Building virtual realities in the classroom
Leaving the classroom without leaving the classroom. That’s the promise of virtual reality for many teachers. Google Expeditions enables educators to take their students on missions to Antarctica or below the ocean’s surface. Other apps take kids on a journey through the human body or the galaxy, let them visit famous landmarks or go on a guided tour to Ancient Egypt. More and more schools are experimenting with virtual reality?—?especially using smartphones and cardboards?—?in order to take kids on very special school trips.
Creating virtual realities in the classroom: Why?
It’s pretty self-explanatory to most people why kids benefit from virtual field trips: They present learning matter in a very vivid and entertaining way. And this is great.
But still, once the hardware has found its way into the classroom, it makes sense to explore possibilities beyond the mere consumption of readymade content. Namely: let students create virtual realities themselves. There are some reasons why teachers should consider experimenting with this possibility:
Read the Why for VR for:
- Computer science education
- Presentations, models and infographics
- Storytelling
- Memorizing