From right, Milford Public School Board of Education members Craig Shaw, Jessica Dunlap and Ned Pauley explore a human heart using Google Goggles, a virtual reality device that Milford students are using to enhance their learning experience.
Milford students are going on expeditions around the world from the comfort of their own classrooms.
The school district recently purchased 60 sets of Google Goggles, virtual reality devices that allow students to take “field trips” to museums, cultural centers and more.
“VR (virtual reality) is a 3D, computer-generated image that, through the use of technology, students can interact with,” said business teacher Shelly Mowinkel, who is training other teachers in the district on how to use the goggles.
Mowinkel demonstrated the goggles at the Milford Public Schools Board of Education meeting on Nov. 12, giving board members the chance to explore VR.
How it works
The teacher has a tablet, and the students each have a pair of goggles fitted over a mobile device, like a smartphone.
The students’ devices are directly connected to the teacher’s device, but they don’t use internet or wi-fi to connect so that students only have access to what the teacher is displaying.
“It’s really pretty simple for a teacher to find an expedition. They can search for an expedition for what they want,” Mowinkel said.
Mowinkel first tested the goggles with kindergartners.
“We traveled to the San Diego Zoo, and we traveled to Mt. Everest,” she said.
Fourth graders explored seven different coral reefs in the oceans.
Mowinkel said second grade teachers are looking for western expeditions that will allow their students to “travel through history.”
During the meeting, board members explored the human heart, dove to a coral reef and stopped by the International Space Station—all in about 15 minutes.
Each expedition gives the teacher snippets of information to use as talking points in conjunction with whatever they’re teaching in class.
“It allows teachers to have interactive discussions with students. The students can then expand on what we’re talking about because they’re learning,” Mowinkel said.
She said the students stand up and move around as they explore with the goggles.
“I was shocked at how excited they were,” she said.
Teachers only have students use the goggles for 10 to 15 minutes at a time so that they don’t get motion sickness.
Looking ahead
The goggles are split up, with 30 at the elementary school and 30 at the high school for different classes to use.
So far, 15 teachers at the elementary school and 10 teachers at the high school are trained on the devices.
The expeditions are free for teachers to access, but the sets of goggles cost the district about $20,000 total.
That was paid for with money from an anonymous donor.
Mowinkel said the VR devices have expansion options, with gloves students can use to touch whatever they’re seeing inside the goggles.
The school has two 360-degree movie recorders that Mowinkel said she is just beginning to experiment with.
“They have cameras on both sides, so as you’re walking, it’s taking a 360-degree video for you,” she said.
Students or teachers will then be able to use the videos to make their own expeditions.
“These are pretty neat ways for students to be immersed in their learning,” she said.
emily@sewardindependent.com
