What is Virtual Reality?
Virtual reality, often referred to as VR, is a 3D environment that allows people to interact with things resembling reality and the world around them
Benefits of Virtual Reality for STEM Education
In a world with constantly changing and improving technology, parents and educators are uniquely positioned to alter how they educate their children/students. Virtual reality (VR) allows children to explore STEM concepts through real-world examples and applications.
In this article, STEM Sports® introduces virtual reality to the education landscape and the benefits it can have on a child’s STEM education experience.
Benefit #1: Support experiential and collaborative learning
Implementing VR in the classroom helps support experiential and collaborative learning. Especially with STEM subjects, students benefit from working alongside their classmates to improve their 21st-century skills, such as leadership. These skills are beneficial to students as they continue throughout their education and enter the workforce. It is recommended parents and educators focus on exercising these skills early in education – virtual reality is a great way to do this consistently with students!
Benefit #2: Promotes technology literacy
Children need to achieve and maintain technological literacy throughout their education and future careers in the rapidly changing world of technology,. Virtual reality is a great way to introduce children to the newest technology, allowing them to learn through hands-on experiences. Virtual reality STEM lessons allow students to engage with complex STEM concepts, learn how to navigate the technology landscape, and how to use technology to benefit their education.
Benefit #3: Improve memory and knowledge retention
The real-world applications offered through virtual reality lessons help students engage using hands-on learning methods. This method of learning has been proven to increase knowledge retention and improve memory recall. This is beneficial to children during future lessons, quizzes, and standardized tests.
Benefit #4: Increases excitement and engagement around learning
As parents and educators, it is important to find ways to get students engaged and excited about STEM learning. Adding virtual reality learning to your classroom curriculum is a great way to increase student participation in lessons. This increased engagement will lead to students asking deeper questions and understanding the STEM concepts on a deeper level.
Benefit #5: Boosts student creativity and problem-solving skills
Virtual reality is a great way to turn STEM lessons into STEAM lessons. By adding VR to STEM learning, students will exercise their creative thinking skills to solve complex real world problems. These are both skills beneficial to students in their education and future careers. As early as kindergarten, it is beneficial to encourage students to exercise and improve these skills during STEM and other classroom activities.
STEM With STEM Sports®
The educational landscape is constantly changing. At STEM Sports®, we are committed to keeping parents and educators informed about current trends, important information, and helpful information/learning opportunities.
If you are interested in learning more about STEM, read the following blogs:
