DoesVR(virtualReality)providelearningopportunitiesthatcannotbeachievedthroughother

means?
Oneofthemostprevalentbenefitstousingvirtualrealityintheclassroomisthatitprovides
studentswithanentirelynewatmospherewithoutactuallyeverleavingtheclassroom.Inthis
way,studentsaregivenalearningopportunitythattheyotherwisewouldnothavehad.For
example,iftherewereavirtualrealityofanimportantgeographiclocation(orrecreated
geographiclocation)studentswouldbeabletoexperiencethisplaceasiftheywereactually
thereratherthanreadingaboutit,viewingpictures,orevenwatchingavideo.However,Ithink
thatthisbenefitisoneoftheonlymajorbenefitsandthepotentialobstaclesthatteachersand
studentsmayfacefaroutweigh.Thisisalsoanextremelyspecifictypeofbenefitthatmaynot
applytoallcontentareas.Inthesearticles,therearemanypotentialbenefitstousingvirtual
realitydiscussed,suchasroleplaying,problembasedlearning,andcreativelearning.However,
thesethingscanallbeachievedbyothermeansofeducationalactivitiesandsettings.
DoyouthinkVRaddsignificantvaluetoalesson?WhyorWhynot?
Ithinkthatvirtualrealityhaspotentialtoaddsignificantvaluetoalessonifusedcorrectly.I
thinkthatitmaybedetrimentaltostudentlearningiftheentirelessonisconstructedaround
virtualrealitybecauseofalltheproblemsthatmayarise.Studentscouldpotentiallystarttofeel
sickandsomestudentsmayhavecertainmedicalconditionsthatmaypreventthemtousethe
software.Thismeansthatitisntentirelyaccessibletoeveryoneintheclassroom,whichmeans
theteacherwouldneedtohaveanotherwaytoteachthematerialjustaseffectively.However,I
thinkthatinveryminorrolesvirtualrealitymayaddsomethingtoalessonthatcouldotherwise
notbeachieved.Forexample,ifstudentsarelearningaboutcellsandavirtualrealityapp
allowsstudentstoseeupcloseinsideofacell,itwouldaddalotmoremeaningandbackground
knowledge.
DoesVRhurtorhelpthelearningprocess?HowdoesVRaffectyourjobofteaching
curriculum?
Atthepresenttime,Idonotthinkthatvirtualrealitysignificantlyhelpsthelearningprocessand
evenattimesIdobelieveitmayprovetobeadistraction.Initiallystudentsmaybesuperexcited
andengagedinthematerialbecauseoftheuseofvirtualreality,butIbelievethatmaywareoff
prettyquickly.Furthermore,thereisnottoomuchthatyoucouldshowthroughvirtualreality
thatyoucouldnotshowthroughpicturesand/orvideos.Thisbeingsaid,Ithinkthatthereare
manydevelopmentsinvirtualrealitythatareyettocome.Accordingtothearticlesitseemsthat
thismaybecomesomethingthatismuchmoreprevalentineverydaylife,ineducational
settings,andmademoreaccessibletoeveryone.
YouareintegratingVRtechnologyintoyourclassroom.A25yearteachingveteranswearsVR
isjustagimmick.Fromthereadings,frameanargumenttochangehis/hermind.Orarguethe
reasonsyouagreewiththisperson.
I am having a hard time trying to think of a scenario where this would be beneficial in math
classroom. One of the articles was written about an application that is a game where adding
fractions is explored. Reading through the article, I found that while the game seemed very fun,
most of it had nothing to do with math. There were parts of it that focused on fractions, but it
seemed mostly focused on the exploration of the virtual reality world. As I have stated above, I

also do not think that virtual reality is entirely accessible for all students and may serve as a
huge distraction to others. I would agree with the veteran teacher although I would be open to
the idea if someone could explain how the virtual reality gave my students a learning
opportunity they would not otherwise have.