A virtual classroom is a classroom in which the learning is real but the actual place it not. Virtual reality goggles are used to portray a fictional or imaginary classroom. Video gamer producers and directors have been using this technology for years, and now teachers are using it to gain more interesting in learning. Psychologists also believe there are many good used for this technology including, figuring out peoples behaviors in different situations.
Virtual reality can also help students who might have disorders such as ADD or ADHD and do not have long attention spans. The original reason for creating this type of classroom was for attention disorders. The test performed with ADD and ADHD students was to use the virtual classroom and perform one of the classic tests to diagnose these problems. For students with ADD the tester used a classroom with no distractions and with the students without, they added many distractions. They found that the students with distractions did better than the ADD students with no distractions at all. Thus making this a more effective test for ADD.
New technology is actually covered in the article itself. Virtual offices are in the making to help people become more organized. Also, virtual reality is being developed for use during medical procedures to make things less painful to the patient.
I think this is an amazing thing for students. It can really cut down on distractions and discipline problems. Without other people to show off for or impress, students probably not act up as much.
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20031022/Feature1.asp
2 comments:
I thought your article was very helpful. I never thought about how virtual classrooms could help children with learning disorders. Since ADD and ADHD are such common learning disorders it was really helpful to learn about something that could help teachers teach those students. Virtual classrooms could also help studnets that may not have a learning disorder but just learn better in a different environment. I think virtual classrooms are great tools for every teacher.
I didn't know that students could wear goggles to simulate a classroom, like a video game. I thought that this was very interesting. I thought the part about the ADD distractions testing was confusing to read, but the article was good and very interesting. I believe that virtual classrooms can be very beneficial to many types of students and learning styles. More research is needed. Maybe the goggles will be distracting to some students or learner types.
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