Thinking back to when I was a 5th grader in 1988, I remember what integrating technology into a classroom looked like. A black, heavy clunk-of-a-TV that rested on the rolling cart was wheeled from class to class as needed. Even though computers were becoming fixtures in many schools, our school only had a couple, and they were certainly not the state-of-the-art machines that we have today. Today, we have advanced far past the TV/VCR combo and the computer as word processor being our most prized technological resources in the classroom.
The Virtual Reality (VR) headset is today’s TV/VCR combo set. If I could choose one piece of technology for every student to have, I would choose VR. I think that VR is the single most useful across-content technology available today because it provides hand-on exploration and learning. Think about it: What if we could avoid the monotony of history class by virtually taking the students to Ancient Egypt to build pyramids and be submersed in the culture and language of the ancient Egyptians? What if in science class, students could participate in virtual labs where they manipulate objects, quantities, and tools for different effects without the chance of getting hurt? And wouldn’t it be so much more authentic if students could actually experience outer space instead of learning about it through videos and images? In math class, the teacher could lead differentiated lessons where each student could work at their own virtual blackboard with math problems that met their instructional needs! What if teachers could use VR technology to create Total Physical Response scenarios to improve language acquisition of ELLs?
The benefits of VR can extend across content areas, and I think it has potential to leave lasting effects on student engagement, interest, ability, and performance. Check out this brief video showing VR uses in the classroom. Considering the interactive, immersive, hands-on learning that can occur with VR, I hope more and more schools pursue funding sources to gain access and explore different VR uses with students.
Written by, Makeba Robinson, a current graduate student completing her MEd in Reading Education