emotions, imagination, body) for more effective and [START_REF] Hobson | Our Augmented reality sandbox is on show today at[END_REF] However, it should be noted that "local people" do not form homogeneous groups. Economic and power structure as well as hierarchies often affect them which leads to a different assessment of opportunities and constraints. [START_REF] Ma | Le film sur la démarche et les objectifs LittoSIM[END_REF] The use of this technology supported the integration of western scientific data with traditional Indigenous knowledge, a significant goal of many DRR/DRM.

However, it is to be noted that the methods and tool described were in the form of 'fly-in, fly-out' workshops and did not build capacity amongst the Indigenous participants in the ongoing use of the technology (Fisher et al., 2019). A more 'empowering' approach would be for local land managers to be the ones owning and leading the use of the 3DPALM technology (an ARS). Subsequently, during the workshops, there were discussions around the potential outcomes from various agricultural management practices and participants found it useful to physically annotate the model with local knowledge about current land use and potential risks and opportunities. New insights were generated into sustainable cropping and soil practices according to the topography as well as the social/cultural characteristics of their territory (Fisher et al., 2019). As mentioned by (Fisher et al. (2019), importantly the 3DPALM approach increased discussion of the causes of soil erosion which led to potential solutions.

c) Case Study 3: Servicio Geologico Columbiano, Colombia

The third and last case study is a very special one as it was passed on to me by the Colombian Geological Service (SGC) more specifically the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Pasto (OVSP) which I contacted while I was doing my research about the ARS use in Latin America. The SGC located within the city of Pasto, monitors, and investigates the active volcanoes located in the southern region of the country, a task that they have been performing since 1989. Within their framework of their missionary work and as part of their processes, they aim to establish ways or channels of communication and interaction with the authorities and especially with the communities (Gómez Martínez, 2021).

Different activities or strategies are used, within what they call "Social Appropriation of Geoscientist

Knowledge" (ASCG) like social outreach (Gómez Martínez, 2021). As a brief summary, some of these activities are named as Mobile Observatories (or Itinerant) and Open Observatory, through which they can show and share in a didactic, experimental and interactive way, their work regarding the monitoring and investigation of volcanic hazards (Gómez Martínez, 2021). They travel with equipment and personnel to the territories to work with the communities, particularly from educational institutions located especially in zones of active volcanoes and they also do open days once a year at their headquarters, so anyone can visit and know about their work in a very interactive manner. They actually looked at the topic of the "sandbox" several years ago and it seemed to them an interesting tool to incorporate into their ASCG activities, so they started with the first phases of its design and adaptation about 5 years ago (Gómez Martínez, 2021). From March 2020, another sandbox was implemented by the SGC in a fixed way, in the Omaira Sánchez memorial park, inside one exhibition room established there, in the city of Armero-Guayabal, which corresponds to a region near the city of Armero, destroyed during the eruption and lahars of the Nevado del Ruíz Volcano in 1985 (Gómez Martínez, 2021). There, children, students, and the public in general are able to see the history about the city of Armero, before, during and after the tragedy and thus learn about risk prevention. This case study is another great example of collaboration, communication and participation of external actors and local indigenous communities coming together to share knowledge by using an effective technological tool that is the ARS. It is to be noted as well that their set-up is simple as they looked for the resources available in their territory to build with and at a low-price investment.

Which thus confirms the fact that it can be done in a wide range of regions, settings, geographical locations, cultures, and environments, as long as the interest and motivation are there to implement and use it.

The potential use of the ARS in Small Island Development States (SIDS), in the case of the Republic of Seychelles

Initially, when I started this internship and I saw the use frequency of the ARS around the world, and the lack thereof in the African continent and in most of the Small Island Development States (SIDS), I could see the potential of using it in those regions, whether it be in STEM education and/or DRR. SIDS like the Republic of Seychelles, where I grew up, are currently facing so many pressures, be it economically, politically, socially and above all environmentally. The Seychelles remains vulnerable to external shocks and its development efforts are intrinsically linked to external global conditions. It is a 'price-taker' and is prone to the forces of global capitalism with devastating impacts especially for a nondiversified economy (Giampiccoli et al., 2020). The Republic of Seychelles is an archipelago composed of 115 islands located in the southwestern region of the Indian Ocean. The islands are located about 1600 kilometers east of the Kenyan coast and 1000 kilometers northeast of Madagascar, having an Exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 1.37 million km 2 compared to the 455km 2 of total landmass. Most of the islands are uninhabited, coralline, and flat, and many are dedicated as nature reserves. However, the majority of the population is found on three main granitic islands, Mahé, Praslin and La Digue, Mahé island being the principal island.

Known as an ideal tourist destination, due to its natural capital (sandy beaches, coral reefs, fauna, and flora biodiversity), the country has not been spared of the effects and consequences of global changes notably one as serious as the climate change issue of recent years. Indeed, the country is amongst the most vulnerable of the small island states to rising and warming waters and high tides (often up to 164 feet) as well as to tropical and extratropical storm changes which presents coastal hazards and increased vulnerability. With a population of approximately 98,000, this is of great concern as 80% of the population and economic activity is located along the coast. These coastal stretches include main roads, electricity and water supply infrastructure, ports, fisheries infrastructure, food storage facilities, homes, and buildings, including hotels. Most of these critical infrastructures are situated in the range of 2-4 meters above sea level and thus most vulnerable to coastal flooding, coastal erosion, and the effects of sea level rise (World Bank and Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change of Seychelles, 2019) (see figure 6 in Appendix A). To be noted that the mean elevation of the coastal plateau is 2-10 meters around the granitic islands.

In addition, to this, there has been bleaching and death of the coral reefs that acts as barriers around the islands, naturally protecting the coasts from erosion and flooding by attenuating wave energy and supplying and trapping sediment as well as functioning much like low-crested breakwaters: protecting shorelines primarily by dissipating wave energy. Furthermore, loss of coastal and ocean biodiversity's.

Due to increased weather events, changes in the duration and intensities of the rainy seasons with a combination of processes such as poor management of our coastal road systems and drainage systems, as well as the mountainous topographies of the granitic islands with all its river outlets along the coast consistently leads to flooding along those parts where, as said above most of the population are found.

This leads to disruption of livelihoods, loss of physical assets and destruction of homes and buildings. It is very troublesome not only for the locals but for our main sector which is the tourism sector which makes up about 58.1% of the economy's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as well as our second most influential sector which is fisheries which forms part of the daily nourishment of Seychellois families. If our environment, which makes up the crown jewel of the Seychelles keeps on getting affected for the worst, then we as a nation are in deep trouble.

In as mentioned in the CMP are, rock armoring and beach nourishment to increase coastal protection and reduce erosion of the coasts, coastal rehabilitation by undertaking topographic surveys to determine accurate levels of the heights of engineering defensive structures to be built to mitigate erosion. Timber piling along the coasts. This unfortunately has led to rotting of the timber as it was not treated first forcing the Climate Adaptation Management Section (CAMS) within the ministry to implement rock packaging to help strengthen the damaged timber as well as undertaking rock binding. Emergency rock dumping has been done along the side of the road to protect the coast and road infrastructure from further erosion and from wave overtopping. Construction of groynes and restoration of river outlets has been done as well as the restoration of damaged seawalls to protect the Dune lands from erosion and to prevent coastal trees to be uprooted. Therefore, I feel that the ARS can help in the implementation of those coastal management priorities. As seen previously throughout this thesis, the ARS can be used to show how water behaves on different topographies such as on river catchment areas, on slopes of different degrees by showing the contour lines.

It would be good especially if manipulation of the ARS was done to show the local landscape/seascape of the island environment so that it could resonate more with children, students, general public and relevant stakeholders. This can thus promote capacity building. Participants can also learn the basic terminologies and behavior of wind formed waves for example, they can investigate the link between wave refraction and longshore transport and recognize the types of coastal features formed by erosion and deposition with the ARS. Learn ways humans have attempted to interfere with natural coastal processes and understand the results of these human interferences with those processes. They can simulate a shoreline showing backshore, foreshore, and offshore and their appearance during high tide versus low tide with headlands, bays, and sand bars.

Near-shore bathymetry data are currently unavailable for most of the coastal zones of Seychelles, but crucial to the study and planning of effective projects (World Bank and Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change of Seychelles, 2019), which once produced could be simulated, recreated and constructed well on the ARS displaying the elevations, depths and features of underwater terrain such as ridges/banks, continental shelves. In addition, coastal processes modeled can also include, groynes and their effect on beach width upstream and downstream showing where the sand erodes. As we now know, it can also be used to simulate flooding events i.e., by producing rainstorms we can see areas of potential flooding especially visualizing if and how it will affect a community and how this will be exacerbated if there is the presence of a river close by and/or influences of the tides. The SMA could provide weather data of potentially bad weather system formations and DRDM providing warnings to the population, where potential flooding risks will be most high, facilitating proper communication and transfer of information for effective preparedness and resilience. It can be used to show different land use types and how water reacts on these lands, to promote spatial planning, for soil health benefits, to show the influence of anthropogenic factors on land uses which could then help in better management and policy planning from the government. In addition to this, it can help in the construction of more sustainable engineering defenses in areas most affected. Last but not least, it can be used in addition with the other current methods used such as coastal exposure and vulnerability mapping and risk-based land planning in the form of flood hazard maps for coastal and pluvial-fluvial flooding. The ARS can thus be an additional asset of generating information using a modern technological way.

C. AR Sandbox used in a different way -mixing the virtual with the augmented

Mindfulness, the act of paying a deliberate and non-judgmental attention to the present moment, has been shown to have a positive impact on a person's health and subjective well-beingcommonly called "happiness" (Sol Roo et al., 2017). A new tool has been designed to support mindfulness practices by combining augmented reality and virtual reality, the differences between the two comes down to the hardware used as well as VR being completely virtual instead of real-world settings. This tool takes the shape of an augmented sandbox, designed to inspire the user's self-motivation and curiosity Another novel project/tool worth mentioning also is the VRBox, which is a Virtual Reality Augmented Sandbox for Immersive Playfulness, Creativity and Exploration. While setups like these already offer a nice direct interaction with sand as natural material to change the visual output, this project moves a step further and integrate real sand interaction into virtual environments (VEs) with mid-air gestural interaction (Fröhlich et al., 2018). This offers new ways to use and explore the sand landscape, such as by placing virtual objects into the scene or by teleporting oneself into the shaped environment similar to the project above (Fröhlich et al., 2018). The system extends the existing approaches with an additional interaction and visualization layer to interact with the sand and virtual objects. Furthermore, as mentioned by Fröhlich et al., (2018), in VRBox users can switch perspectives from a tabletop mode into a first-person mode by teleporting directly into their own creation, allowing for an immersive experience of the landscape in full-size that is from a macro-perspective. In VR, users see the virtual representation of the tracked sandbox and sand surface and form a terrain with their bare hands. They can interact with virtual menu's using their hands. The menu items are placed to the left and right of the user in VR and are represented as bubbles that users can interact with using their hands (Fröhlich et al., 2018). The bubbles serve different functions. First, a set of them can be used to decorate the sand surface with virtual objects like trees, castles, and other assets (Fröhlich et al., 2018). These can be used in the sense of a pouring glass, where users grab a bubble using a pinch gesture (e.g., containing a tree asset) and "pour" the trees onto the sand surface. Single objects can also be placed in the same way where participants concentrate on a small set of items that can be put onto the sand individually (Fröhlich et al., 2018). On the left side of the user, one bubble can be used to manipulate the water level in the form of a vertical slider while another bubble serves as a teleport item (Fröhlich et al., 2018). Users can grab the teleport bubble and put it on the sand surface to mark the location where they would like to be teleported to (Fröhlich et al., 2018).

Then, users have to perform a "look up" gesture where they have to look up straight in order to perform the teleport (Fröhlich et al., 2018). The use of VR in combination with or as an extension of the AR Sandbox was well received by different participants engaged in the study done and there is supporting evidence that this combination works well and adds benefit to the technology of AR (Fröhlich et al., 2018).

In this sense, the study participants positively emphasized the overall visualization capabilities that VR offers, teleporting and inner perspective, higher immersion, sense of scale and presence, found it engaging to be more involved in their own creation, stressed that VR offers a good understanding of space and location (also objects in relation to each other (Fröhlich et al., 2018). The authors concluded that VR is a very beneficial addition to augmented sandboxes and supports immersion, participation, and control.

However, some improvements is needed still, as there is a discrepancy between the tactile sensation and the visual appearance, especially because of the blocky world style (Fröhlich et al., 2018).

Last but not least, during our many discussions on the different developmental routes of both sandboxes in the laboratories, we envisioned many potential paths such as the addition of real water to the sandbox as well as adding wind to show how this will affect a zone, we were thinking of adding some sort of mechanism device underneath the sandbox which could simulate an earthquake as well, making the sandbox move likewise thus making the device much more realistic. My hope is that this could eventually be done in future.

V. Project Tasks -Methodology used

A. Caen

My internship started in Caen with the Dynam'eau. For my bibliographic research, I initially started the contacting process of schools, universities, and organizations in the laboratory there. My thinking was that I would do the closest first, meaning France and the surrounding European countries.

Therefore, I started in France then United Kingdom and Ireland. However, I then decided to switch tactics and focus on the furthest in terms of time differences, that is, Asia, and Australia (Asia and Australia would have about +6 to +10 hours difference to France) and so leaving the other European countries for a later date. I focused on the Middle East as well because there were not many sandboxes there, and because I really wanted to know how theirs were, as we often have that notion of the Middle Eastern countries most particularly the United Arab Emirates (with cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi) having access to the best technologies due to them being considered as wealthy. I admit I got really excited to contact them to see how their sandbox would have been built and I was not disappointed. I contacted all of them, mostly early in the mornings.

Using a qualitative approach to my data acquisition with a mode of secondary data acquisition as the arsandbox.ucdavis.eu site had already the places of the schools, universities and organizations which includes museums and science centers, I could localize more than 500 known AR Sandboxes around the world (see figure 8 below). I knew I would not be able to contact them all, but I wanted to do as much as I could so that my host organizations could have a good bibliography of contacts, have some good information and I was also thinking of the sampling size, normally the bigger the better for more accurate and representative results. I managed to contact about 225 places (see table 1 in Appendix B).

Furthermore, using the research sites such as research gate, science direct, Elsevier, Cairn and some other sites proposed by the university of Caen, I could download available articles on the topic that is the AR Sandbox. Upon seeing the places around the world that had sandboxes, I proceeded by finding out the contact details of the schools, universities, and organizations, that is, the right person to contact along with their emails and phone numbers. This could be a form of qualitative primary data collection as I found the contact details on my own volition. The total number of schools, universities and organizations contacted can be seen in figure 9 below. In addition, by targeting specific people such as Dean's or head's of schools, universities and/or faculty, departments, of universities, as well as head's or directors of organizations, this was a form of nonprobability, purposeful sampling more specifically expert sampling (a sample of persons with experience in some area). As I thought that it would not only be respectful to them, but they may also be the best suited to answer my questions and to provide me with the information. Furthermore, another reason was that they would have been able to guide me to someone in their schools and university faculties or department's that would know more about the sandbox to provide me with the information if they could not. In research this is known as snowball sampling which is another mode of nonprobability sampling (people who meet the study criteria for inclusion, and who recommend others). I have to admit that if it were not for UC Davis and the arsandbox.ucdavis.eu site I would not have known the places to contact, however. You could say that I added another layer of additional information to what was already provided and thus I managed to get some great responses back upon emailing. I even had phone conversation as well as Video calls using Zoom and Skype which is a form of quantitative data collection which was in close correlation with the qualitative approach. That is with the questionnaire I prepared I could ask them for information via email, via telephone calls and video calls. It is important to note too, that I managed to find some organizations that owned AR Sandboxes that was not listed on UC Davis's site by either word of mouth such as our very own Centre de Culture Scientifique, Technique et Industrielle de Grenoble, La Casemate as well as by simply browsing the web and doing general searches on the internet (such as Breeze Creative, an organization in the USA).

Thus, I managed to contact mostly all the organizations and universities in France that possessed an AR Sandbox (to be noted that there is not manyabout 12, see figure 10 below). I structured a small questionnaire beforehand with a mix of open-ended and closed ended questions, to guide me through acquiring the information (see Questionnaire 1 in Appendix B). That is, I sent the emails (in French for France, and in English for the other countries) introducing first of all myself, my master's program, and my internship, as well as my host organisation and explaining the purpose of the study. After that I proceeded to inquire on the sandbox itself, asking them if they did really own one as per the UC Davis site. In that initial introductory email, I asked three questions which I deemed to be important in order to ease into the conversation later around the subject itself. I asked how their AR Sandbox was built (that is with what materials, as it turns out there can be different materials used to build it, depending on one's taste, wants and needs) and how it works, if they have many modes or features calibrated on it and last but not least if they are using it for reasons other than pedagogical. After the replies I got when I sent out the first email, I proceeded to ask more technical questions (Questionnaire 1, Appendix B). I kept it brief and to the point to get a sense also of the respondent's opinions, feelings, and experiences with the AR Sandbox, thus making it a bit more flexible and free flowing in the responses I would get. Furthermore, I found that even with the close-ended questions the respondent's proceeded to describe what they meant and shared the information. They did not reply only with a yes or a no. As I got information about the different models of sandboxes, I placed them into an excel sheet in categories which included the place where they were found, the models/names of the sandboxes, how it was built, the type of equipment used, new features and improvements that each model had as well as the targeted clients (example schools, museums, home use). Furthermore, I made a map using QGIS (see figure 11 of contacts I used, contacts replied, pending contacts, those that did not reply and finally information of the sandboxes of schools or universities or organizations I found directly on their sites. I also made an excel sheet of all the contacts that I targeted (replied or not) and a separate folder of only the replied contacts that is with their email addresses (to be noted that people who replied have different email addresses than the initial email addresses I sent emails to, which will be easier for my host organizations to contact them if ever need be in future). I also made a folder of the different AR Sandboxes pictures and documents that were sent to me in order of continents first and then folders within those, of the countries themselves. I wanted to be thorough and specific in that regard. I did also have many meetings with potential partners in Caen. One such meeting was to see if we were interested in participating in an event centered around science. The évènements Têtes Chercheuse à Ecolyscience, is an event that brings together students, teachers, and researchers around the culture of Alongside contacting these different schools, universities, and organizations, I noticed early on that there were very few contacts in the whole African continent. And most of them were located in South Africa (two in Cape Town, three in the Johannesburg/Pretoria area and one near the Durban area). Initially when I started the internship and saw the number of sandboxes distributed around the world, I found it interesting that there were so few in the southern countries which was why I wanted to see why that was so, why the imbalances of such technologies around the world. It should be noted here that when talking about the Southern countries in developmental discourses, we often associate these countries to regions of Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. I noticed however, that this technology is quite popular within Latin American countries, as shown in map 1 above as well as some southeastern Asian countries.

Although upon doing deeper research, it was not the case about five years back. It was not yet used quite 63 as is today (see figure 13 below). So, I did not proceed in asking the Latin American countries and Southeast Asian countries a separate set of questions as I did for African countries. Namibia, and Tanzania, for me to see and understand if there were some curiosity about the AR Sandbox technology, if it could be something that they would be willing to use in their geosciences, engineering or information technology curriculums, how it may be of help, how and if they think it could be replicated in their own versions without them having to spend so much on a high technology version or depend on outsourcing external firms to build it for them, and if it could be replicated to benefit not only the universities but perhaps the communities and other organizations around them, again to sensitize about the environment and its processes and how we as humans affect these processes for better or for worse.

So, I created a slightly different version of the questionnaire, in French and English as western African countries speak mostly French (to be noted only the English version is provided, Questionnaire 2, Appendix B).

Furthermore, other tasks that I undertook was to prepare the Rouen Sandbox for the Fête de la Science which would be held in October 2021. Alongside the help of the Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire Homme Société (IRIHS), we decided to create a video demonstration as done in Caen. One that would eventually complement the Dynam'eau video but would be unique enough that would make the Rouen sandbox shine on its own. We decided instead to take three words and structure the video around those. The words were Paléogéographie, Topographie and Hydrologie or Paleogeography, Topography and Hydrology in English. We proceeded in defining those three words and articulate or demonstrate how they would work using the ARS. However, before the video would be done, based on the research I had collected, we decided to change a few things on the sandbox, mainly the sand found in it as it had become too dry and was very dusty. It became difficult to sculpt reliefs as the sand would fall as you manipulated it; it was not cohesive enough. As of yet the laboratory has not yet decided on the exact type and brand of sand, although they were leaning more towards the Kinetic Sand.

One of the final tasks that I undertook was to identify potential actors that would have been interested in partnering with the laboratories and thus be willing to host the sandbox in future. This again could be for events such as science fairs, open days in museums or universities etc. I had to see if the project were something that could fit in their mandates, and if they would have liked to suggest some other developments that would have been feasible collaboratively. This I did for both laboratories of Caen and Rouen, that is I focused more generally to the regions of Basse Normandie and Haute Normandie. I used a qualitative approach, with secondary data acquisition by using the site of data.culture.gouv.fr (link: https://data.culture.gouv.fr/explore/dataset/lieux-culturels-en normandie/map/?disjunctive.labltype&location=13,49.19113,-0.36555) and Graine Normandie (link: https://graine-normandie.net/acteurs/) to identify, organization, associations and NGO's, collectives, and public establishments first and then proceeded in finding their contact details (emails and phone numbers).

After this, I searched for potential museums and cultural places and establishments that would be interested, then there were libraries (Bibliothèques in French), schools and UFR's of the university of Caen and finally I also decided to see if I can find festivals in the areas that would most likely take place in the year, could be science festivals, street art and cultural festivals and the likes. The data information, that is the contacts identified, was placed again in an excel sheet.

VI. Results & Findings

A. Introducing the AR Sandboxes of LETG Caen & IDEES Rouen

The Dynam'eau AR Sandbox of Caen

The Dynam'eau is a scientific mediation tool (see figure 14 Normandie whereby the winners get an award which is the Prix Musée Schlumberger rewarding a scientific mediation project/tool which are considered to be the best at illustrating and explaining methods, innovations, or techniques from all fields of contemporary research. In addition, to the trophy, the winning team receives financial support (a grant of 10,000 Euros from the foundation) and technical support (assistance from the science center's scientific mediation staff) for the creation of the scientific mediation tool. The winning project once completed is presented each year during the Fête de la Science, before being represented and hosted regionally and nationally for three years in different organizations, museums or at festivals. These mediation tools thus provide a good opportunity for not only students but public to manipulate and learn but to experiment with various subjects that can be linked to real life scenarios and also to be linked to school curriculums and courses. which are the basic standard modes. What Dynam'eau brings as the "petit plus" as said in French is the fact that another module or mode is set up on it which allows for the change from contour lines to showing different land uses and how the water will be affected by them as mentioned previously. This was achieved thanks to the contest that they won, and the good collaboration of the different partners involved.

Dynam'eau thus deals mostly along the theme of the water cycle and illustrates the influence of topography, land uses and human development factors on the movement of surface water flow with a particular focus on flood risks. Four main questions are addressed and those are:

1. Where does the water in rivers come from, where does it go and how does it move?

2. Why do rivers sometimes overflow?

3. What are the natural and human influences in these overflows?

4. How can this risk be reduced?

b) Animation of Dynam'eau

Participants are invited to make a relief (could be hills, valleys, canyons…) on which contour lines are projected (see figure 16 below) and adjusted to the content. The colors represent depending on the height of the landscape, red on the highest pile of sand (steeper slope) to green in the gentler parts of the sand to blue on deepest hole in the sand. The animators can then simulate a storm and thus visualize the circulation of water on the relief. Depending on the duration of the animation, it is also possible to project a landscape composed of a mosaic of land uses which are forests, grassland, crop land and urban areas of towns/cities (see figure 17 below). The effects of this landscape mosaic on water flow are then discussed.

The AR Sandbox of IDEES Rouen

The AR Sandbox of the IDEES laboratory is a bit different from that of Caen. It was built much later than its Caen counterpart, specifically for the Fête de la science of Rouen in collaboration with the Institut de Recherche Inter-disciplinaire Homme Société (IRIHS). It is fully made of wood and mounted on wheels. The major difference between this sandbox and the Dynam'eau sandbox is in its support on which the Kinect camera, a v1, and the video projector is mounted (see figure 20 and 21 below). Those are attached on a wooden support rather than a metal pole. This support, however, is detachable but it is best to keep it firmly in place as not to disrupt the orientation or setup of the camera and video projector which can throw off the calibration. A cardboard sheet is used to protect the sand as the sand can easily dry out and create dust (figure 20). Another difference between the two sandboxes is in the software. The IDEES sandbox does not have, as of yet, the land uses module/software found on Dynam'eau. It only has the contour lines that is projected onto the sand, although it should be noted that the code has been acquired to be set up on the sandbox soon. Moreover, unlike the Dynam'eau, the ARS of Rouen has the possibility whereby one can simulate water flow by using your hand directly over the sandbox which is captured by the sensor and there is no tablet used figure 22 below, which is pretty cool to do when engaging with the sandbox. I mentioned previously that not all sandboxes will be the same. It depends on the objectives and needs one will want to show. So, the AR Sandbox of Rouen is used mainly for educational purposes to make students aware of the role of new technologies in the acquisition of landscape reading or topographic readings which can be tricky to do. One of the main objectives of the sandbox is to bring about the better understanding of the space in which they live in. Furthermore, in addition to allowing a better understanding of the transition from 3D (the landscape) to a 2D reading (the map), gives the opportunity to approach and show the understanding of the great geomorphological processes and to tackle notions such as processes of erosion, landscape formation, simulation, and modelling (especially through the use of software's such as Net Logo, GAMA and GIS). The device along with using it for pedagogical purposes at the University of Rouen in the Licence 1 classes of geography, has been used and displayed every year for the Fête de la Science.

B. What was found, Results of our study

AR Sandbox Designs, what to consider!

I found out that there are many possibilities in regard to the AR Sandbox designs. I came to the realization that it all depended on what the laboratory wanted and was hoping to improve. With the email exchanges as well as phone/video calls I had, many relied on and stuck with the standard model of the UC Davis design. The instruction provided by them on their site which had the 'notes' of how to build your own ARS was simple and straight to the point. This helped many schools, universities, and organizations around the world. There were many however, who took those notes and improved on them, made it their own way with unique styles and designs. For reasons such as portability linked to weight and size, for stability of the sandbox itself and for the stability of the video projector and the Kinect camera, for access to and around the sandbox itself. All these are elaborated below.

a) Results of questionnaire 1

As seen in figure 23 below based on data of our filled in questionnaire 1 in Appendix C, we can see that 32 schools, universities and organizations combined did improve their AR Sandboxes. These improvements includes using different materials than wood to build, different kind of materials used to place the Kinect and projector (whether it be on a steel pipe, pole, or in a box, or mounted directly on the ceiling), includes different features on it (example addition of buttons), improvements in the structure itself, making it more sturdy or robust as well as improving the possibility of portability by building it a way whereby it can be disassembled for ease and/or building it so that it can be lifted and placed directly on a surface. However, 25 respondents kept to the original wooden styled sandboxes based on the notes provided on the UC Davis site. 35 respondents mentioned that they have not added more modes/modules on their ARS, they have and use the normal rain and contour line features specific to the concepts they want to teach whilst 19 respondents have added one or more additional modes/modules which can simulate lava, snow, air pollution for example, as well as adding objects that can interact with the ARS enhancing its use, examples such as 3D maquettes, Legos, trees. More of the respondents uses the ARS for reasons other than pedagogical, 40 in total compared to 24, and this means not only specific to in class use for teaching, but displaying it in open day events and fairs, for prospective students and for visitors/public for sensitization purposes. A large number of respondents, 51 in total, did not have difficulties in building their ARS's as they mentioned that the specifications and notes were very clear on UC Davis' site. And 58 respondents did build their ARS's themselves compared to 5 which either outsourced a company to build or borrowed it from another school/university/organization. Moreover, there are some organizations specifically within the 58 that builds the ARS for commercial usage and sells it (as seen in questionnaire 1 in Appendix C). In regard to the calibration issues, unfortunately most respondents, 39 in total, did not define or mention that they had problems with that, although 7 respondents said yes and 18 said no it was ok (to be noted that some respondents said no but it can be tricky). When it comes to our last three questions most of the respondents said yes to adding more modes/modules in future (27 total), to the worthwhile aspect of the ARS (50 in total, to be noted that some will definitely keep using it in future, and will be improving it, which means that it is a worthwhile investment in my point of view), and lastly the fact that they will keep using it and improving it means that it is a good tool to use for teaching about concepts (57 total). It is interesting as well to mention that the respondents who said No, mostly schools, to the last question said that the ARS is limited to certain concepts for example rainfall, and not entirely great for other concepts they have in their curriculums. In addition, they said that it is also better for teaching younger children rather than older ones, and one said that some concepts was difficult to convey to their students due to the fact that location wise, they do not have certain geomorphological features like mountains, valleys, rivers etc. All these different aspects mentioned here will be explained more in the sub sections that follows.

I did not proceed in interpreting the results of our second questionnaire as I received only three responses as of yet, which can be seen in Appendix C. However, I do mention what I managed to find out from those three respondents within our thesis.

b) Physical Structure and design

Many schools, universities and organizations stuck to the original design of the AR Sandbox as said above, a tutorial found on the UC Davis site, which was a wooden sandbox (either with wheels or not). However, with time and with creativities of people, this design went even further. The materials used to build AR sandboxes differed greatly and was improved. People thought about sustainable, durable materials to use to build the structure with. For example, thatch which is particularly used for roofing in many developed countries, although its history can be traced back to the developing countries of Africa, has been used. Thatching methods is a very old roofing method, traditionally passed down through generations within the African culture. It is an environmentally friendly, easily acquired material which makes the sandbox more rigid and stable. This version of the ARS I found to be made here in France by a Fab Lab. A Fab Lab or digital fabrication laboratory is a place to create, play, learn, mentor, and innovate.

They provide access to the environment, skills, materials and advanced technology to allow anyone anywhere to make (almost) anything (The Fab Foundation, 2021). I found that sometimes the Fab Labs gets contracted or outsourced by other schools and organizations to help build the AR Sandbox. This got me thinking that this kind of material 'thatch' could be good to use in schools and universities in Africa, that does not have an ARS yet, as it can be acquired more easily, it is cost effective, and it can last many years, thus making their ARS durable and stable. They would have a device that can be used for a long time, benefiting many generations of children, students, and adults, especially in rural communities so that they can also learn about different concepts which may affect them (more on this in modules and use below). Another material that can be used that is equally sustainable, durable and is light weight which is an aspect that is strived for when building the ARS, is using Birch or Pine wood (see figure 24 in Appendix A). These also has little impact on the environment. Furthermore, in using this, it can be aesthetically pleasing to viewers and participants as it can give the ARS a rustic kind of look. Other designs include using a metal frame for the sandbox structure with a metal pole on which the camera and the projector would be fitted. On these versions the camera and projector can be fitted in such a way that it can or has the possibility to move slightly forward and back or to move up and down therefore adjusting the camera angle or the height of the projection.

Furthermore, there is a possibility to place a mirror under or in front of the projector. Projectors used can be a tricky thing, depending on the type will determine the quality of the projection on the ARS. As we previously mentioned there are some projectors that can be expensive to use, but these will provide much clearer imagery. The distance between the projector and projected surface is very important. A more cost-effective alternative is to shorten the physical distance of the projector by using a single or series of mirrors. This must be done well as distortions of the image can occur but can be corrected by placing the mirror as close to the projector as possible. But shadow image can occur as well when light is reflected from both mirror in the glass layer which protects it. However, such shadow images can be avoided by using a front surface mirror (although more expensive) or simply a mirror with a very thin front layer of glass which will reduce but not effectively remove the shadowing effect. Therefore, using mirrors, addresses the subject of throw of the projection (size + distance, whereby shorter distance above the surface can be managed) and position which affects quality including brightness of the displayed projection. These kinds of designs using mirrors are common as I have seen when doing my research (figure 25 and 26, Appendix A). Some ARS designs is made entirely out of aluminum which can be more expensive however it makes it much more robust (figure 27, Appendix A). Some can even have acryl glass around the aluminum structure. There are some that have their wooden sandbox slathered generously with polyurethane to make the sandbox waterproof and rot resistant. This is very useful especially if you are going to use water with sand, the moisture of the sand will not be absorbed by the wood. The projector and camera head assembly are made from aluminium slats, and the entire assembly is suspended above the sandbox from a vertical steel pipe.

Reclaimed wood as well can be used for the structure of the ARS. It can be environmentally friendly. In using reclaimed wood, you decrease the demand for newly sourced wood or lumber, which helps curb deforestation. If harvested responsibly, reclaimed wood is a renewable resource that reduces landfill waste as well as the use of environmental hazards to manufacture new products. Although it may not make much difference as you are using it on a small scale for the sandbox built but at least it is good to have that mindset of sustainability and renewability. One big organization I found did major upgrades on their set up. They now use two Kinect and two projectors with a larger sandbox (figure 28, Appendix A). The box is about 2 m long, 0.75 m wide and 0.184 m high. They also use two big screens onto which the images from the sandbox are displayed. When they are not using the sandbox, they have a large Perspex screen around it. Another thing that I got advice for when picking the design of your ARS is to consider the brightness aspect that is, the control over ambient light. The less ambient light on the box, the more vivid the colors and less often you will need to replace the lamp and projector to maintain those vivid colors.

Thus, the darker the place the better.

Last but not least, I have also seen the possibility of having an interactive table that can be placed onto the sandbox itself, whereby the table surface is equipped with sensory cubes that can be manipulated with.

This is an additional tool that can be used with the ARS (figure 29, Appendix A).

c) Portability

As said above many kept the original design which was a wooden sandbox which could be placed on wheels (as our ARS found in both laboratories) so that it could be moved from place to place, more specifically room to room for example in different classrooms or to go and be exposed at events and festivals. Although practical to place it on wheels, it is still very heavy at the end of the day, despite removing the sand from the box itself beforehand, which makes people who are moving the ARS, very tired. It is thus strenuous and as I experienced with the Dynam'eau sandbox sometimes the wheels can get jammed whilst moving, and sometimes it does not move effortlessly, so it deviates, which makes it extra hard to keep it going straight. Plus, manpower is needed in the form of two or three people to move it along. Therefore, I felt that portability was a great aspect to consider on the improvement of our AR Sandbox for the future, which many schools, universities and organizations also considered. I found that, there were different design options that favored portability. As seen below in figure 30 and 31, there were sandboxes that could be easily picked up, being less heavy, and transported by hand and placed directly on tables in classrooms or in event stands. Making it practical. Therefore, benefiting on manpower, less people to transport the device and less strenuous on those people. Thus, this can give more of a boost to engage in the activity that you will be doing with the ARS once it is set up properly as you have not burnt all your energy in moving a much heavier object from place to place. These kinds of sandboxes have the video projector and Kinect camera on metal poles which they set up quick upon arriving. The downside I would say is that it is bothersome to always have to set all this up with every use and more so as the calibration process of the device can take a long time. In that perspective, a standard sandbox with every equipment firmly in place on the device is kind of better. However, I cannot affirm or deny this observation, tests would be necessary to confirm this theory of time management in regard to the setting up of these two types of ARS. Some ARS I saw could be disassembled into 3 pieces for portability and with 1⁄2" detachable legs not only for portability but for consideration of children's heights as well (figure 32 below).

One other design that considered portability was to have the mast on which the video projector and Kinect camera would be found, be foldable and narrower to ensure mobility through the doors as seen in figure

d) Size and Form

What was also made clear to me when considering the AR Sandbox model to improve was the size and the form. This can relate well also with the aspect of portability above. As one compliments each other. One suggestion I got from a museum in Dubai, UAE, who specializes in the Virtual and Augmented reality technology experiences, was to think about the size and the form of our ARS. Rather than the sandbox being squared in shape, it could be interesting for it to be built in a circle for example. This benefits participants in such a way that they can get access to the sandbox easily, thus accommodating for the number of participants that will want to interact with it. The squared ARS often presents angles at each of the four corners which can sometimes limit the accessibility to really play and get into building of topographies with the sand. It is a bit far to reach the center at the corners. Although I am not sure if a circled ARS has been built yet, it was a possibility upon conversation, that it could have been interesting

to explore and to see if building an ARS that way would work. And upon presenting this idea with the colleagues of the laboratories, it was an idea well received, but admittedly difficult to realize as we would have to consider how to place the support for the video projector and Kinect. It will work however, if those two equipment was fitted directly up from the ceiling. Then the sandbox would need to be in one main room which may be a disadvantage for many schools and universities especially, but could be an awesome concept in a museum or science center. In regard to the size of the ARS, there are many different sizes of sandboxes. I will say again it can all depend on your wants, needs and objectives. We can build an ARS that is small and again easily transported and placed on a table, good for schools and universities (like seen in figure 35 below). This one is for me very good, as thinking back on one exchange that I had with a department head in an African university, for the part of my research of which I wanted to know why this technology was not in use in the Southern countries, he mentioned that he did not know of such a device yet, but he was very interested as I provided him with the information about the ARS. Our exchange ended up on him telling me about the opportunities that he sees this device bringing to schools within the country to increase the learning process and the potential collaboration that could form. Thus, he saw the potential that the ARS had. With the knowledge and research, I had acquired, I thus gave him the different options that could be good, and I think that to limit the strain of building a big ARS, smaller versions will be better within the schools found there. The reason why I say this as well is because of the availability of resources. Sometimes we see that the Southern country's' schools and university will lack funding for these types of technologies which is a shame really as they can benefit as well from the experience of engagement and learning that this device will bring. And some universities mentioned to me that, funding plays a big role into acquiring certain technology and/or starting these kinds of projects.

One university in Latin America also mentioned that they wanted to improve on the set up's software, however, to find an undergraduate in IT (programmer) willing to dedicate their time to make changes to the source program is unfortunately difficult.

Going back to our size and forms, we can have standard sized version as well, like ours at the laboratories, or we can have large standalone versions which are suitable for big science centers or museums with spacious rooms and high ceilings who will usually display it for open days or big science events/festivals like figure 36 below. It is to be noted that for all those sandbox sizes, their built specifications are different including the type of equipment used, the height possible of the video projector and Kinect camera and the space that would be better for them. Furthermore, their time use will be different as well. Bigger models are designed for long operating hours and will handle long lasting intense usage. It is also important to mention that regardless of dimensions for the standard versions and the larger versions, I found that some ARS of those size was not necessarily high in terms of its height, some were built closer to the ground, that is a few centimeters above the ground, for small children to get access to it as seen below in figure 37. Furthermore, as mentioned with these different specifications and dimensions one should understand and consider that the Kinect camera's fields of view would be affected. Due to its fixed field-of-view, it has to be mounted at approximately the same height above the intended sand surface as the sandbox's width. For example, a sandbox of 100cm x 75cm => Kinect and projector height should be 100cm. although not perfect, but a pretty good calibration. What you would have to consider here is the price, some of these might be expensive. Some people have mentioned that you can use any normal projector as long as it is sufficiently bright and has a short throw length and a native 4:3 aspect ratio to match the fieldof-view of the Kinect camera. Some models have their projectors and cameras fitted into a box above the sandbox itself as seen in figure 38 below. Others, either one of the two equipment is either in a box and the other out, like our Dynam'eau whose camera is fitted in a box but projector outside. This is simply a matter of choice. As long as both are at the same elevation (figure 39). This was said to me many times during my conversations that is the importance of having both at the same altitude. One other option I found out was said to me by the University of Philippines whereby they use two projectors with the ARS, when teaching topographic maps and how to create cross sections, they attach another projector to the ARS that projects the image onto a whiteboard as a 2D image. This way, students can directly see and correlate the 3D topography with the 2D map on the board. In regard to the Kinect camera, we know that there is two version that can be used, the v1 and v2.

There were some problems previously with using the v2, however, upon contacting Mr. Oliver Kreylos from UC Davis, he mentioned that he recently updated this to better support the v2. Apparently, the behavior for the Kinect V2 is now in line or similar with the previous Kinect V1 which should fix issues that was happening before with sandbox layout and projector alignment (to see this update, access the forum of UC Davis site).

For the computer, some schools, universities, and organization choose to use one with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX where the sandbox will be displayed. It is possible as well to have a mesh or net around your sandbox, to trap sand that is spilt over when participants are interacting with it. One contact from a school in France mentioned that they use self serving trays which acts as a mini sandbox. In view of the fact that there can be many children in a class, they had the students form groups of two and each one came with their tray under the camera so they could interact with the camera. We can also use small artifacts such as 3D printed buildings representing houses or power plants for example as in the case of the University of Sydney who uses this to simulate air pollution, dams as well can be used and hedges, plastic lego trees to stop runoff can be used, or legos that can represent buildings, arrows, strings and wordings, all can be placed on the sand which is interactive. The laboratories is planning to make 3D models to engage with the ARS for future use especially for the Fête de la Science.

One of the most important things to consider also, is the type of sand used. Normal sand is good to use, although it can be problematic cleaning wise. Usually the whiter the sand the better for clear image projections. What I have found is that there are many interesting alternatives that can be used instead of our normal sand and of course the use will vary according to the price. A new substrate in addition to sand; recycled paper pulp has been used effectively by Reactive Digital Systems in the USA. Their argument is that many museums and schools cannot accommodate sand, hence the new substrate used.

The pulp has good color, retains its shape, and does not damage other exhibits when transported in the AR Sandbox. The paper is recycled from the pulp deemed unusable for creating commercial paper products and is therefore environmentally friendly. Last but not least, one very interesting alternative to sand that was passed on to me was the use of stackable topographic map shapes. The good news with this is that it can stack higher than sand, so more varied terrain can be created. The bad news is that they are not quite as intuitive as seeing/making hills and valleys out of sand. But for the organization the issue with sand finally outweighed the slight loss in interactivity. Guest who never saw the sand seem as engaged as those who used it when there was sand (figure 40 below). Some materials can be very expensive such as a frame of aluminum but the gains of it will be worth it at the end. If you are aiming for greater quality, efficiency, or even accuracy, the choice in type of computer, Kinect and projector is a considerable factor. I will not be showing the different prices for each material or equipment used in our findings above, however a simple internet search will do the trick if one wants to know of price ranges. Some respondents agreed that to build the sandbox frame and structure cost them very little, and some took materials already available in their local environment. They made do with local resources already present. They also told me that it was for the three other hardware's, that they had to spend a bit of money on. One contact here in France mentioned that all three equipment, cost around €1000. However, it is possible to get these equipment in secondhand versions which will be relatively cheaper than buying new ones. An alternative to consider. Ultimately prices will depend on fundings available. Funding is always a tricky business especially for a school or a university. Sometimes there are funding readily available for projects especially STEM or Science projects but sometimes not so much as other matters are of priority.

Some schools, universities and organizations outsource external contractors or an external party such as joinery and/or construction companies, Fablabs, designing studios, private companies, to help in building an ARS and install the software. This is sometimes due to the fact that a school or university or organization (like non-profits) will not have the technical skills and/or manpower to build an ARS and install the software. Some of these contractors, however, will donate their time and expertise to school, universities, or other organizations, building the ARS at no cost. I have seen that there are now more and more contractors building the AR Sandboxes for commercial usage. One of the advantages of this is that the system is a fully functional system, that comes already pre-calibrated (so no calibration may be needed), comes with a selection of games/modules installed (up to you to choose as well what kind you want), and has different design options depending on where you are going to use the ARS (i.e., home use, classroom, museum). Therefore, these systems will of course have different price ranges.

g) Modules and Use

As we know we can use the ARS to simulate water flow. Water is a critical resource for all life on earth. When it flows on the earth surface, it travels, converges, and diverges based on the shape of landforms. In using the ARS to teach hydrology we can study the water cycle, watersheds, explain how lakes and rivers can be of different shapes, how it can be formed from glaciers, faulting, or warping of the earth's crust. Some are also man-made and different lakes and rivers of the world are of different depths, shapes, chemistries with different ecosystems. With the water flow simulation, we can thus see different erosional and depositional processes. We can make connections between erosional processes and landform shape, see how on steeper slopes or on gentler slopes where would erosional processes be the strongest.

We could see what happens to sediments carried by rivers when it reaches the bottom of a hill for example.

We can then also see how human activities such as construction, road building and other activities will affect these processes. Water flows in forms of rainstorms can also be simulated to visualize flooding risks and landslides in an area. Rain, runoff, river routing and floods as well as dike breaks, dam failures can be shown. In Italy, the museum of hydroelectric power uses the ARS to show visitors the process of water precipitation and interaction with the ground, creation of lakes and rivers before using the water for energy production in a power plant. In Sweden, Teknikens Hus informed me that they have seen that it is possible to use urban programs where railroads and waterways are built with the help of building blocks with QR codes. Loreto Kirribilli, a school in Australia, uses the snow feature simulation alongside the water flow feature. Opposite to the water flow feature we can also simulate droughts, by removing all the water from the ARS. Reasons for droughts can thus be discussed, which can also be linked to how climate change can cause droughts, how the way clouds and moisture move through the atmospheric changes which can prevent an area from receiving rain. Human impacts of drought can also be discussed as well as the many social effects caused by droughts which includes people becoming sick or die without enough water, excess dust causing health problems, economic losses due to drought (failed crops and businesses), environmental impacts of drought to ecosystems (on plants and animals), increases in wildfires (case study 1), and migration of people and wildlife.

Other schools, universities, organizations, uses the sandbox in many other ways. Some uses it to teach about topographies related to glacial and gravity processes. Also, to reproduce the formation at a small scale of a volcanic and caldera cones after an eruption event of cataclysmic proportion (done by the University of Montpellier). The normal water feature is then replaced by the lava feature instead, showing the risks possible resulting from the flow of lava (and the possibility to reduce the destruction of a village by diverting the flows. This can also show how another risk can arise when saving a village, but diversion can cause the destruction of another). We can also use the ARS to visualize the levels of water in marsh/mangrove areas that is the zones that would be submerged by the water. Some organizations are thinking of possibilities to do animations in regard to planet Mars (Musée du Sable, France and the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, USA). We know that there are physical structures such as sand dunes found on this planet therefore understanding the processes and formations on earth allows the potential to transpose this onto Mars thus providing a better understanding of formations of these dunes and specific conditions required to deduce the history of the Red Planet. All this can be done with the physical properties that sand offers. Furthermore, Musée du Sable is one organization very engaged in talking and engaging with the public. They test out hypotheses an idea is provided by the public that can lead to improvements in their device. Something that the two laboratories of Caen and Rouen was thinking of as well. This would have been possible especially by the different events/festivals we would have participated in, when displaying the sandboxes or even through special workshops done.

In addition to archaeological simulations of digs mentioned in previous sections I found that Archéodev in Switzerland uses photogrammetry of archaeological items such as masks as seen in figure 41 below. They bring this into Civil 3D, convert it to a Civil 3DTIN Surface, add correct limit to the surface in order to obtain the correct ratio width/length end to scale the model and size they want it to be projected. From this TIN surface, they extract a DEM .tif file which is in the same ratio as the Kinect and project this onto the sandbox. However, the tif file needs to go through conversion to GRID format, for it to be recognized by the ARS. Center in the UK uses the ARS to aid in conservation programs and sensitization, and to also make the wild landscapes of the parks accessible to all, while another, the Albany Pine Bush Preserve, in the USA uses it to demonstrate sand dunes formations and conservation at the preserve.

Bathymetry is another field whereby the ARS is used as we saw in our DRR section. In addition to this, the UK Hydrographic Office which uses the ARS for bathymetry, uses it also to explain the advantages and disadvantage of open-source software, to introduce how you can divert a piece of technology to do another job (Kinect camera), that is, how remote sensing using satellites work.

Aurecon Australia uses the ARS to demonstrate the role of stop banks, how stop banks can be moved from their current positions to give people better access to rivers, to be able to install paths, trails and new ecosystem whilst protecting surrounding properties. Stop banks are continuous mounds of earth that are higher than a river's water levels. The ARS is used to show the importance of stop banks as well and how they can be an inclusive part of the design of regenerative areas. Staying in Australia, the university of Sydney uses modules that simulate air pollution as previously mentioned. They use a 3D power plant planted on the ARS to see the levels and emissions of air pollution. Thus, you can visualize how pollutants spread across a location and draw trends from this. This enables the description and analysis of global environmental problems such as climate change and the role played by civil engineers in generating, preventing, and resolving these problems. They also use a traffic modeling simulation module whereby relevance of what is being modelled and, through scenario simulations, engage stakeholders in planning processes. Participatory modelling also builds cooperation and capacity amongst participants, as well as mutual learning and discussion (Fisher et al., 2019). Similarly, participatory GIS is commonly used to increase stakeholder engagement and the incorporation of local knowledge into planning processes, and 3D participatory GIS uses the third dimension to support mapping local knowledge (Fisher et al., 2019).

In addition to what is said above, we wanted to do the 3D modeling as well to enhance the capabilities to the AR sandbox to enable users to create, visualize, and interact with digital representations of the built environment and to brainstorm on other potential ideas that may be relevant in keeping to the new thematic axes of the future IDEES laboratory in addition to the physical terrain that is represented by the sand.

Thus, the IDEES laboratory hosted a two-day workshop, to introduce the NetLogo software, which is a multi-agent participatory programming language and integrated development environment for agentbased modeling. Colleagues from the LETG laboratory and from other departments within the UMR was also present. The laboratories have been using this software alongside GAMA which is also a modeling and simulation software for building spatially explicit agent-based simulations. These software's can thus be a gateway to making various analysis with the ARS device. As of yet coupling these software's with the ARS has proven to be difficult. The University of Salzburg in Austria informed me that they were trying to use GAMA with the ARS but was not successful. However, they wrote their own python script to visualize and import elevations into GAMA. Another software that has been experimented with to use with the ARS is GEMPY, an open-source 3D geological modelling tool. This tool can be used to generate 3D structural geological models in Python. As such, it enables you to create complex combinations of stratigraphical and structural features such as folds, faults, and unconformities. As of yet I am not sure if there has been success in that regard, although I know some attempts have been made.

C. Is a Low technology version of the AR Sandbox possible?

Low technology responds to the essential needs of the individual or the collective. It contributes to making possible healthy and relevant ways of living, production, and consumption for all in fields as varied as energy, food, water, waste management, materials, housing, transport, hygiene, and health. To define something as low tech, it must be accessible to the largest number of people. It must therefore be possible to manufacture and/or repair it locally, its operating principles must be easy to understand, and its cost adapted to a large part of the population. It thus favors a greater autonomy of the populations at all levels, as well as a better distribution of the value or work. It also has to be sustainable, eco-designed, resilient, robust, repairable, recyclable, agile, functional: low-tech invites us to think about and optimize the ecological, social, and societal impacts of using technology at all stages of its life cycle (design, production, use, end of life), even if this sometimes implies using less technology, and more sharing or collaboration. Due to certain scenarios, a big part related to the issue of funding in regard to the ARS, I wanted to explore the idea of building a low-tech version of the ARS so that schools and universities who lack funding resources can still be able to profit with this technological device especially in the southern countries. Small-scale augmented reality sandbox that accommodates 10 students or less may be the optimal measure to make the most effective use of a sandbox, and this could also be cost-effective. Using cost-effective materials to build is an option (see physical structure and design section) as well as building a much smaller device in size. In one conversation I had with a contact, she mentioned that she once saw a man who brought an AR Sandbox to the event she was attending. However, it was not the typical sandbox. As he flew all the way from Greece and could not bring his whole setup, he took one of his suitcases and filled it with sand and did the animation from there. She also mentioned that she had heard of other people using inflatable kiddie pools whereby sand can be placed. Therefore, I think that for the structure, it is possible to use any container for the sand and depending on the type of sand used bear in mind the moisture aspect as well. The problem, however, lies in that a Kinect camera and video projector will still be needed for the set-up. The abundance of camera phones, however, is an advantage in terms of built in 3D cameras, which can be potentially used instead of the Kinect. Secondhand smartphones can be a cheaper alternative. This remains to be attempted. Also, I have heard that cheap home projectors can be used although depending on throw and resolution will reduce quality of the image, but it is a possibility.

In regard to the computer, some contacts told me that as long as the graphics card is good you can use any computer. Furthermore, like smartphones, cheap secondhand computers can be easily accessible.

D. Engagements of Local Actors

As we said in the introduction, part of the internship objectives was to get into contact with local actors in Basse and Haute Normandie, i.e., potential actors that could be interested in the AR Sandbox for any project/event they might deem to be suitable. Project ranging from the environments in a broad context to more specific geographical context, to the social outreaches (sensitization and awareness campaign) context with children, students and public. As I used the sites as explained in the methodology, I identified many key actors and send them an email telling them about myself, my internship, my host organization and what we were hoping to build with them, that is a collaborative partnership. I managed to get some good feedbacks from some organizations, to be noted as well that some had not replied as of yet due to it being the summer holidays at the time of contact. The ones who replied were interested with the ARS as a good source for mediation especially within museums such as le Musée des Antiquités et Museum d'histoire naturelle of Rouen. We also got a potential collaboration with the Rouen Metropole in the Éducation à l'Environnement & Mobilisation Citoyenne section. In general, we were hoping to push the use of the ARS further to potential developments integrating questions on diverse domains such as geoarchaeology and spatial planning. Furthermore, a coupling of the ARS with spatial simulations is another avenue we were going to explore as mentioned previously. Other organizations especially the non-for-profits, were interested as well. I had a video call from one organization, Planète Science Normandie, who proposed some future events where the ARS could be featured. Events related to animation and mediation on sustainable development and the environments, as well as climate change.

One organization, l'Agence Normande de la Biodiversité et du Développement Durable, even suggested the fact that the device would be suitable to their need to develop even further the culture of risks to sensitize the local inhabitants and public in general, but also the increased need to involve populations in their territory projects for resilience, adaptation to different issues more specifically to climate change and urban planning. They informed me that scale models are generally very suitable tools to carry out consultation and education actions with the targeted audience. And given other challenges in Normandie especially related to water due to climate change, a model dedicated to this subject and to floods seems to them very appropriate.

Other responses such as that of La Communauté d'Agglomération de Lisieux Normandie, who were looking more towards water cycles and the protection and development of the environment, suggested that the device would be suitable for education and awareness raising actions on sustainable development particularly with school children which they work closely with, or with the general public during big events such as environmental fairs, the Cambremer Festival, or Rendez-vous Nature. They mentioned that pre-covid 19 period, their water cycle department welcomed school children to the Lisieux wastewater treatment plant for a presentation of the small water cycle. In addition, they integrated the subject of urban storm water management whereby the learn and are aware of the issue of runoff and water infiltration. One final potential partner, from Les Pieds Sur Terre, introduced the fact that she is able to work in networks with different other partners to build common projects. They form a global, sustainable, and local approach. She mentioned the necessity for her to develop her activities on the basis of communication, respect, and mutual aid of each partner/structure of the Norman territory. The aim thus, is to "corporate to operate" together on concrete actions of environmental education. She also proposes educational interventions adapted to each public. The structures she works with are diversified around environmental themes from coastlines, water, energy, waste to forests and gardens that she readjusts better according to the needs and requests of each structure. She builds her animations for and with her public in collaboration with an educational team which is why she was really interested in what the ARS could do and could further bring to her animations and mediation activities.

All this shows the diverse interest in the Normandie region pertaining to the AR Sandbox as a good scientific mediation tool. I am sure that cooperation and collaboration would be nurtured and enriched in future after my internship is over as meetings would be set up now that the new academic year has started (as of September 2021). This will further fit into the new thematic themes of the UMR as of next year, solidifying and strengthening the themes and the objectives.

VII. Overall thoughts and comments on the internship study I went into this internship with a positive mindset and an open mind to learn not only about the ARS and its many possibilities but to acquire knowledge and experiences that a working environment in France could be like. Growing up and working in the Seychelles, life is not as simple as people think it is, the "island life" as they say. Regardless of the calm and relaxing atmosphere that the islands have, going to work every day is fast paced and intimidating. Sometimes I felt overwhelmed with the amount of expectations that the island society places on its young professionals. It is not to say that it is necessarily a bad thing, however, it could be a lot for people who just started their working careers. Starting my internship with the laboratories, I was not expecting how welcoming and fresh it would be, it felt right which gave me the motivation to keep going and do well in my work, so that I could deliver results. I had a mindset of getting the most out of the internship as possible so that I could be proud of what I delivered to my host organizations and so that they could have some good data and deliverables from which they could work with when I left. I feel that I tried my best to meet the objectives of the internship, which if we go back to them as mentioned in our introduction, was to carry out bibliographic research on the different ARS in France and Internationally so that this would lead to ideas of further developments on and of the devices found in both laboratories. To identify and contact different actors in Normandy to see if they would be interested in the device, if it fits their mandates, plans, and projects they have in the works or would have in future, and thus, create that collaborative synergy between them and the laboratories.

Furthermore, in regard to the working environment, as mentioned above, it felt right and fresh. With both laboratories making me feel welcomed upon my arrival. In both places, even though I was working autonomously most of the time, my supervisors always checked up on me, making sure I was alright and that everything with the internship was going well. They were always ready to help me on things when I needed it and they always guided me in the right direction with the internship. We had debriefing meetings every few weeks, where I would present my findings that I had acquired thus far, and we brainstormed on other materials and/or information that would be great for me to find out and search for. Moreover, with the making of the videos of the ARS's for both labs, it was a fun additional project for me to get immersed in besides the original objectives of the internship. Furthermore, within the labs, there were other interns and doctoral students, who were very nice, and made the working environment enjoyable as well. I am very grateful for the five months spent with everyone and I thank each and every one of them for their kindness, support and knowledge transferred to me along the way.

In looking at this study however, it is not to say that it does not have its limitations. Although I tried to keep the questions I asked in the emails simple and straight forward, some respondents found it hard sometimes to understand what I really wanted to know and was unsure how they might be of help.

This could be due to the fact that some respondents mentioned that they had only started working for the schools, universities, and organizations, fairly recently and although they knew that an AR Sandbox existed within the schools, universities, and organizations, they had limited information and specifications to provide. Whereas someone who had helped with an ARS project since conception would have detailed information not only about the processes that took place to develop it, but they would provide their experiences good or bad in relation to it. Furthermore, one other drawback related to the above, I would say is, language fluency and my ability to make things be clear enough for respondents. In the latter, perhaps in writing the emails, my way of relaying and asking for information may be simple for me but not necessarily as simple and clear for the respondents. We all have different ways of writing and processing information which should be taken into account. In regard to the former, language is a big influence. As I do not speak and write Spanish and Portuguese, it could have affected the study in that perhaps writing in these native languages would have prompted respondents to be more comfortable in providing more specific information about their ARS projects. They would have been more at ease in telling me about their experiences and perhaps I could have gotten many more responses especially within the Latin American countries.

Moreover, one other drawback I found was that I was sometimes unsure of what information might be important to the study, especially with the free flowing and flexibility respondents had in answering my questions. As I mentioned previously, they did not simply answer yes or no for the close ended questions, they provided their experiences and feelings in addition to the information, therefore being biased, that is, there is a risk of confusing observations with their interpretations. Although I feel within this study, biases can be important, it can be negative and positive depending on experiences they had with the ARS. Some respondents had negative experiences especially with calibration of the ARS and in purchasing equipment, but the positive outcome of it, was that they managed to then give me good advice in what to do and what not to do. Furthermore, one other positive is seeing the ARS working well and how it impacted children, students and public, which for them, the bad experiences became worth it in the end. Some said that although the ARS is a good tool, they found that it was limited in some teachings they wanted students to grasp, which is why they eventually stopped using it. Therefore, I find that the validity of some of these statements becomes prominent if many respondents are saying the same thing and are having the same problems at the end of the day. Last but not least, another drawback in relation to access, was of course the covid-19 pandemic, disrupting the entire world. Many people are working from home since 2020, therefore, some could not provide specific information as many schools, universities and organization headquarters were still closed.

I believe that the methods used in this study are applicable elsewhere, to schools, universities and organization wishing to undertake a similar one. They might even do it in more specific ways that I may not have thought of during my internship. In order to reach out to/contact more people around the world, perhaps a small team would be suitable to share the load. One or two individuals more, especially ones that can speak Spanish and Portuguese as well which would further increase the external validity of the research by increasing the representativeness of respondents.

VIII. Conclusion

To sum up our internship study, I have shown throughout this body of work, the many possibilities that exists to improve on the AR Sandboxes found in both of the laboratories of Caen and Rouen. Different factors can be taken into account from this point forward depending on the priorities of the labs. The equipment used is one factor that is most relevant at this stage. The sand used within the ARS's will definitely be changed to potentially the Kinetic Sand type. 3D maquettes interacting with the ARS's which would be representing buildings, trees, dams for example, as well as developing 3D maps that can be placed on the sand are avenues the labs would be exploring. Furthermore, the labs want to add additional modes/modules which is linked as well to the aspect factor of simulations and modelling which is one of the key thematic areas of the new combining UMR. Discussions around having archeological modes/modules which could simulate digs for example was an avenue, simulations of earthquakes as well by designing some sort of contraption onto the sandbox was put forward, and more importantly the possibility of coupling the NetLogo, GAMA and/or GEMPY software's with the ARS was particularly appreciated. These amendments would be good at this stage as well due to the fact that there are upcoming activities and events that the labs could participate in, one being the Fête de la Science. In the near future, the labs will be applying for a call for proposal in order to put forward a new improved AR Sandbox project based on the findings. In hopes that this is successful, and funding will be available, a new version of the AR Sandbox would be built, a 2.0 version one might say. This will be quite a fun time I feel, as there will be lots to consider from then on. Based on our findings, the physical structure and design could be different, other materials can be used, maybe the form would be changed. Perhaps adding control buttons or using LCD screens directly on the structure would be explored, the possibility of adding LED lights or the fact that the next ARS might be smaller in size, whereby it would facilitate transportability (one that could be easily placed directly on a surface for example). So, I find that there are many ways, possibilities to explore, to make one's creative juices flow as they say.

When it comes to the influences on and the use of the AR Sandbox in STEM education and Disaster Risk Reduction fields, I think that it is safe to say that we showed how influential and productive this device can be. With the many research done and some mentioned within our literature review, as well as the case studies presented, it goes to show that it is truly a project worth undertaking. As it is an interdisciplinary mediation device, it could help children/students to develop cognitively, developing their knowledge and skills not only within STEM curriculums in schools/universities but also within their social cultural everyday environments. Being a fun interactive tool, the ARS can foster engagement, participation and empowerment which can enhance learning skills and boost interests within subject courses.

It can help the public by sensitizing them, making them more aware about the environment around them.

Linking this to the DRR field not only will they be more conscious of the risks surrounding them but how they can be prepared and vigilant as well as resilient to those risks within their surrounding environment.

Furthermore, being quite an effective communicative tool, the ARS can be used to show and simulate, processes in local environments within communities, and foster collaboration between all involved in a community, whether it be researchers, public, NGO's, government and private actors and organizations, thus creating that synergy. In doing so, ideas can flow on how to improve the environment and its communities, and this can lead to effective policy implementation whereby every individual can benefit.

However, it is not to say that the AR Sandbox does not have certain flaws. As stated by some of my contacts, certain concepts are hard to get across as it is limited in a way to specific contents. This I think might be due to the fact that some contacts do not really know about the extents of improvements that have been done in the ARS world whether it be in the variety of tools that can be used with the ARS and/or modules that can be installed on it. My hope is that with this thesis, some might be able to have some good information so as to then on see if they will continue using and developing on their devices further for the future. Moreover, the ARS can be limited to the number of children/students/public that can interact with it at one point. Not all schools, universities and organizations will have the resources especially the fundings to build multiple ARSs for use. In addition, with the limited time that an individual gets to interact with it, does not mean that they will fully grasp the core idea behind it, as well as the message being relayed to them. Some authors like Giorgis et al., (2017), believe that more time working with the AR sandbox as well as using the AR sandbox repeatedly throughout sessions will be better. Therefore, I believe that with the many possibilities I have shown, this might now change. In regard to the expertise especially with simulations/modelling and addition of new modules, there is a community out there ready and willing to help individuals, schools, universities, and other organizations with these. I believe that with the contacts and information that the laboratories now have, they can be a focal point to connect with others in the ARS world, and to help in any way they can time permitting of course.

I would have liked to have more information as to why there is such an imbalance with the use of the ARS within the southern regions more specifically the African continent and the Small Island States, in view of the fact that the ARS is much more used now in Latin America and Southeast Asia. Like I said in the introduction is it a question of lack of knowledge and information with regard to the device, or a question of resources such as human, funding and/or administrative, or perhaps it is not a priority project to undertake. Although with the few responses I got, there was that curiosity in regard to undertaking such a project, and the interest to develop in not only within their universities but within the surrounding communities. Which is great because as we mentioned throughout the thesis, the ARS is adaptable. It can be adapted to local contexts. I believe it should be a project that could be continuously promoted within the African continent and the Small Island States. Perhaps in future, there might be more developments that allow for less expensive hardware to be used, and also there might be concrete low technology ways and facilities to build an ARS device that can be easily accessed even in the remotest of places.

In regard to engagement of local actors within the Normandie region, we do see the curiosity and the willingness to engage in the project with the laboratories. Local actors see the potential that this device can bring which falls well under their mandates and which supports their values. Furthermore, it gives an additional boost to their current and future projects. Thus, with the local contacts the laboratories now have, they can build new collaborative relationships which will be of great use, and which will link well with the new thematic axes and objectives of the UMR.

To conclude this thesis, one thing I can definitely say is that the interaction, participation, communication, learning, socializing, the togetherness and engagement that this device brings is evident.

I will say also that more is yet to come in relation to this device. More novel ideas, ways of interactions, designs, simulations will be possible in the near future. It is exciting just to think about it. It is just a matter of time and dedication of people to keep on exploring the world that is the Augmented Reality Sandbox.

I.

  Introduction .................................................................................................................................... A. Background .................................................................................................................................. B. Problem Statement .........................................................................................................................

Figure 1 :

 1 Figure 1: Diagram of the four new thematic axes of the UMR IDEES (source photo from UMR IDEES, 2021)

4 .

 4 Finally, an integrating and reflexive "Inégalités, Parcours de vie et Action Publique" axe structured as a place of scientific animation and mediation to strengthen the thematic and disciplinary diversity of the UMR. The "inequalities, life course, public action" axis proposes to question the spatial and temporal dimensions of social inequalities throughout the life cycles of people (from childhood, youth, adulthood, old age) by understanding the global and political logics that structure them. The objective of this reflexive axis is the creation of a space of dialogue between approaches by social structures and by the actors, taking into account at the same time the individuals, the social groups and institutions, one of the challenges being to better analyze and understand sociospatial complexities that exists. The ambition of this axis is to constitute a place of "communalities" and scientific animation where the focus on social dimensions allows for a collaboration and participation of the other axes, especially the "Interactions Environnements-Sociétés" axe (UMR IDEES, 2021). The aim is to explore new avenues of work, to put them to the test, to open up more to the problems of socio-economic inequalities and life courses, and to shed light on public action.

Figure 4 :

 4 Figure 4: On the left showing the Kinect for Xbox 360 (v1) and on the right Kinect for Xbox One (v2)

  as cited bySoltis et al., (2020), further affirms that engagement is "based on the constructivist assumption that learning is influenced by how an individual participates in educationally purposeful activities" and that this participation, or engagement, transcends several different dimensions. The work ofFredricks et al., (2004) based on prior work by Bloom (1956)[START_REF] Gasper | Is Sen's Capability Approach an Adequate Basis for Considering Human Development?[END_REF] takes this further, to say that, engagement can be divided into three dimensions: behavioral engagement, emotional engagement, and cognitive engagement.Behavioral engagement describes how involved students are with the task at hand, the emotional dimension relates to student interest and emotional response, and lastly, the cognitive engagement relates more to the level of rigor and challenge in the learning activities in which students are engaged(Fredricks et al., 2004). The last dimension linking to Jean Piaget's theory of Cognitive Development (for more of Piaget's theory of Cognitive Development check Huitt and Hummel (2003)) of whereby he believed that 10 Mascolo, M. F., & Fischer, K. W. (2005). Constructivist theories. Cambridge Encyclopedia of Child Development (pp. 49-63). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. 11 Coates, H. (2005). The value of student engagement for higher education quality assurance. Quality in Higher Education, 11(1), 25-36. https://doi.org/10.1080/13538320500074915 12 Bloom, B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. D McKay & Co, Inc.

Furthermore, as said

  by Brau, (2018) cited byKimmons and Caskurlu, (2018), and based on the works of Mr. Lev Vygotsky, one of the major theorists of Social Constructivism which can be seen as another branch of the main Constructivism approach, whose work has been compared to that of Piaget's, especially emphasizes that culture and social interactions plays a large role in cognitive development in other words the development of knowledge. Social constructivism, as described by Vygotsky, is learning whereby children develop their individual subjective understanding through social interactions with others(Karpov 2005)

13 Karpov

 13 , Y. V. (2005). The Neo-Vygotskian Approach to Child Development. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316036532 14 Vygotsky, Lev. (1987) Thought and Language, newly revised and edited, M.I.T. Press 15 Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. (A. R. Luria, M. Lopez-Morillas, M. Cole, & J. V. Wertsch, Trans.). Harvard University Press.

  cited by (Leinonen et al., 2021) investigated technology mediated play and found that digital augmentation with tangible objects served as a common cue that prompted children to gather together and share interpretations in their own creative way. George et al., (2020) 19 16 Fosnot, T. C. 1989. Enquiring teachers, enquiring learners: A constructivist approach for teaching. New York: Teachers College Press 17 Driscoll, M. P. 2000. Psychology of Learning for Instruction. (2nd ed.). Needham Heights, Ma: Allyn & Bacon. 18 Hong, J., D. Ko, and W. Lee. 2019. "Investigating the Effect of Digitally Augmented Toys on Young Children's Social Pretend Play." Digital Creativity 30 (3): 161-176. 19 George, R., C. Howitt, and G. Oakley. 2020. "Young Children's Use of an Augmented Reality Sandbox to Enhance Spatial Thinking." Children's Geographies 18 (2): 209-221.

  Elkonin, D. B. (2005). The Psychology of Play. Journal of Russian & East European Psychology, 43(1), 11-21.

  learning around in previous geological mapping classes. Geological mapping is often one of the most difficult concepts to teach students, given the complex visualization techniques required to fully grasp what is going on. The ARS put life into what until now has been a test of the student's 3D interpretation skills! It helped form a bridge in their learning between what they see on paper and the real-world physical realities" cited in the document of the University of Sydney (2017).

  locations, contexts, and individuals. No single, miracle solution can fit everywhere; however, a general concept does seem to apply universally: enhancing capacities, reducing vulnerability and building resilience requires increasing participation of local communities especially within indigenous local communities, as has long been encouraged in development research, policy and practice(Gaillard, 2010).Local communities nearly always constitute the first line of defense in reducing vulnerability and building resilience. A wide consensus acknowledges the capacities of local communities in dealing with climaterelated and other natural hazards on their own, as long as they are empowered with adequate resources(Gaillard, 2010). The concept of Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction (CBDRR) fosters the participation of threatened communities in the evaluation and reduction of risk (including hazards, vulnerability, capacities and resilience)(Gaillard, 2010).Contemporary global pressures, such as urbanization, climate change, deforestation and globalization (which have links among each other), are continuing the trend of large-scale changes and are tending to increase the vulnerability of local indigenous societies of the world to hazards leading to disasters(Wisner, 2006). In both northern and southern countries, local indigenous communities have not always gained from science and technology in relation to disaster risk reduction(Kelman et al., 2012). Rather, they have continued to rely on their own knowledge with its advantages and disadvantages(Kelman et al., 2012).The term 'indigenous knowledge' has no universally accepted definition. Other phrases, sometimes seen as similar to and overlapping with it, are 'traditional knowledge', 'indigenous technical knowledge', as well as 'local knowledge'. Indigenous knowledge tends to refer to a body of information passed down through generations in a given locality and acquired through the accumulation of experiences, relationships with the surrounding environment, and traditional community rituals, practices, and institutions. Such knowledge as mentioned by(Kelman et al., 2012) is:1. Relatively unique to and embedded within a specific community, culture or society and thus is not usually transferable or immediately relevant to other locations 2. Based mainly on local experience over a long time period 3. Stable because it is relevant to a place and cultural context over generations 4. Dynamic by changing at the generational time scale as youngsters learn from their elders and incorporate their own world views and any environmental or social changes they experience.Disaster risk reduction is one development area where indigenous knowledge has too often been downplayed, on the assumption that external, especially recent, knowledge is superior to communities' own traditions and approaches(Kelman et al., 2012). What our ARS can do however, is bring together and combine this local knowledge of local indigenous communities with more scientific knowledge from external actors 'specialists' as they are called, to enhance DRR methods. As said byKelman et al., (2012), a combination of indigenous and external approaches could help disaster risk reduction. It is easy to argue that indigenous people must be active players in their own communities, assessing and determining how they would wish to reduce their own vulnerabilities and build their own capacities(Kelman et al., 2012).However, often times we see that dominant strategies for DRR tend to follow a top-down, command-andcontrol, war strategy-based, technocratic approach(Kelman et al., 2012). They foster transfer of knowledge, experience, technology from Northern countries to the South which is not the right approach.The combination of indigenous knowledge with improved awareness campaigns, technologies for all which can include our ARS, access to resources, training of local scientists and researchers and increased funding capacities from external actors can help to minimize disasters in the developing world. In order for this to be successful, participation is key as mentioned previously. Why are people's participation in DRR important? Disasters are local issues. Nobody can understand local opportunities and constraints better than local people themselves and nobody is more interested in reducing the risk of disaster (at large) than people whose survival and well-being are at stake[START_REF] Hobson | Our Augmented reality sandbox is on show today at[END_REF] . Disaster risk reduction should therefore start from the local level and draw upon locally available resources and capacities, i.e., CBDRR and potentially harmonizing it with external techniques, technologies, and knowledge. Disaster risk reduction should rely upon approaches, methods, attitudes, and behavior meant to enable and empower people to share, analyze and enhance their knowledge of life and conditions and to plan, act, monitor, evaluate, and reflect, i.e., Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) (Navizet, 2021)[START_REF] Ma | Le film sur la démarche et les objectifs LittoSIM[END_REF] .Therefore, a Participatory 3-dimensional mapping tool (P3DM) (seeJoshi et al., (2016) for more) or a 3D projection-Augmented Landscape Model (3DPALM) like our ARS has been effective in many cases as we will see in the case studies below alongside other known methods such as warning systems, emergency drills, information and workshops campaigns were hazard maps, booklets, and videos are used.It not only fosters communication and visualization between local indigenous communities and externalactors but fosters communication and visualization of geospatial hazards and risks which is another important component of disaster risk reduction and management. As said by Kundu and Nawaz (2019), the way the risk is visualized and communicated shapes the risk perception and actions in preparedness in response to an imminent disaster. Risk visualization and its effective communication can also influence the intervening decisions all across the disaster management cycle (Kundu and Nawaz, 2019).Often times successful risk communication and visualization depend on the knowledge gap between the specialists and the local people. In developing nations, this knowledge gap is very wide and is primarily due to the urban-rural setting leading to differential access to education and technology. Specialists, who operate from urban settings, are skillful in the use of technology and tools for hazard risk modelling but unlike local people, lack local knowledge. Local people, on the other hand, have little understanding of the professional expertise needed for understanding geospatial risk from natural hazards.

  Navizet F. (2021) 'Involving People in DRR, Participation as a process', Chapter 8, M2 International Development Studies, Lecture notescomprehensive learning by allowing the hazard process to be simulated and visualized in relation to a realworld model. It forms part of the holistic theory that defines learning as the major process of human adaptation involving the whole person also known as the Experiential learning theory. The holistic nature of the learning process means that it operates at all levels of human society, from the individual to the group, two organizations and to society as a whole. Therefore, if tailored to specific disasters in different geomorphic regions, the ARS has all the ingredients to be a successful instrument for disaster risk visualization and communication.a)Case study 1: Northern Australia savanna fire managementIn northern Australia, there has been an increasing effort to improve fire management by using fire mapping data to help guide prescribed burning programs with indigenous and rural stakeholders(Fisher et al., 2019). The Arnhem Land region of Northern Australia is primarily owned by Indigenous TraditionalOwners. 3DPALM fire simulations in the form of the AR Sandbox were used to support training and fire management planning in a diverse cross-cultural and cross-linguistic space(Fisher et al., 2019). This was done through training workshops run over several days in small, remote 'outstation' communities in 2017 and 2018. The ARS used followed the similar standard set-ups; however, participants used an infrared light pen or a cigarette lighter as the source of light to initiate simulation of fires directly on the sand surface(Fisher et al., 2019). In this case, the sand-based fire simulation was set-up outside under the stars were participants sat around, commented, and interacted with it. The 'theatre' of the 'digital fire' brought people in, especially very young people (less than 10 yrs. old) in the first instance(Fisher et al., 2019).But it also allowed older people to then participate by narrating their stories about the impacts of good and poor fire management in their own traditional, local language. Within the workshop a local mine representative, emergency services, Indigenous rangers, Indigenous Traditional Owners, and non-Indigenous ranger coordinators were present. As mentioned by Fisher et al. (2019), one of the non-Indigenous facilitators described the impact of the application in this way: "The 3D model was set up just beyond the campfire light and the brightness of the projected image on the white sand quickly attracted all those who were at the campfire. It provided an excellent extension of the reflective work being done. People were able to run simulations and talk about the outcomes in the context of fresh information they received during the days, but also in terms of their longstanding knowledge of their country. Without doubt, one of the strong features of the 3D model was the fostering of intergenerational transfer. Mature community members immediately recognized the 3D simulation model as 'fun'. And in any event children quickly squeezed between the legs of their elders and sat right on the edge of the model with their elders looking over them. To be clear, the excitement generated by the 3D model was not limited to the children". Furthermore, the mine representative working together with Indigenous and non-Indigenous rangers on their hands and knees, creating a fun and collaborative situation was seen (Fisher et al., 2019). The 3DPALM simulation facilitator set some digital fires as examples, illustrating the role of a range of fire weather and land cover variables on fire behavior (Fisher et al., 2019). Then discussions led by traditional land-owning elders started, who further explained their lived experience of recent fires in the area, which were simulated on the ARS. As shown by Fisher et al. (2019), feedback from the exercise suggested that the 3DPALM enhanced the workshop through supporting cross-cultural communication which relied in large part on a shared understanding of the landscape and landscape fire interactions which all participants could 'see'. Participants, most of whom had participated in other forms of land management planning forums, felt the 3DPALM approach led to more inclusive learning and better land management planning (Fisher et al., 2019). As one Indigenous ranger said: "everyone shared knowledge, both Yolngu [Local Indigenous] and Balanda [White Person/Outsider] …. not shy" (Fisher et al., 2019).

  Furthermore, there have been large areas of land which have been reclaimed along the east coast of Mahé to facilitate urban and industrial expansion and the development of the international airport (World Bank and Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change of Seychelles, 2019). The reclaimed land is protected by revetments with a height of 2-4 meters above mean sea level. So, continuous development like these in the coastal zone as well as the effects of climate change will further increase coastal flood and erosion risks in the decades ahead (World Bank and Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change of Seychelles, 2019). A more intensive project which has been a success story for the island nation is the Coral Reef Restoration Project. In this project, transplanting nursery-grown corals is seen as a potential method to mitigate reef degradation due to coral bleaching events on the most affected sites around the islands. Furthermore, if the donor coral colonies are survivors of previous bleaching, coral transplantation increases the spread of bleaching resistant genotypes and improves resilience.I would have loved to do an additional study of using the Augmented Reality Sandbox not only to do sensitization in the educational system of the country but in the environmental field, looking mostly towards mitigating coastal hazards for DRR and to show what else can be done to minimize impacts and to come up with potential solutions. Identifying specific local actors to help implement the project would be key. The Ministry of Education can be a very influential partner in promoting the use of the ARS within the science curriculums of the primary and secondary schools. As we have seen in the literature review, the ARS is an interdisciplinary device, therefore very useful for education. Materials and equipment can be purchased, and local resources can also be used to build the device. Another, partner would have been the University of Seychelles which has a bachelor course of Environmental Sciences and Information Systems, as well as a master's course program of Marine Sciences and Sustainability. They could also be adequately suited for the project. On the environmental side the Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment (to be noted that this is the new name of the ministry as there has been restructuring of the ministries due to a change in governance within the country as of 2020) would be good to contact as well. It has many relevant departments two of which are the Division of Risk and Disaster Management (DRDM) and the Seychelles Meteorological Authority (SMA) alongside the CAMS as mentioned previously. They would also be perfect for the project. One last actor worth mentioning, and probably the most important as it has the power to act as a focal point to then connect those different actors together forming synergies, is the National Institute for Science, Technology & Innovation (NISTI), of which I used to work for. One of their departments consists of Knowledge Management which continuously promotes STEM education in schools, and they have successfully launched some good projects related to this field within the schools in Seychelles. Furthermore, two other departments are concerned with Technology and Innovation which looks at new ways whereby technology & innovation can help in the different sectors of Seychelles' economy. Thus, I feel that the Augmented Reality Sandbox would be a perfect project for them to undertake with schools, the University and the other local actors which would have played a vital role in dissemination of information and knowledge. If I had time and the chance to, I would have contacted NISTI and see if there was a potential for this project to be undertaken in future, perhaps in building an ARS as a pilot study and then if successful more could be set up within those relevant actors' headquarters and within the schools in different districts on the island. I have also been made aware within this internship the LittoSIM program here in France, which develops and implements a participatory simulation platform as a serious playing-game for local authorities. The project aims at modeling effects of coastal flooding on urban areas of the island of Oléron and at enabling the transfer of scientific findings to local risk managers, as well as awareness of those concerned by the risk of coastal flooding (MA, 2020). This is quite interesting as the laboratories of Caen & Rouen were interested in the potential of a coupling between simulation and modelling with the ARS. Thus, one can think of what these kinds of projects can also bring to SIDS like the Seychelles. Therefore, how will the ARS benefit Small Island Development States like the Seychelles? Currently as mentioned by the World Bank and Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change of Seychelles (2019), within the CMP, priorities for coastal management includes: I. Monitoring and research of processes that affect the coastal zone to inform sustainable coastal management II. Coastal infrastructure, including engineered structures and natural systems that protect the coastline against flooding and erosion, such as groynes, sea walls, coral reefs, and coastal vegetation III. Risk-based land planning, including policies and planning practices that aim to reduce coastal flood and erosion risks for new and existing developments IV. Capacity building to improve the level of experience and expertise in the government for implementation and enforcement of good coastal management V. Awareness raising to inform and engage the public, mobilize support, and spark collective action for better coastal management.

  This gives a gentle-yet-constant reminder of his or her own bodily activity, providing an anchor to the present moment (Figure7below) (Sol Roo et al., 2017). Using a head-mounted display, the user can travel inside his or her own garden, for a moment of solitude and meditation, still accompanied by the biofeedback (Sol Roo et al., 2017).

Figure 7 :

 7 Figure 7: Manipulation processes of the Inner "Zen" Garden

Figure 8 :Figure 9 :

 89 Figure 8: Map showing the current AR Sandboxes found around the world (contacts taken from arsandbox.ucdavis.eu site, map done by Tessa Belle, 2021)

Figure 10 :

 10 Figure 10: France Contacts for the AR Sandbox (by Tessa Belle, 2021)

Figure 11 :

 11 Figure 11: Map showing the schools, Universities and Organizations contacted worldwide based on data inTable 1 (done by Tessa Belle, 2021)

Figure 12 :

 12 Figure 12: Map of the European Countries contacted in addition to France contacts (by Tessa Belle, 2021)

Figure 13 :

 13 Figure 13: Map 5 showing the AR Sandboxes from around the world in 2016 (source map from Reed et al., (2016))

  & 15 below) collectively conceptualized in 2014 by a group of doctorate students of the Laboratoire de Géographie Physique et d'Environnement GEOPHEN Caen, which is a research laboratory of the LETG at the University of Caen in Normandy. This device was made and enacted under the advice of the DOME (a scientific center in Caen) and the Fondation Musée Schlumberger, with the help of Datexim organisation (organisation specializing in image processing, image analysis and artificial intelligence (AI)), as a call for a project proposal for the Concours Têtes Chercheuses. The concours was launched in 2010, has been done every year since, is open for scientific or technical research groups/teams, for public or private organizations of

Figure 14 :

 14 Figure 14: Dynam'eau device setup Figure 15: Dynam'eau AR Sandbox

Figure 16 :

 16 Figure 16: Contour lines projected on the sandbox Figure 17: Different land uses projection on the sand

Figure 18 :

 18 Figure 18: Diagram of how an AR Sandbox will function including the Dynam'eau

Figure 19 :

 19 Figure 19: Controlling the setup with the tablet

Figure 20 :Figure 22 :

 2022 Figure 20: The AR Sandbox of IDEES Rouen Figure 21: Sandbox setup running with contour lines

Figure 23 :

 23 Figure 23: Graph showing the result of Questionnaire 1

Figure 35 :Figure 36 :➢➢

 3536 Figure 35: The AR Sandbox Model version by the School of Built Environment at the University of New South Wales, Australia (photo source School of Built Environment, 2018, still present on site in 2021)

Figure 37 :

 37 Figure 37: ARS model version constructed by Mr. Rhys George from the Bold Park Community College, Perth, Australia (photo source: University of California, 2016)

Figure 38 :

 38 Figure 38: Box whereby both video projector and Figure 39: AR Sandbox video projector and Kinect camera Kinect Camera are fitted, this model is from Ronplay in box installation at same elevation, photo provided by Kids, organization in Slovenia (photo source: the musil -museo dell'energia idroelecttrica di valle (Ronplay Kids, 2021)

Figure 40 :

 40 Figure 40: Stackable Topographic Map Shapes used by Fairmount Water Works in the USA

Figure 41 :

 41 Figure 41: Using photogrammetry of archeological items to simulate onto the AR Sandbox (source photo provided by Archéodev, Switzerland)

Figure 3 :Figure 5 :Figure 25 :Figure 26 :

 352526 Figure 3: Actions that can be performed interacting with the AR Sandbox (figure from Hod and Twersky, (2020)

  We have written a bit about social development above, however what does this term really mean?A narrow definition of social development is public welfare policies of health, education, and housing (Nederveen Pieterse, 2010:128). More often social development usually ends up in the basket of poverty alleviation. Social development can be used in contrast to economic development. But as Nederveen

	mainstream and alternative development approach. It is widely accepted that development efforts are more used for ultrasound examinations; it allows the 3D visualization of a moving fetus for example in the real (UC Davis) who designed and programmed the AR sandbox software (Reed et al., (2014) 5 cited by
	successful when there is participation from the community. Careful consideration is needed however, not position in the mother's womb with the use of an optical see-through device. Álvarez Sánchez et al., (2016)). He was inspired by a prototype of an interactive sandbox visualization
	to get lost into the hype of these approaches which sometimes only creates fancy buzzwords to try to Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that overlays virtual imagery on to a physical world setting made in the Czech Republic called Sandy Station (reference site
	define what they are about. We see that alternative development travels under many aliases -appropriate (Li and Duh 2013) 4 , enabling the real world to be viewed with additional information. In a recent article https://www.sandystation.com/sandystation-ar-sandbox/ , to be noted that there has been improvements
	Pieterse, (2010) mentions, social development can be defined as 'a process of planned social change development, participatory development, people-centered development, human-scale development, in Wired magazine, Kelly (2019), claims that the emerging digital platform, that is the Augmented Reality on the original Sandy Station over the years). The AR Sandbox structure and software which is an open-
	designed to promote the wellbeing of the population as a whole in conjunction with a dynamic process of people's self-development; and many elements relevant to alternative development are developed under is a mirror world, one where everything in the real world -every place, building, and lamppost -has its source software can be modified accordingly thus the setup itself is open to further developments. Born
	economic development'. This discourse has become popular amongst governments, international headings such as participation, participatory action research, grassroots movements, NGOs, digital twin. Augmented Reality headsets developer and computer scientist David Gelernter (1993) points out of a National Science Foundation project, the prototype of the AR Sandbox was developed at the Keck
	institutions, and many NGOs. A productivist approach to social development involves not merely empowerment, citizenship, human rights, diversity, etc., which does not facilitate generating a coherent out that a mirror world is not only a replica of the real world but something that comes with layers of Center for Active Visualization in Earth Science at the University of California. The ARS is designed to
	investing in education, health, housing -the standard fare of human capital approaches -but also body of theory. We are just reinventing the wheel. Many alternative development sources do not refer to information, meanings and functions that make it possible to interact with and manipulate. If we think digitally enhance space, to build, shape, and squeeze (see figure 3 in Appendix A) and with digital
	accommodating and investing in networking across communities and groups and designing enabling one another but keep on generating alternatives from the ground up, without outlining fundamentals or about all this, people/companies or countries developing these emerging platforms and technologies, have augmentation, the environment is built in the AR sandbox with programmable drawings colors and sounds
	generating 'expert 'debate. Thus, participation is a deeply problematic notion; it is an improvement on the potential if not already to become the most powerful in the world. It is reasonable to claim that mirror (Leinonen et al., 2021). Therefore, the AR Sandbox is primarily a mirror world for play and storytelling.
	top-down mobilization, but it remains paternalistic, unless the idea of participation is radically turned worlds constructed using AR is also the next technological platform with societal impacts -like the This can be linked to the tinkering approach dear to Mr. Mitchel Resnick, which is characterized by a
	around, so that governments, international institutions, or NGOs would be considered as participating in impacts from the first big digital platform, the web and the second platform, social media on mobile playful, experimental, iterative style of engagement, in which makers are continually reassessing their
	people's local development (Nederveen Pieterse, 2010) which I believe the UMR will be doing, but phones -we should have an idea of how and what we can learn with and from these platforms (Leinonen goals, exploring new paths, and imagining new possibilities (Resnick and Rosenbaum, 2013). As said by
	perhaps they are already doing. Bringing their knowledge to communities and actors in order to help them, et al., 2021). Resnick and Rosenbaum (2013) "The tinkering process is messier, and tinkerers are always exploring,
	creating a positive network striving towards increasing each person's well-being and capabilities, leading So how did this AR technology start? The 'idea' might have already existed within the world of science experimenting, trying new things. They start without a goal and instead of the top-down approach of
	to effective social, economic, and environmental development will be a great way towards change. fiction and literary imaginations of some early writers such as the works of William Gibson and Philippe traditional planning, tinkerers use a bottom-up approach. They begin by messing around with materials
	K Dick for example, although officially, Augmented Reality technology was invented in 1968, with Mr. trying out different patterns, until a goal emerges from their playful explorations. Other times, tinkerers
	Ivan Sutherland's development of the first head-mounted display system. The term augmented reality was have a general goal, but they are not quite sure how to get there. They might start with a tentative plan,
	III. History of Augmented Reality to the development of the AR Sandbox not introduced until 1990 however, by a Boeing researcher named Mr. Tim Caudell. This technology has
	come a long way since its conception with different ways to use and to experience the AR world as seen
	Technology has become part of our day to day lives and activities these days that it is almost in figure 2 in Appendix A.
	impossible to imagine anything less. As modernization increases, more and more steps occur towards Now the AR sandbox is a step forward and further. It was Mr. Oliver Kreylos, a computer scientist
	(Midgley 1995: 160) 3 . Furthermore, one of the priorities of axe 4, will be to create intra-and inter-axis improving technology. We use these advancement technologies for everything nowadays. One such studying 3D scientific visualizations and computational geosciences at the University of California Davis
	synergies on subjects where a dialogue is necessary between the social and the environmental and between technology is the Augmented Reality (AR). We not only use it in our personal lives (present in almost all
	the social and the territorial, taking into account not only community but specific actors which can be smartphone devices, tablets) but for works in industry (production of goods and services), in scientific
	another relevant approach towards effective change in development. The principle of cooperation and investigations all the way to use in the education system to improve teaching methods, and as the
	participation is very important. Also, now participation leading to empowerment have become part of the generation of today are more technologically savvy, it can give them great pleasure to learn using these
	technologies. Widely used in the entertainment field as well, augmented reality is increasingly present in
	video games. But one of the most important areas of use of augmented reality, is in medicine, in particular
	as a guidance tool during surgical operations, for example, during the localization of a tumor. It is also

institutional environmentsin other words, a social capital or participatory civic society approach. This links well with the axe's objective of creating a space of dialogue between approaches by social structures and actors, taking into account individuals, social groups and utilities that exists in Normandie as well as the aim to create a space of 'Communalities' and scientific animation where focus on social dimensions allows for a collaboration and participation within societies and environments, shedding light on public actions. As said by

Oosterlaken (2011)

, there is a real social justice need for people to be able to take part in social decisions, and that open discussion and public reasoning can lead to a better understanding of the role, reach and significance of particular capabilities in specific contexts. Social development in this sense related to the UMR's point of view about creating this space of 'Communalities', links well with bodies of work that stresses on the need to have actions and policies promoting social trust among and across diverse communitiesclasses, status groups, minorities, government etc. It may also refer to the creation of social infrastructure of housing, schools, clinics, water supply; or asset development among low-income groups to encourage savings among the poorer communities, which will foster social investments

A. ARS Technology in Education -promoting Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) Education

  As said in the UCD Teaching and Learning, (Date Unknown) site, John Dewey the philosophical founder of the modern day approach, the Constructivism approach, whose ideas have been influential in education and social reforms, rejected the notion that schools should focus on repetitive, rote memorization & proposed a method of "directed living"students would engage in real-world, practical workshops in which they would demonstrate their knowledge through creativity and collaboration.Furthermore, there are studies that have shown the AR Sandbox's efficacy, for example the works done byRichardson et al., (2018), did demonstrate increased student learning performance resulting from an AR learning treatment of topographic maps over a non-AR treatment. Ryker et al., (2017)[START_REF] Cherry | What Are Piaget's Four Stages of Development? Verywell Mind[END_REF] as cited inSoltis et al., (2020), have outlined potential benefits of using the AR Sandbox which includes improving spatial skills as well as increasing motivation, interest and engagement. Spatial thinking is a set of skills

	IV. Literature Review of the AR Sandbox really see how these topographical landforms would be in the field. Carter et al., 2005 6 as cited in Soltis
	et al., (2020), mentions that the ability to read these maps especially switching between 2D and 3D
	representations in understanding things like reliefs and visualizing landforms has been shown to be of
	great difficulty for students. Thus, the AR Sandboxes can be a real pedagogical gold mine for various
	concepts to be taught. Which is why it has become increasingly common at schools, universities, in
	museums, science centers and in different organizations. Furthermore, as Soltis et al., (2020) mentions,
	1. for a school and university setting it is used alongside other teaching methods/strategies such as using real Learning Gains using the AR Sandbox
	Researchers or users of the AR Sandbox have suggested that it can benefit learning, particularly life case studies for example, or enhancing field works, making use of virtual field trips and even using
	in relation to STEM goals (Reed et al. 2014). As Jon, (2014) mentions, to an educator, learning is evaluated computer programs like Google Earth alongside your normal pen to paper approach. However, field visits,
	in terms of learning outcomes which include content knowledge, critical thinking, analytical skills and although ideal, are not always feasible for many reasons including cost, time constraints, inclement
	representation or communication of complex understanding of the subject. To achieve higher learning, weather, and scheduling difficulties, among others. Therefore, the alternative interactive activities of the
	educators are increasingly exploring innovative approaches for facilitating student engagement (Jon, ARS can help promote learning of these various concepts, increase student engagement and retention in
	https://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/SARndbox/LinkSoftwareInstallation.html 2014). What is so interesting in regard to the AR Sandbox, besides the above, and I cannot say that enough the classroom and laboratory. As Savova (2016) mentions, in this digital world it is impossible that
	It is explained clearly, and many people have had success in installing the software on their respective is that it is interdisciplinary. It links multiple fields of study together, whether it be geosciences, technology not having an impact on the programs in the educational institutions. Digital learning is
	ARS's. archeology, engineering, simulations, and modelling to information technology and architecture. becoming not only optional but the necessary method in schools, colleges, and universities as it is offering
	In the field of geosciences, the AR Sandbox has the potential to help students develop their understanding new experiences and unconventional approaches to students at any age to improve on and in their learning
	of topographic maps, geologic landforms, hydrology, and bathymetry. Just as in the engineering field the and to have more motivation to learn. So, is digital learning using these technologies a better way to make
	AR Sandbox can be intuitively fashioned to represent a scaled-down version of the wide range of terrain children/students learn and to train citizens as well on and about the environment and its processes present
	found in the physical world, which can demonstrate not just the application of classroom concepts, but around us? is it reliable? aren't we putting too much faith into these new modes of teaching thus neglecting
	even their development from first principles, through interaction with design and analysis tasks in or losing the traditional ways of teaching that proved to be as effective in the past? In the educational
	earthwork planning all the way to managing large scale construction projects (Louis and Lather, 2020). If fields these technologies are enhancing the traditional school practices and activities when supplementing
	we look to the information technology field which can include simulations and modelling tools, the AR the real environment with virtual objects. AR can give to the learner not only in situ experiences but also
	Sandbox presents a real fun challenge to students when learning how to write the source code of the AR contextual information about the surrounding environment. Using AR, students and trainees obtain
	Sandbox software. They can also go further into developing new and improved codes and algorithms from supplementary information. Today's children in particular are closely familiar with mobile technologies
	the existing one, to try and simulate something else rather than our normal water flow and contour lines. and from early age are capable of working with tablets, notebooks and smartphones (Savova, 2016). It is
	Thus, in this little descriptive section alone, we can see the multi-purposeful aspects of the AR Sandbox almost natural that the classic learning methods which are applied to them to be added with new and
	within STEM education. modern ways such as the AR systems.
	I remember when I was doing my bachelor's degree in South Africa in geology, I often found it
	very difficult to understand topography and its associated contour lines and thus how to go about drawing
	and analyzing cross sections. It was particularly hard for me I found, if I did not get to experience and

that helps one to analyze or view the world around them. It enables one to distinguish the spatial relationships between objects like for example distance, location, directions which are all important in the various fields of studies mentioned previously. Work done by Titus and Horsman in 2009

[START_REF] Fisher | Augmenting physical 3D models with projected information to support environmental knowledge exchange[END_REF]

has also shown that poor grades correlate with poor spatial visualization skills in the geoscience's fields of study. They suggest that with proper practice this can be rectified as spatial skills are malleable. Thus, as spatial knowledge can be acquired from direct environmental experience (Ishikawa & Montello, (2006)

[START_REF] Fredricks | School engagement: Potential of the concept, state of the evidence[END_REF]

cited in Soltis et al., (2020))

  /ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/5415607[START_REF] Lahiri-Dutt | Thinking "differently" about a feminist critical geography of development[END_REF] Goodwin, M. S. (2016). 28.2 Laboratory and home-based assessment of electrodermal activity in individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 55(10), S301-S302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2016.07.280

	Poh, M. Z., Swenson, N. C., & Picard, R. W. (2010). A wearable sensor for unobtrusive, long-term assessment of
	electrodermal	activity.	IEEE	Transactions	on	Biomedical	Engineering,	57(5),	5.
	https:/

Using the AR Sandbox for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), can it be useful?

  Disaster Risk Reduction also known as Disaster Risk Management, refers to reducing the threats, occurrences or impacts of disasters (UNISDR, 2009 cited inKelman et al., 2012). It is a field that is ever so important today as it not only affects the environment but society as a whole, be it socially, economically & politically. To really understand the concept of DRR we have to look at the system which contributes towards disaster events, and we have to know what exactly is meant by disaster as the term disaster can be often misused. It is utilized in many contexts but, although it is generally assumed that

	1.	Important Definitions, Concepts and Systems

If you are using the sandbox in a class of 30 for 15-20 mins per group once or twice a week, the students may not get as much out of its use and might not really capture the knowledge they need from it. As

Soltis et al., (2020)

mentions, while more institutions have access to AR sandboxes, it is still challenging to maximize student exposure to the sandbox during class or lab time and repeated exposures are often not possible. Despite their popularity and allure, research investigating student learning as they interact with the AR Sandbox lacks a strong theoretical and empirical basis. This type of research is important not just to examine if using the device supports learning, but to understand how it does, as well as how to further develop its potential

(Nakevska et al., 2017)

. Furthermore, as cited in

Nakevska et al., (2017)

, the results of a qualitative, empirical study exploring the impact of immersive technologies on presence and engagement, shows that ''immersive AR can create an increased sense of presence", and ''increased presence does not necessarily lead to more engagement".

B.

people know what is meant by disaster, precise meaning may often escape them (Westgate and O'Keefe, 1976). These questions of semantics maybe unimportant in everyday parlance, but in the realm of disaster relief, research, and planning, it is necessary to understand the exact connotation while not placing such a precision on any definition adopted as to render the situation rigid and imperious

(Westgate and O'Keefe, 1976)

. Therefore, a definition has its use in dispelling confusion and ambiguity while retaining a flexibility which is a necessity where so many intangibles are involved and were so many different physical characteristics impinge upon the situation

(Westgate and O'Keefe, 1976)

. The word disaster can mean different things to different people. As said by

Westgate and O'Keefe (1976)

, the problem is one of discretion. The word is used by people in many different ways in different walks of life. The geographers argue that there are no "natural catastrophes" but that there are indeed human disasters triggered by natural events which is because extreme natural events and/or natural hazards only become human disasters if they impact a vulnerable society

  To this end, further work is currently being conducted to integrate the use of the 3DPALM fire simulations as a standard operating tool within remote Indigenous ranger groups(Fisher et al., 2019). As said byFisher et al. (2019), this requires additional mentoring and technical assistance to ensure that there is sufficient capacity for ongoing use of the models. and an increased government focus on crop productivity are resulting in erosion and a decline in soil fertility(Fisher et al., 2019). In order to build a greater understanding of the impacts of changing agricultural practices on soil health, Guerrero es Primero, a local NGO working on sustainable development, and Centro Geo, a geographic research institute from Mexico City, have developed a participatory spatial planning strategy to examine soil erosion, 3DPALM technology has thus been used to support community engagement workshops to facilitate participatory spatial planning with reference to soil health(Fisher et al., 2019). The physical engagement with the ARS was an important component of 'embodied' engagement, bringing new ways of thinking and transforming relationships between participants and mediators. There were some powerful advantages in the use of sand which included the familiarity, cheapness, and accessibility of the medium and the metaphor of using 'earth' to sculpt(Fisher et al., 2019). This reminded me of another holistic approach, that of Buen Vivir (the Good Life), a life culture of Latin American origin. Buen Vivir looms as a category in permanent construction and

	b)	Case Study 2: Participatory spatial planning, Costa Grande, Mexico
	Costa Grande's in Guerrero States' peoples' livelihoods are primarily derived from agriculture.
	These communities use a farming method, known as 'milpa', involving multiple maize varieties and

coffee in the uplands, and coconuts and mango at lower elevations

(Fisher et al., 2019)

. Although integrated agro-ecological practices are not unknown to the farmers of this region, recent agricultural technology developments reproduction in close relationship with the rest of nature

(Kothari et al., 2014)

, being one with nature. It is in short, a central category of the life philosophy of indigenous societies whereby a plural concept arises especially from indigenous peoples, but without denying the technological advantages of the modern world or possible contributions from other cultures and knowledge that challenge the presuppositions of dominant modernity

(Kothari et al., 2014)

.

  2019, the Ministry for Environment, Energy and Climate Change (MEECC) published the 'Seychelles Coastal Management Plan 2019-2024' (CMP) which was developed in consultation with relevant stakeholders to enhance understanding about the risks associated with climate change and development pressures around the coastal zones in Seychelles (World Bank and Ministry of Environment,

Energy and Climate Change of Seychelles, 2019). Presently, MEECC intervenes with other partners during extreme events and executes various coastal management efforts to combat such hazards. However, the interventions are normally short-term strategies of the hard-engineering character (World Bank and Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change of Seychelles, 2019). The Plan aims to provide the missing guidance on the right long-term nature-based interventions that can be combined with the existing strategies to effectively deal with the hazards (World Bank and Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change of Seychelles, 2019). The strategies that have been implemented from 2015 through 2018

  (Sol Roo et al., 2017). A living miniature world is created when shaping the sand that can be projected. The natural elements of the Zen Garden as it is called, are connected to real-time physiological measurements, such as breathing, helping the user to stay focused on the body (Sol Roo et al., 2017). Moreover, using a Virtual Reality headset, they can travel inside their garden for a dedicated meditation session. As said by Ryff and Singer (2008)[START_REF] Mcneal | The effect of the augmented reality sandbox on student learning in introductory undergraduate geology courses during structured, semi-structured, and unstructured activities[END_REF] cited in Sol Roo et al.The user can shape the terrain with his or her hands or tools and affect its evolution with his or her internal state(Sol Roo et al., 2017). By contemplating and interacting with the garden, the user receives biofeedback (e.g., the breathing controls the waves, changing the sea level and its sound accordingly) (Sol Roo et al., 2017).

, (2017), subjective well-being is a multifaceted concept often described as a combination of hedonismmaximizing pleasureand eudaimoniadeveloping our human potential. There is a multitude of factors that have been shown to contribute to happiness and could benefit from technology, e.g. positive emotions, motivation and engagement, self-awareness, and of course mindfulness (Sol Roo et al., 2017). Kabat-Zinn (2003)

[START_REF] Mönter | The concept of disasters in Geography Education[END_REF]

cited in Sol Roo et al.,

(2017)

, defines it as "the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment". While mainly used in Buddhist traditions, it has been adapted and brought to a more western audience a few decades ago and it has been empirically tested and proved to be a good tool to train attention, for health care, mental illness, and education

(Sol Roo et al., 2017)

. The Inner Garden's metaphor is anchored in reality using physiological activity and real sand and it is designed both as an ambient display for self-monitoring and as a support for more involved mindfulness exercises: breath and body awareness (Sol Roo et al., 2017).

  below) which I used to show the places (i.e., schools, universities, organizations) I contacted (quantitative data analysis) based on data in Table 1 (Appendix B). Furthermore, for Table 1, I separated it by continents but putting France, the United Kingdom and Ireland separately in the table as they were the first countries I had contacted, plus it would have been too long a table to separate the other continents further into countries, therefore I decided to keep the others as continents. I separated this table into modes

Table 1 (done by Tessa Belle, 2021)

 1

other equipment options can we have with the sandbox? That is, what has been improved from the first ARS setup built

  . Well, I found out that some sandboxes could have single or double control buttons, one or two LCD touchscreens (a 10 inch or bigger), and bluetooth mini keypad controllers directly mounted on the support which could be used to improve functionality, control application interface, change presets, change throw height of the projector, make screenshots of the images or maps projected, altering color schemes, reset or disable simulated water flow. Another extra something that you can do is to add LED lights around the base of your sandbox. This would help in dark places

	780, 1080, 1660 or 2070 graphic card, an Intel Core i3 or i7 processor, a Samsung 750
	EVO 120 SSD hard drive, with a RAM of 8 GB DDR 4 or 4GB DDR 3. Some have used a Dell T5610
	PC with the Fedora 19 Plasma KDE edition. Others rather than the PC they use a laptop computer instead,
	strong enough to support the software and program.
	So besides these equipment which we already know we definitely need for the good functionings of
	the ARS, what

  It does not easily stick onto hands and if it does fall, it is large enough not to stick or get caught in unwanted spaces and can therefore be easily swept up. Mini polystyrene beads used for therapeutic pillows for example can also be used. It is cleaner, less abrasive and less expensive. The brand name that is good to use is Poly-fil Mini Micro Bead Filler. The two most famous alternatives to normal sand however, is Kinetic Sand and Sandtastic white play sand. These two types of sand have excellent projection properties. The Kinetic sand is normal earth sand, which is very soft and pleasant to the touch, allows the sand grains to flow over each other smoothly, it is antimicrobial, and it does not dry. For the Sandtastic sand however, it is recommended to keep the sand slightly moist so that it keeps its moldable state as it has a shallow angle of repose when dry. Regular sand is basically crystalline silica. While silica is nontoxic when ingested orally, inhaling very fine silica dust can cause adverse health effects. Therefore, Sandtastic play sand does not contain or release fine silica dust, neither does the Kinetic sand as they are either made from actual sand mixed with a binding agent or surface treated with a polymer. Regular sand, such as those bought in bulk from hardware or home improvement stores, should be washed before use to reduce the amount of fine dust particles contained in it.Other types of sand that can be used includes bio-cemented (saturated urea) sand which is stronger due to the presence of cementation bonds leading to increases in cohesion and the friction angle which provides stability as well as Waxed Sand which is freeze proof and sheds water. This freeze proof sand packs very well and blends well. I have also found that heavy white plastic pellets can be used and there are some big science centers that has even used rice although visual clarity was poorer in this case. White Marbled sand can also be used (used by Ronplay Kids in Slovenia) which perfectly reflects the bright and colorful images, keeps its shape without moisture more effectively, does not create dust and keeps hands and clothes clean. Clay sand has the double advantage of being easy and friendly to model by hand and is compatible with silicone molding if you need to go a few steps further towards bronze casting use with the ARS (used by Archéodev in Switzerland who specializes in archeology). All these options are great, it all depends on what you prefer, and it depends on the cost to upkeep to cleaning, to user effectiveness.Interesting case study I have is from a school in Dubai who told me that they struggled to get the right

sand to use in their sandbox. When you think of it, Dubai is surrounded by sand as it is a desert region, however, desert sand is not best suited. It is a little too coarse and not white enough.

'Augmented reality' (2021) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Augmented_reality&oldid=1041056967 (Accessed: 5 September

2021).

Esping-Andersen, G. (1994) 'Welfare states and the economy', in Smelser and Swedberg (eds), pp. 711-31.

Midgley, J. (1995) Social development: the developmental perspective in social welfare. London: Sage

Li, Nai, and Henry Been-Lirn Duh. 2013. "Cognitive Issues in Mobile Augmented Reality: An Embodied Perspective." In Human Factors in Augmented Reality Environment, edited by W. Huang, L. Alem, and M. A. Livingston, 109-135. New York: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-4205-9_5

Reed, S., Kreylos, O., Hsi, S., Kellogg, L., Schladow, G., Yikilmaz, M.B., Segale, H., Silverman, J., Yalowitz, S., and Sato, E., Shaping Watersheds Exhibit: An Interactive, Augmented Reality Sandbox for Advancing Earth Science Education, American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 2014, Abstract no. ED34A-

Carter, G., Patrick, M., Wiebe, E. N., Park, J. C., & Butler, S. M. (2005). Middle grade students' interpretation of topographic maps. NARST. DALLAS, TX.

Fritz, C.E. (1961) Disaster. In: Merton, R.K. and Nisbet, R.A., Eds., Contemporary Social Problems, Harcourt, Brace and World, New York, 651-694.

Ryff, C. D., and Singer, B. H. Know thyself and become what you are: A eudaimonic approach to psychological well-being. Journal of happiness studies 9, 1 (2008), 13-39.

Kabat-Zinn, J. Mindfulness-based interventions in context: past, present, and future. Clinical psychology: Science and practice 10, 2 (2003), 144-156.

below. There was many as well that thought of the mast or metal pole or the wooden support on which this two equipment would be placed, be able to be height adjustable, that could move up and down, not only to facilitate mobility through doors but to also adjust the projection aspect on the sand as well. Last but not least there were ARS that was fixed in one place, usually those were bigger versions, whereby the projector and Kinect camera was fixed up from the ceiling directly above the sandbox (figure

34,

science and technology. It was held this year in early June remotely and different schools and organizations had their own virtual stand. We were invited to make a video demonstration of 5-10mins to present the Dynam'eau. Initially I put forward a possible scenario process that we could do with the sandbox, and we met with colleagues in house to discuss about this and to add things that would be interesting to do and who would participate in the video as well. So, we had an introduction which was short and to the point presenting the laboratory itself and how the project started, our second part consisted of presenting the different equipment's used with the Dynam'eau. The third part consisted of three parts, separated into presenting the contour lines that can be created with the sandbox, that is representations of slopes and valleys. Part number two, consisted of showing how the water would flow along these different topographies and if it were to be intercepted, evaporated or infiltrate, and the final part was to show the occupation of the soil that is the different soil types (forests, grasslands, cropland, and urban areas) and how the water would behave on them as well. With the help of a colleague at the Direction du Système d'Information (DSI) at the University of Caen, who kindly accepted to do the video montage, we filmed over a one day period and produced a video of 4-5 minutes (link of the Dynam'eau video: https://pod.acnormandie.fr/video/15378-projet-dynameau/).

B. Rouen

Arriving in Rouen I continued contacting schools, universities, and organizations this time focusing on the rest of the European countries (see figure 12 below) as well as targeting the US market especially as there is so many sandbox devices implemented in the United States as it is widely used (as you can see in map 1 above), and the countries of Latin America by using the same methods of qualitative and quantitative analysis as I did in Caen. For the US and Latin American countries, I contacted them mostly during the afternoon as it would have been morning in that part of the world (a time difference of -5 to -10).

Appendix A). Students can also simulate military tactics and land reclamation on the ARS.

One use that hits closer to home for me is using the ARS by combining flooding risks with the effects of sea level rise (as seen in section 3 of our DRR literature review section). Zephyr Education Foundation found in the USA uses the ARS for exactly that purpose. As they are found within a community that is close to the coast, they can sensitize people in regard to this and impacts from it. They adjust sea-levels and make virtual waves and storm surges to then observe flooding risks. They use real water within the ARS which they told me is quite a big effort to do properly. But alongside this, virtual islands, lagoons, beaches can also be created.

Last but not least, some schools, universities and organizations engage in outreach activities by bringing the ARS to the communities. One example is case study 3 above in our DRR section, another includes the NC State University Center for Applied Aquatic Ecology, which is committed to reaching out to the community to increase awareness of water quality as well as empowering members to help care for water resources. Thus, understanding watersheds around them. They say that the more hands on and engaged they keep their audience, the more learning is accomplished, which is exactly aligns with what we partly discussed in our education part of our literature review. One respondent from an African University was interested to know how the ARS could be integrated to explain complex nature processes in relation to anthropogenic behavior. Furthermore, being in Geospatial Sciences, she is and have been working on sustainability of agro-based fuels as it relates to food security which she mentioned could be interesting in simulating how human and biophysical factors can influence livelihoods and sustainability of the communities in the long run. One respondent even telling me that he sees a potential not only for his department within the university but for building these similar tools in schools to augment the learning processes.

h) Simulations and Modelling Potential

Many projection-augmented applications use simulation models of landscape processes to provide interactivity (Fisher et al., 2019). The intersection of spatially explicitly datasets and simulation modelling to create dynamic models is often referred to as geosimulation (Fisher et al., 2019). The power of geosimulation models is their ability to add a temporal dimension to static GIS analyses and thus allow the exploration of evolving human ecology (Fisher et al., 2019). Simulation modelling is also widely implemented as a participatory process. Participatory modelling is used to improve the accuracy and (public or private)) so that they could also know about this technology and see how they could apply in their respective mandates for the future?

A. List of figures

XII. Appendix C

A.

Results of our first questionnaire

To be noted that 'undefined' means that respondents did not provide specific answers to the question and that respondents in yellow were contacted and replied by forwarding our email to a specific someone, however after that there was no response. As seen, there are 70 contacts, which includes replied contacts plus contacts whereby the information was found on their site.