Students Dive Deep Into Learning with the New Virtual Reality Immersive Experience

Students Dive Deep Into Learning with the New Virtual Reality Immersive Experience

It’s one thing to learn about the ocean from a textbook. But it’s an entirely different experience to dive deep into the water and swim through a vibrant coral reef exploring the thousands of sea creatures that call it home.

By simply slipping on a pair of virtual reality goggles granted by the Warwick Education Foundation, Sarah Martens’ high school science students took a virtual field trip down under to learn about sea life ‘first-hand.’

As one Warwick high school student explained it, “I was sitting in my chair while wearing the headset and looked at my feet and felt like I was swimming in the ocean.”

Warwick K-12 Technology Integration Coaches Jonathan Olshan and Shelly Chmil applied for the Virtual Immersive Learning grant from the Ed Foundation to fund 30 Virtual Reality (VR) headsets for Warwick students throughout the district. The grant also funded 30 controllers, a teacher’s device, battery packs, a Wi-Fi router, a license to operate the equipment, and software with video teaching explorations, including Diving with Sharks in Cuba, the MET Museum NYC, Apollo 11, Ancient Egypt, Birkenau Concentration Camp, and many others.

“Using VR effectively gives learners an emotional and experiential connection to what they’re learning,” explained Mr. Olshan. “Our new VR headsets are empowering teachers to use technology in innovative ways to enrich the teaching and learning of their curriculum.”

Mr. Olshan also explained how Warwick’s new VR Immersive Learning grant is making an impact well beyond Mrs. Martens’ science classroom.

“One thing that I absolutely love about the Warwick Education Foundation is that they provided us with this opportunity, and it touches every student in our district,” he said.

Thanks to the VR Immersive Learning experience, Mrs. Martens has seen a difference in the way her students interact with the material she’s teaching and a boost in student engagement.

“It definitely increases the excitement level and increases the hands-on activity in the classroom,” Mrs. Martens said.

Thank you to all of our donors and everyone who supports the Warwick Education Foundation for helping us bring this VR Immersive Learning Experience to students across the district. We couldn’t do our work without you.
Scan to watch!

Watch Warwick students as they experience VR in the classroom for the first time and hear from teachers why receiving the VR headset grant has been valuable to students across the district.