7th grade Sand Creek Social Studies teacher Mr. Ng has recently implemented VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality) technologies in his classroom as he was teaching his unit on the Civil War.
“With the technology that we have at our disposal, I wanted to make Social Studies as engaging as possible,’” said 7th-grade teacher Mr. Ng. “I might not be able to bring my students to museums or historical Civil War battlefields but through the usage of VR and AR technology anyone in our district would be able to bring unforgettable experiences into the classroom for their students.”
Through the usage of VR headsets and AR programs provided by his colleague, fellow Sand Creek teacher Stacey Sebert. Ng’s students had the experience of watching 360 videos of a Union offensive reenactment as well as watching a 360 video of a Civil War hospital while also learning about battles such as the Battle of Bull’s Run and the types of technologies soldiers had during the war.
“Finding and curating the resources I used in my classes took some time, much of what VR and AR consist of currently is the different areas of science,” stated Mr. Ng. “Through my research I realized how underutilized these resources are what potential they have. My hope is that next year my students will learn to create their models using 3D modeling websites that they would be able to use and manipulate in VR and AR.”