Students travel through space and time without leaving school

Cornell students have experienced the sights and sounds of the Great Wall of China, ancient Rome and a Syrian refugee camp all without ever leaving their school. The students donned virtual reality (VR) headsets funded by a grant through the Allegheny Intermediate Unit. While students are viewing, teachers can monitor their activity and direct the experience via iPad. The IU has trained about 150 teachers in Western PA on virtual and augmented reality technology, including educators at Cornell. A recent assignment for eighth-graders involved an immersive scavenger hunt, during which students worked collaboratively to discover facts about the forest and animals in that habitat, while exploring a virtual landscape via their headsets. Read more about the VR student experience at Cornell and other schools in the Hechinger Report.