Bringing The World to The Classroom: How VR can change the education system by Lauryn

Bringing The World to The Classroom: How VR can change the education system by Lauryn - February 2018 Scholarship Essay

Students can learn in a variety of ways. Some may love see a list of equations, while others can memorize charts and photographs. To many students, myself included, the preferred way to learn is hands on learning. The sense of feeling helps us to understand complicated concepts. But how can these students best learn about intangible objects? Sure you could stare at a picture of space, but is there a better way to experience its vastness? You could study the ocean using a PowerPoint, but how do you land a more impactful impression onto students? The answer lies within technology that has proven to be useful in today’s time. This technology is advancing at such a fast pace that by the time 2038 hits, I believe this will become a teaching staple in the classroom. I am talking about the VR experience.

Virtual reality, or VR for short, is a computer-generated environment whose goal is to create a realistic feeling for the user to “be” in that world. I find that this technology is most commonly used in the video gaming industry. Being inside fictional worlds gives players a new sensation of excitement. They can enjoy games from the inside or bring the fictional world to their own world. However, VR has much more uses in other fields then just gaming. In the medical field, some studies have been done to see if VR can train elderly people’s muscles to move and treat arthritis. In the military, VR is slowly being used to train solders through realistic simulations, saving lives in the process. It’s only a matter of time before VR affects the education system as well.

I believe that VR can inspire kids in school like never before. Access to VR early could cause them to grow an interest in technology or, give kids access to places they could never visit on a daily field trip. By 2038, VR will be a fundamental tool in the classroom to teach future generations.