Back in the old days, as in a few years ago, children were taught using chalkboards and textbooks. Some lucky classes had video and social or physical interaction in their lesson plans. Now it seems that virtual reality application development has found at least one permanent home, in the classroom.
Google has a new platform called Google Expeditions. Its purpose is to bring virtual reality to the classroom using the Google Cardboard headset. Some teams will also teach the teacher, going to classrooms to show instructors how to implement the program. Kits are available for purchase already on the Google site. The virtual reality app developers plan to have students and teacher share a visit to locations not easily explained through textbooks. It’s also a perfect venue for the teacher to lecture while she shares the same view, selecting specific topics in the view or directing kids’ attention to areas they’d miss on a real field trip.
Although field trips are fun, they tend to be a cumbersome process for educators. Kids miss school time and parents need to give special permission. With app development deployed towards education, bringing the sites, countries and world historic events to the classroom has become easier. It’s also an easier teaching experience. Children engage much more when being entertained which is the best way for them to learn.
Curiscope is an inventive mobile app that teaches the human body in a socially interactive way. The kit comes with a T shirt which is meant to highlight portions of the body. Using an downloadable mobile app developers connect the body part to a 3D view on the mobile. It’s not necessary to have a headset but the headset can be purchased to create a more immersive experience. Now that consumers can buy and use study guides for fun, a new social interaction might be arriving as well.
Nearpod is the name of a company that has deluged the education field with beautiful immersive VR experiences that they gear towards different age groups. Indian app developers have created lessons for a wide variety of lesson plans and made it available for both mobile and laptop. Some of the preferred content is a visit inside volcanoes, field trips throughout the world and even typical math and social studies plans. Nearpod is focused on education and offers their software through licensing that make it available to an entire school or school system.
Alchemy VR is another company looking to work within the educational experience. They produce vast 3D experiences including a trip on the Soyez from the International Space Station being hosted at London’s Science Museum. The virtual reality app developers have created experiences that are lectures overlaying an immersive scene giving users not just a view or point of view but an entire trip into the subject matter. Alchemy has produced content for Google Expeditions and also works with other museums like the Australian Museum in Sydney.
Books have always made learning fun, entertainment in the movies took it one step closer. Combining these genres into a lesson plan has brought about a brand new way for children and adults to learn. Virtual reality app development isn’t meant for only the serious. It works in healthcare, the military and business but now fun has come to school, in the newest lesson plan: VR.
