Virtual Reality in the Classroom: A Student’s Guide to Exploring the World
Virtual reality is an emerging technology that offers a plethora of potential opportunities to visit places you may have never seen before, step into roles you didn’t think you could be part of, and experience things you previously thought to be impossible. While right now, VR is primarily known for gaming, there are plenty of educational utilities available for students to learn more about the world around them without having to worry about the financial obligation of traveling.
Ten Reasons to Use Virtual Reality in the Classroom
1. Travel to and Explore Places All Over the World Without Leaving the Classroom
It’s harder than ever to create field trips that all students can enjoy. Between the time constraints, cost, and permission slips, it can feel like an impossible task. However, with virtual reality, students can travel all over the world without ever leaving the classroom. There are plenty of museums and historical sites that have created VR apps or virtual tours for classes to use.
2. Develop Empathy for Communities in Crisis by Stepping Into Their Shoes
Reading about crises that people are facing around the world can be a great way to build empathy in students, but with VR, you can let students step into the shoes of kids and adults all over the world. This can be a great way to provide context and get children to truly empathize with the struggles of others.
3. Experience Different Careers Firsthand
Using virtual reality to show off different careers is a great way for students to see what different professional fields do all day. For students struggling to choose between different career paths, this particular activity, where they can immerse themselves into a role, can be a great way for students to better picture what a career path is like.
4. Explore the Depths of the Ocean and the Vastness of Space
You don’t have to settle for just museums and tourist destinations on your VR field trips. In fact, you can satisfy even the most curious students by nurturing that natural love for adventure with VR programs that show off what it would be like to be in a submarine or rocket ship and tour parts of the universe that they may not otherwise see.
5. Time-Travel to Key Events and Places From the Past
Instead of just reading about history or watching a documentary, imagine being there as it unfolds. There are a variety of different VR programs that allow students to fully immerse themselves in the events of the past so they’ll truly get a better understanding of what it was like.
6. Explore the Human Body
There’s so much going on in the human body that sometimes, it can feel foreign. However, with VR anatomy applications, students can truly understand the different parts of the body by exploring them up close. Students can even dissect body parts in some apps to see how they function.
7. Allow Students to Share Their World With Others by Creating Their Own VR Content
Students aren’t solely required to explore the worlds that other people have created to further their own knowledge. In fact, they can create their own three-dimensional experience that they can share with their classmates and even the world to truly show off their creativity.
8. Discover How VR Can Be Used in Other Industries, Like Medicine, Engineering, Entertainment, and Real Estate
VR has become a great tool in industries like technology, medicine, and entertainment. It’s great for training new hires, creating engaging video games, and even testing out new tools and techniques. Students can develop an understanding of how important VR is in business and master it for the future.
9. Explore How VR Can Be Integrated Into Every Subject Area and Curriculum
Virtual reality is a relatively new technology, and it’s still in its infant stages of being used as an educational conduit. That means there’s untold potential that many students and teachers have yet to discover. Maybe you can discover new tips and tricks with your class!
10. Promote Curiosity and Wonder
Children are naturally curious, and while you can do a lot to nurture that curiosity through books, movies, and conversation, there’s truly nothing like being able to experience things for yourself. VR creates an immersive environment where students can satisfy all of their questions and concerns in a safe space.
Virtual Reality Educational Tools and Resources
- Virtual Reality Gallery: In this lesson, students create a virtual gallery to hang their art after using several different online photo editing programs.
- Sample Lesson Plans: Download lesson plans for VR created by teachers all over the world that you can implement in your own classroom.
- Story Spheres: This resource pairs VR with digital storytelling to create unique VR experiences. Students can create their own experience or use a downloaded one!
- History View: Explore national and international historic sites for free to learn more about each location.
- Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary: This lesson allows students to fully immerse themselves in the humpback whale’s habitat and conservation.
- Panoform: This app pairs real-life drawings with VR experiences so students can create their own design, upload it, and experience it virtually.
- Shakespeare VR: This open-source tool for instructors is a great way to implement VR into your Shakespeare and Elizabethan theater lesson plans.
- Virtual Tours of Yellowstone National Park: Explore Yellowstone without having to travel all the way there. This page offers plenty of videos and map-based tours with additional information.
- Explore the Palace of Versailles: This virtual tour is a great way for students to explore a famed French palace without having to travel to France.
- Getting Started With VR in the Classroom: Learn the basics of bringing virtual reality to the classroom
- Can Virtual Reality Make Us More Empathetic? This lesson plan aims to help students decide whether or not using virtual reality in the classroom can improve empathy using analytical arguments.
- 360 Tour Creation Lesson Plan: Create virtual tours using 360-degree photos to help students develop their research skills, 3D creation skills, and digital literacy knowledge.
- A Day in the Cretaceous Era: This activity allows students to learn more about how the dinosaurs lived.
- Georgia Aquarium: Students can watch live cams of the different exhibits available at the Georgia Aquarium from the comfort of their classroom and learn a little about the species the aquarium hosts.
- Virtual Tour of the ISS: Explore the different parts of the International Space Station and learn a little bit about what each part of the station does.
- Making VR a Reality in the Classroom: This page offers tips and tricks for implementing VR-friendly activities in the classroom.
- Virtual Reality Curriculum Guide: Experience, Immersion, and Excursion in the Classroom: This guide covers everything you need to know about implementing virtual reality in your classroom and what kind of benefits it can have for your students.
- Boston Children’s Museum Virtual Tour: Boston Children’s Museum has a virtual walkthrough of each one of their floors so students can get an in-depth look at what this museum offers.