My students are 7th graders in a Game Design and Digital Storytelling course and 8th graders in a Game Design and Development Elective. We are entering year two of a research project looking at Virtual Reality in Education with Foundry10, a research organization focusing on non-traditional approaches to learning. Students are exploring the possibilities of VR through research and hands on activities including exploring VR software and hardware and working on creating their own Virtual Environments to explore and share.
Foundry10 has provided us with cutting edge technology to pilot in school. Adding the Playstation 4 VR will add another high end Virtual Reality device for student use. Students will be researching the different Virtual Reality hardware and software and reviewing the technology that we are using in class. This will provide a great opportunity for students to work together, and collaborate in terms of analyzing the different devices and ultimately creating content to be experienced in Virtual Reality. From a social-emotional standpoint, working with different technology provides an opportunity to consider adaptive uses. There has been a lot of research on the role Virtual Reality can play in supporting people with physical and cognitive challenges. In addition, when creating content it is important to understand the end user and develop empathy in terms of the user experience.
In Their Own Words
We should add the Playstation VR to our class because it would be a fun and educational way of learning information about VR games and inspire us to make VR games. Reviews for this say that it is the best VR of 2016! It will add great use the Play Station that we already have in class.
We would be able to experience things we have never experienced before. It would support our research by letting us see how it works hands-on.
It would be good to have a playstation VR in class because it would enable more than one person to be on the VR system and that way, more people can get the experience creating more feedback.
This would help develop my leadership skills by making me learn to use something that I have never used before and explain it to other people.
It will also help us learn how to use, or work the VR for the teachers and students that are inexperienced with it.
Helping put this grant together could help me gain leadership skills because I would have to learn how to get it here and raise money for it.
This would help to develop leadership skills because we can cooperate to analyze the VR and provide constructive feedbback.
This project should be funded because it is educational and fun. We could us the Sony VR to help us learn about VR games if we are going to make these 3D games in class for our game.
I will not take it for granted. I would like to play games, and do other things with the Sony VR.
I would like to use the VR to help me with the lessons I don't understand.
I would use to test how it works and ways to make it better if I were to design my own.
If the project is funded, I will try to use the VR as much as possible to get a feel for it and be able to do multiple things in it.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mr. Isaacs and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
