SF Middle
School Adds
Virtual Reality
Spaces
South Fayette Middle School recently added three virtual
reality zSpace units to the students’ learning experiences.
These VR stations are portable, with the ability to travel
from classroom to classroom, so that enriching opportunities
for experiential learning with abstract, microscopic, or
difficult to replicate concepts can be easily and efficiently
provided. Each unit has many applications, from virtual
dissection to replicating Newton’s Laws of Motion to creating
three-dimensional artwork.
After having a group of teachers trained in this virtual
reality experience and curricular enhancements, the zSpace
units have begun to make their appearances in classrooms,
amplifying the experiences in which students are inquiring,
exploring, solving problems, and visualizing concepts.
Alissa Beinecke’s seventh grade science students
utilized the virtual reality tools to enhance their learning
and conceptual understanding of the cell structure and
processes. In small groups, students wore the VR glasses and
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SOUTH FAYETTE
used the wand to manipulate cells in ways that could not be
replicated otherwise.
The zSpace units also have been utilized in Josh
Patterson’s eighth grade classroom. Students took on the
role of a volcanologist to virtually explore the features of
active volcanoes, again another experience that could
not be replicated without this virtual option. The students
also used the tools to create an eruption of a volcano
on their own. Additionally, these students engaged in
multiple simulations of Newton’s Laws of Motion. These
laws have been an integral part of the eighth grade science
curriculum. Now, with the coupling of the virtual reality
simulations and the existing instruction, the students are
able to understand these principles at a deeper level.
Although the use of zSpace units in our classrooms has
only begun, we are looking forward to the expand