Primary school education is a pivotal part of a child’s mental and physical growth. Young students need to become familiar with a variety of subjects, experiments, and activities to prepare them for their adult lives. Throughout the last few decades, technology has become much more prevalent especially in our daily lives, and our youth must learn how to become accustomed to this rapid development. It is important to teach children how the technology works at a young age for them to learn how to keep up with technological trends. Currently, secondary school students in Ontario are required to take four online courses to graduate (Laucius, 2019), but there are not many elementary schools that allow younger students to actively use computers and other technology to enhance their learning. Particularly, incorporating virtual and augmented reality into our education system will help students experience and visualize school concepts while also catering to a variety of learning styles.
Virtual reality, or “VR”, is a virtual or artificial environment that is fully separated from reality. This environment can be viewed through a virtual reality headset and lets users interact with a generated world that is controlled by a computer or smartphone. VR headsets can vary greatly in price, but some are priced as low as CA$200 while high-end headsets cost CA$400-600. Virtual reality is becoming increasingly popular, and in November 2018 an elementary school here in Windsor, Ontario utilized the power of VR to teach students about the human digestive system (CBC, 2018). can be used alongside traditional lecturing to give students another method of learning different subjects and concepts more effectively. It can be difficult to understand complicated topics, so being immersed in a virtual world that is constructed engagingly allows learners to feel strongly connected to their environment. Being able to manipulate one’s surroundings in an artificial world also opens opportunities for children to let their imagination and creativity enhance their experience.
Augmented reality, or “AR”, differs from virtual reality in that you remain in the “real world”, but the world is modified by digital imagery. An example of this is with the popular mobile game “Pokémon Go”, a game where users walk around in the real world with their smartphones and catch small digital Pokémon’s that appear on the phone’s screen. By introducing people to this augmented world, it encouraged users to become more physically and socially active. Many elementary schools have started purchasing tablets and other media devices for students to use, which can be used to create AR imagery. Teachers and students can download applications such as BBC’s Civilisations AR and SkyView that display pictures and information in the real world. Civilisations AR is an application that displays a globe of the Earth and shows information about historical landmarks, artifacts and more. In elementary school social studies or secondary school history classes, Civilisations AR is an effective way to allow visual learners to learn about different cultures across the globe. SkyView is an application that shows constellations, stars and planets to users when they look up at the night sky with their mobile device. This allows students to learn about space in real-time while teachers can give further explanations and offer guidance.
Virtual and augmented reality assists teachers with catering to their student’s zone of proximal development. This concept in developmental psychology, one of Vygotsky’s most prevalent ideas, is defined as the range in which a child can learn by themselves versus with support from a teacher, parent or fellow peers. (Vygotsky, 1978, as cited in McLeod, 2019). This theory demonstrates the importance of allowing children to learn by themselves, but also emphasizes the need for guidance. Traditional styles of teaching involve simply lecturing about the topic that’s being taught, but blended learning has allowed teachers to implement a variety of digital media as well as face-to-face communication. As technology continues to become more advanced, these digital teaching devices have become increasingly vital in preparing young students for the real world. Virtual and augmented reality act as another technique for students to become familiar with modern technology and learn how to adapt to our ever-changing environment, not only by making potentially uninteresting concepts more fascinating but also by promoting exploration of our surroundings.
A significant issue that can occur when using a virtual reality headset, however, is feelings of confusion or sickness once children take off the headset. They become accustomed to the artificial world, so coming back to reality is disorienting especially to those that have never experienced this type of experience before. The headsets are also sometimes very large and can be too heavy for children to use depending on their size and weight. This serves as a prominent challenge when attempting to introduce young students to VR. For very young children, augmented reality through mobile phone applications may be more effective since smartphones are much lighter and easier to use than headsets. They also may already be familiar with smartphones at home, while it’s very unlikely that they have experienced virtual reality before.
As VR and AR are continuing to be developed, their affordability and quality will also improve over time, allowing schools to integrate them into the curriculum. The infographic below highlights some of the expected growth of the virtual reality market in the education sector across the globe. The virtual reality market by the end of 2020 is estimated to be worth around US$18.8 billion and will continue to increase rapidly in upcoming years. (Statista, 2019). This is a worthwhile investment for businesses looking to improve their marketing strategies but is also worthwhile for schools as the technology for it continues to advance.
Purchasing VR headsets is very costly currently, which is one of the main reasons why they are not widely used in schools. With cheaper models costing over CA$200, buying dozens of these for students to use can be too costly especially for schools that do not make much money through fundraising events or government funding. Augmented reality through smartphones is much less expensive, but the options for education applications are limited.
There is a lot of potential in the effectiveness in VR and AR and how they can fuel the imaginations of today’s youth in the classroom. When combined with traditional teaching and other media devices, they can prove to be an integral part of the curriculum and how students are taught. School subjects that may be tedious for some may become highly entertaining and engaging using virtual and augmented reality. While hefty costs can serve as a significant hurdle to attaining these methods of teaching, they can serve as valuable teaching tools that will allow students to become familiar with trends in emerging technology. It also enables students to have an enriched, memorable learning environment that will remain prominent in their adult years.
References
B., G. (2020). VR vs AR vs MR: Differences and Real-Life Applications. Retrieved from https://rubygarage.org/blog/difference-between-ar-vr-mr
CBC. (2018). Students explore curriculum in 3D with virtual reality. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/students-3d-virtual-reality-1.4922066
Laucius, J. (2019, March 23). Ontario is poised to require every high school student take four online courses. What does it mean? Retrieved from https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/ontario-is-poised-to-require-every-high-school-student-take-four-online-courses-what-does-it-mean
Liu, S. (2019, December 6). Global augmented/virtual reality market size 2016-2023. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/591181/global-augmented-virtual-reality-market-size/
Maida, J. (2018, September 19). Global Virtual Reality Market in the Education Sector 2018-2022: VR Hardware Segment Dominates the Global Market: Technavio. Retrieved from https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180919005745/en/Global-Virtual-Reality-Market-Education-Sector-2018-2022
McLeod, S. A. (2012). Zone of proximal development. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/Zone-of-Proximal-Development.html
MSCI W2020 Blog Site 