Virtual Reality in the Classroom

Using Virtual Reality in the classroom is no longer something in the far off future.  It can be used with your students to help stimulate their interests in lessons and encourage them that learning can be fun and exciting.  Virtual Reality Headsets can be bought for less than $10 and all you need with it is a compatible smartphone.  Once you have these two items you can start to expose students to the incredible world of virtual reality. 

You can first have students download a virtual reality app on their phone to get started.  I recommend the app called Expedition which allows students to travel to different places throughout the world.  Once you get in the app on your phone you want to click on the VR tab.  Then you can scroll through a variety of virtual reality experiences like the one that says "Field Trip to Paris".  Once you click on the one you want, you click on the download to view guide option.  Then you can click on the View in VR option which will then tell you to put your phone in your virtual reality cardboard viewer.  Once you put on your headset you will be able to immerse yourself in a virtual reality experience where you can look around to see the different parts of Paris as if you were really there.  Students will be blown back by all the amazing things and places they can now visit. 

Teachers can use virtual reality headsets combined with the Expedition app to allow students to have real-life experiences seeing people, places, and things right in front of them.  This leads students to have a better understanding of the world around them and what it contains.  They can then bring back these experiences into their creative writing in order to describe what they just saw as well as allowing them to have a deeper connection to the content they are learning.  Students have an easier time remembering information when they actually experience it right in front of them like actually seeing Mount Rushmore instead of reading about it in a textbook. 

Virtual reality allows students who may struggle in a typical classroom environment to thrive because of the sensory immersion it provides.  Students with autism can really benefit through virtual reality headsets because it can provide them a controllable environment.  If they don't like the program they can take off the headset and slowly start to become comfortable with it.  Likewise, the headset can be useful with students who can lose focus very quickly because by wearing the headset they aren't constantly being distracted by what is happening around them.  The biggest thing virtual reality headsets can bring to your classroom is a way to increase engagement in your lessons by making them fun and interactive for your students.

References

Class VR. (2018). Virtual & Augmented Reality in Elementary Education. Retrieved          from https://www.classvr.com/virtual-reality-in-education/virtual-augmented-reality-in-elementary-education/

Virtual Reality Logo [Online Image] Retrieved from https://thepanthertech.com/virtual-reality-and-augmented-reality/

Virtual Reality Video [Online Video] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlYJdZeA9w4