Mendel Grammar School

 

Though still in its infancy, VR has already been tested by Mendel Grammar School in Opava, Czech Republic. On October 20, 2014 the students were engaged in the first virtual reality class ever. The experience allowed them to wear VR headsets and be fully immersed in the virtual world. The first lesson was History, with the teacher describing Alexander the Great and his many battles in great detail. The lesson changed completely, though, when the headset was in place. The students were instantly thrown into the centre of the action; they looked at, and interacted with weapons and tools that were used. They stood alongside Alexander at the Battle of Guagamela.

 

Biology followed and the topic was the human brain. Due to its complex nature, seeing the brain through the googles allows each different section to be explored, showing how they work – even down to the neurons. Within the virtual world, the impossible becomes possible; you can remove the skull, then pick apart the brain, learning about each area as you go.

 

The final lesson was Mechatronics – the task was to assemble a robot that can lift and move an item. Again, wearing the headset, you are in a workshop with tools and materials to create a robot. You can pick up and place the items in any order and manipulate them to do many functions. Once virtual construction is complete, the virtual testing begins – to see if the robot is fit for purpose. Once all checks have been completed in the virtual environment, the robot can be built in the real world. This accelerates the building process as all necessary testing has already been completed virtually, so you know the robot will function properly. The technologies used were the Oculus Rift and Leap Motion which allowed the users to interact with everything that was happening. This whole experience was said to have the children “absolutely mesmerized” (Klan, 2015).

Advantages

 

VR would be beneficial to education when overcoming issues around social interaction. Some students struggle to fit in and make friends in the classroom environment, leading to social exclusion. However, in studies conducted by University College Dublin School of Education and Lifelong Learning, it was found that in the 20 primary schools studied, students were able to integrate much better and use their varied skills to help each other use the equipment. VR allows better interaction with the topics being studied – don’t just learn about dinosaurs, be an archaeologist. Students can learn about aspects of life from the safety of the classroom. Games can be used to engage students, but these have their limitations as students can soon become disinterested. The use of Virtual Reality can hold the students’ attention for much longer and allow them to learn whilst having fun. Children love rewards for doing well, it gives them a sense of achievement – with VR the reward is included in the experience. The children will love being immersed in the virtual world so will want to do well in the lesson. Students often struggle with creativity, as they don’t have a mental picture of the article they are trying to design. The virtual world would allow them to physically create the items, showing how the finished product operates. Minecraft is a great example of this as it is an open world, allowing people to design and create objects that allow them to be interactive.