I was awerstruck and numb by what I witnessed at a technology conference sponsored by Google for Education. I participated in a Geo-Tools course where we experienced the application of virtual reality to the history classroom. I have never seen anything like this! Google can virtually put my kids inside of the Forbidden City in Beijing, or stand atop Machu Picchu, or enter Lincoln's Memorial in D.C. as I -the teacher, take them on guided, purposeful exploration of what the textbook can NEVER offer. Perhaps only a plane ticket and real field trips can outdo what the Google Maps tools can offer my students. Unless, one witnesses the experience from within the virtual-reality goggles, it is difficult to explain the intensity of experience that one feels.
I really, really want my students to feel this and make history, culture and geography come alive for them. I witnessed the next step of the information technology revolution. Just as the internet and the web revolutionized the last 20 years, virtual reality has the potential to take our info-tele-communications to another level. Google has now put it in the hands of capable and innovative educators. I am ready to put this into play -right now- for the benefit my students taking World History and American History. For a child who has never seen the beach -AND HE/SHE LIVES IN SAN DIEGO!- to vitually explore just about any great city of the world within seconds is mind blowing!
I think the Google Virtual Reality goggles could turn many kids onto cultural and historical literacy, where so many are turned off by it. "Why do I need to study History, again?" ...Into, "I can't wait to walk the Great Wall of China -again!" It would make my lessons relevant, exciting, wondrous!
About my class
I was awerstruck and numb by what I witnessed at a technology conference sponsored by Google for Education. I participated in a Geo-Tools course where we experienced the application of virtual reality to the history classroom. I have never seen anything like this! Google can virtually put my kids inside of the Forbidden City in Beijing, or stand atop Machu Picchu, or enter Lincoln's Memorial in D.C. as I -the teacher, take them on guided, purposeful exploration of what the textbook can NEVER offer. Perhaps only a plane ticket and real field trips can outdo what the Google Maps tools can offer my students. Unless, one witnesses the experience from within the virtual-reality goggles, it is difficult to explain the intensity of experience that one feels.
I really, really want my students to feel this and make history, culture and geography come alive for them. I witnessed the next step of the information technology revolution. Just as the internet and the web revolutionized the last 20 years, virtual reality has the potential to take our info-tele-communications to another level. Google has now put it in the hands of capable and innovative educators. I am ready to put this into play -right now- for the benefit my students taking World History and American History. For a child who has never seen the beach -AND HE/SHE LIVES IN SAN DIEGO!- to vitually explore just about any great city of the world within seconds is mind blowing!
I think the Google Virtual Reality goggles could turn many kids onto cultural and historical literacy, where so many are turned off by it. "Why do I need to study History, again?" ...Into, "I can't wait to walk the Great Wall of China -again!" It would make my lessons relevant, exciting, wondrous!
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