Studying landforms up close:
Students use our classroom set of MERGE VR viewers and “retired” iPhones to scan a QR code with the camera app. This launches two looped YouTube videos, one exploring an underwater sea cave and the other flying over an active volcano. We help teachers locate high quality 360 experiences that match curricular goals.
June 17, 2019
Opportunities to “travel” virtually have become more common at Scotts Ridge Middle School this year, with varying levels of immersion.
At a basic level, for example, social studies or world language students might open Google Earth on their chromebooks and select the “peg man” icon in order to drag and drop it into a 360° view of the Amazon Rainforest or the Eiffel Tower.
At a higher immersion level, science students who have been studying landforms might paddle through an underwater sea cave in 360° or fly over an active volcano using our classroom collection of discarded phones and virtual reality viewers.
At an even higher level of immersion and creativity, 6th grade social studies students have created 360° “tours” of a prominent location in an English- or Spanish-speaking country. Using Tour Creator, students added 3D images from Google Maps to their tour, as well as points of interest, narration and background sound. Students created QR codes so visitors to their “Globalization Marketplace” event could experience the tour in 360° using virtual reality viewers.
Augmented Reality (AR)
Students have also had the opportunity to experiment with augmented reality, which layers digital experiences over your existing space. For example, MERGE cubes allow users to utilize apps that can place a globe or a 3D village in the palm of your hand.
Read more about our experience diving into VR and AR in this Knowledge Quest article authored by Mrs. Johnson.
Bringing VR to Ridgefield Public Schools
The Ridgefield Public School district is supporting the effort to bring VR/AR experiences to all grade levels:
Beginning in August, 2019:
How can our students experience VR in every subject? See these examples from our two-year journey.
For more about VR and AR at Scotts Ridge, follow us @SRMSLLC or visit bit.ly/srms-llc.