Elementary students at Piscataquis Community Elementary School have the unique chance to observe their teachings through a 360-degree virtual reality (VR) space. It is something different than watching their professor write on the board as they jot down.
The concept is that the area that houses the Pirate Portalfour’s walls are really displays, much like those found in an IMAX cinema. Students watch the stories evolve along the walls from speciality chairs that can be twisted, similar to boat cushions with backsides, according to principal Anita Wright. Even though the room would ordinarily be rounded, the school district modified a room that existed previously.
A firm called Igloo supplies the technology, which makes it possible to discover things like peering into a person’s body or having a close encounter with dinosaurs. When Wright was looking for ways to fully engage students once they arrived back at the school building following virtual learning, she claimed she discovered it in the early stages of the Covid19 epidemic.
Other virtual reality schools exist around the nation currently. However, they do not have 360-degree systems. The PCES learning room, along with one in Texas and another that was completed only two weeks before the Guilford one, is the latest Igloo Immersive Space to be identified in a public school in the USA.
Eight 360-degree GoPros and twenty VR headsets are integrated into the Pirate Portal.
According to Wright, this was a great use of the COVID relief funds since it emphasises social and psychological needs, especially now that virtual reality therapy is a prominent option for anxiety and sadness and because student participation increases learning retention.
A COVID-19 relief award of over $120,000 for Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief was used to pay for the majority of the project. The funding was set aside to help pupils recuperate from the epidemic with their learning and people’s needs.
At a discussion held on October 11, Wright noted that teachers have been integrating it into their courses.
By the time of the conference, the Pirate Portal had been operational for ten days, and teachers had already begun incorporating it into their lesson plans. The area, according to her, offers a fresh style of classroom instruction, not merely a chance for aesthetic development.
Wright said that she researched VR technology and talked with Dr. Pamela Thompson, an early childhood education professor at Thomas College, about her work utilising VR to teach STEM subjects.
Wright remarked that the new tool is suitable for teaching and has applications beyond the STEM streams. The Pirate Portal can be soothing, aid kids with long-term learning preservation, and increase their self-assurance.
The professors will explain to the Thomas students how to use the resources after some of the groundwork is done by Thomas’s pupils to locate the things they have desired. According to Wright, PCES may offer possibilities for student teaching as a result.
Further updates are expected in the future in the domain of virtual reality solutions for instructional applications.
