In this study, we developed, implemented, and refined Philadelphia Land Science (PLS), a virtual learning environment (VLE) intended to support high school students’ exploration of career roles in environmental science and urban planning as a future possible self. PLS was developed using projective reflection (PR; Foster, 2014) which frames learning as identity exploration over time to inform the design of games and game-based learning curricula to facilitate intentional change in learners’ (a) knowledge, (b) interest and valuing, (c) self-organization and self-control, and (d) self-perceptions and self-definitions in academic domains/careers. PLS was built by modifying the Epistemic game Land Science (LS). This paper explicates design iterations of PLS that were implemented in a science museum in Philadelphia. This work contributes to the burgeoning area of education research that seeks to unleash the potentials of immersive, interactive, and interdisciplinary media forms such as VLEs to promote learning as an ongoing process of identity exploration and change.
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