Virtual reality takes lessons out of this world
● Experience the galaxy’s finest sights as you travel aboard a spacecraft faster than the speed of light while learning about comets, the solar system and the Milky Way.
Or stand atop the Great Wall of China, one of the world’s greatest engineering feats.
These are not scenes from a movie, but virtual reality lessons that South African pupils will soon be able to experience in the classroom for the first time.
Recently the National Education Collaboration Trust, the University of Johannesburg, pupils and curriculum experts were given a sneak preview of technology used in schools in the US, Europe and the Middle East, in which handsets or goggles allow pupils to be immersed in a virtual world.
The trust, partly funded by the Department of Basic Education, said that although it was “tricky” to integrate any new technology into the public system, virtual reality could be complementary to the curriculum.
Hany Shingange, 17, a matric pupil at Bey- ers Naudé Secondary in Soweto, was “blown away” after watching English physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton’s first law of motion come to life this week.
“It was fantastic. I think we will be able to understand lessons taught in class better through this new technology.”
Diving and flying
Some of the virtual lessons that pupils could be exposed to include:
● Diving under the sea to explore coral reefs to learn about their formation and importance;
● Taking a quick flight to learn how the Wright brothers, the first successful inventors of the aeroplane, overcame obstacles;
● Riding a dune scooter through the sand dunes of Lake Michigan’s western shoreline, in the US, to study sand formation; and
● Pupils studying life sciences will be able to see where the frontal lobe of the brain is.
Johannesburg management consulting firm IQ business partnered with US virtual reality company Oculus Rift to introduce the VR curriculum to South African schools.
Adi Stephan, head of learning at IQ business, said the technology and curriculum would not replace the teacher or textbooks but was an enhancement. “The more real you can make it, the more pupils will learn.”
But at about R8 000 for the curriculum and the handset, the technology may be out of reach for poor schools.
Shirley Eadie, head of the NECT’s Ed Hub innovation unit, said virtual reality could complement the curriculum.
One of the aims of the trust is to improve the quality of teaching, learning and the management of schools, as well as the effectiveness of the support and monitoring services provided to schools.
“However, it’s extremely technical and tricky to integrate any new technology into the public system. It’s all about taking an experimental approach,” she said.