## 1 Introduction
Physical issues like motion sickness, eye strain, and fatigue also pose barriers, limiting the duration of VR-based learning. The lack of tactile feedback restricts its use in hands-on fields such as medicine or engineering, where physical manipulation is essential. Social interaction in VR, while possible, often lacks the depth of face-to-face communication, which is important for building interpersonal skills. Furthermore, creating educational VR content can be time-consuming and costly, reducing the breadth of subject matter available. These factors mean that while VR has potential, practical challenges remain for broad, effective integration into educational settings. Virtual Reality 360-degree (VR360) technology combines virtual reality with 360\({}^{\circ}\) panoramic images and videos to facilitate convenient immersive learning experiences using inexpensive head-mounted displays (e.g., Google Cardboard) and smartphones [13]. Experiencing real environments can greatly enhance understanding of natural ecosystems through on-site investigations and virtual simulations, contributing to the accumulation of ecological knowledge [14]. VR360 captures panoramic images of natural environments, providing a new teaching experience to enhance realism and presence through multi-angle viewing and interactive operations, which expands the possibilities for learning [15]. The traditional culture and religious beliefs of Taiwanese indigenous peoples are rich in ecological conservation concepts. They revere nature, protect biodiversity, practice simple living, share resources, and sanctify environments, adhering to environmental ethics. Integrating indigenous culture and wisdom into natural science and ecological education can promote biodiversity and environmental conservation while preserving indigenous cultural heritage and supporting sustainable development. VR simulates real-world scenarios through human sensory experiences, visualizing and demonstrating abstract learning content in a natural and interactive way. This immersive learning experience, beyond what traditional materials can provide, enhances students' engagement and promotes higher knowledge retention. Therefore, this study integrated VR technology with indigenous culture to develop and promote elementary science curricula, aiming to promote science education and reduce the digital divide in remote tribal areas. VR can create an immersive learning environment to inspire students' curiosity and passion for environmental topics. By simulating ecosystems using VR technology, students can explore natural environments without leaving the classroom. For example, [PERSON] et al. [16] utilized the mobile VR application Google Expeditions (GE) to study the environmental impacts of large-scale developments on nature reserves. The immersive experience increased students' awareness of environmental challenges and understanding of how these issues affect local flora and fauna. Similarly, [PERSON] and [PERSON] [3] used a virtual ecosystem to allow users to experience and manipulate factors affecting the environment, enabling a deeper understanding of global warming effects. While previous research has extensively explored the potential of VR in environmental education, only a few studies have utilized VR360 as a novel educational tool [17] or the integration of indigenous culture [18]. This study can fill the gap by developing a VR360 ecological system as the educational tool that combines indigenous culture with environmental education, aiming to promote ecological conservation, enhance learning motivation and effectiveness, preserve indigenous traditions, and reduce the digital divide in remote tribal areas. In summary, VR exploration and immersive experiences can significantly enhance learning in environmental education, and indigenous culture can promote biodiversity and ecological conservation. The objective of this study is to develop a VR360 ecological system for learning indigenous cultures and environmental conservation.