More experiences are planned over the coming months.Īt Meads Mill Middle School in Northville, Michigan, technology teacher Tonya Nugent has taken students on virtual tours of restaurants using the YouVisit VR app with the Mattel View-Master. Unimersiv experiences include 3D solo or guided field trips to the International Space Station and Stonehenge, and through human anatomy, where users can rotate, zoom in and click on body parts for information about them, and listen to the cardiovascular system in action, Greve says. In a survey Unimersiv conducted online last August on the state of VR in education, more than half of the 149 respondents said that science was the most important knowledge category where the technology could have a learning impact, followed by history. “Teachers have the most interest in using VR for science,” says Baptiste Greve, founder and CEO at Unimersiv, which currently offers a platform for VR educational experiences for Samsung Gear VR headsets that work with Samsung Galaxy smartphones. The groups were rotated every 15 minutes to allow each student to visit each center one time.It’s time to think more about using virtual reality in education, as educators see in it an opportunity to help bring STEM learning to life for today’s middle- and high-school students. The students were asked to compare and contrast the two cells, using either observation of both cells or discussion and communication between each group to compare parts. On the zSpace systems, we had adjoining systems pre-loaded with two CyberScience 3D models - one model of an animal cell next to a model of a plant cell. The microscope slide creation center had students creating slides from scratch, using various materials to view under the microscope.
![zspace cyber science 3d zspace cyber science 3d](https://www.eschoolnews.com/files/2016/06/virtual-reality.jpg)
At the computer research center, the students were asked to open a teacher-created Google Doc with information, links, and labeled images to introduce the concepts of plant and animal cells. The students were split into three groups before entering the classroom, and they were assigned to a center. The fifth grade classroom teacher and I decided to create a blended learning activity where students would rotate between three centers in the classroom - a computer research center, a microscope slide creation center, and a zSpace center. Our fifth grade classes were preparing to learn about plant and animal cells in their classroom science lessons at the beginning of Phase 2 with zSpace. I was so impressed with their enthusiasm. They all worked diligently on the task and even requested another building day to finish. Each team could send two people at a time to review the 3D model on zSpace. In teams of four or five, students were given scotch tape, scissors, white paper and a foam board to build on. The next lesson was a building challenge. It was beautiful! The students were able to explore the Parthenon for the first lesson. One of their engineers even spent an entire day enhancing the original model so the details of the engravings on the frieze could be seen. zSpace found a model of the Parthenon just for us. However, one of the benefits to working on a pilot is being able to ask for something to be created. We thought it might be possible to do some archeology in virtual reality or walk through ancient civilizations. My 6th grade social studies teacher hasn’t been able to utilize STEM this year and we were hoping to figure out something we could do together. It was a longer project than I had anticipated but watching the perseverance of the 6th graders as they measured and built their models and listening to them explain the process to their parents made all the hours of prep worth it.įinally, we were able to make a connection to 6th grade social studies.
![zspace cyber science 3d zspace cyber science 3d](http://www.bertas.com.tr/db_images/web/science4.jpg)
After finishing the project, the students used zView to present their struggles and successes and to compare the physical model with the virtual model. It was powerful to see the same building model in varying sizes. The students spent hours cutting cardboard and taping their models. We had quite of few issues with the rulers, size adjustment, and other aspects of the program but the zSpace engineers have fixed most of it for the next version of zConcepts. The students were able to manipulate the 3D models, take measurements in zConcepts, and then adjust the scale to build their cardboard model. Together, we came up with a plan to use SketchUp and zConcepts to create physical models from 3D models. They were about to start a unit on ratio, scale, and proportions. One of my 6th grade teachers met with me to discuss using zSpace for a project with her math class.