Students explore curriculum in 3D with virtual reality

It's the adventures of Ms.Frizzle and The Magic School Bus come to life.

Students at St. Rose Catholic Elementary School showed off how they use virtual and augmented reality to immerse themselves in different subjects at a demonstration Monday.

"The best thing is the sounds," said Windsor Essex Catholic District School Board principal of information technology, Douglas Sadler. "Where they [the students] go 'Oh wow, I can't believe that.'"

Students in Grades 4 and 5 followed the digestive tract with a set of VR goggles andused iPads to get up and close and personal with a spider during class.

"It's really just another avenue for students to learn," said Kim Sidi, kindergarten teacher at St. Rose. Sidi is trying to figure out how even the youngest students could benefit from virtual or augmented reality.

"It's tough to explain sometimes what a pair of lungs looks like," said Sidi. "It [VR] facilitates your ability to really show in the real world what things look like."

Sadler calls it "experiencing the curriculum."

"We're able to pull students out of the classroom and into someone's mouth, into someone's digestive system."

The VR and AR programs will be used to enhance the existing curriculum. After learning content in a traditional lecture and textbook manner, students will have access to learn at their own pace using the technology.

"For students to be wanting to do something, the learning has to be accessible," said Sidi, who really likes that students can work at their own pace and choose what to focus on. "This is accessible for students of all skill level."

Sidney Burrell, a Grade 5 student at St. Rose loves that she doesn't have to sit at her desk to learn.

"Instead of just telling us how it works, we can actually see it," said Burrell. "It's super fun and it's a different way of learning."

A classroom VR kit costs $9,000 and comes with 20 sets of goggles and devices. For AR, Sadler says they can use a school's existing tablets or purchase second hand devices.

He says the board is looking forward to using this technology as a new tool.

"I think it's going to change how we do things," said Sadler. "We're excited to see what we can do with it."