By Dr Tansell (Head of Computer Science)

VR technology is still in its infancy, but the educational possibilities are very exciting indeed… 

With the continuous quest for interactive and engaging teaching methods, Virtual Reality (VR) is often hailed as a prominent trend in educational technology. Its potential lies in delivering fully immersive educational experiences, starting from primary school classrooms.

Based on the widely acknowledged notion that children learn best through hands-on experiences, VR enables students to engage in limitless possibilities and activities without ever leaving the confines of their classroom. According to educational psychologists, our ability to remember information varies: 10% from reading, 20% from hearing, and a significant 90% from active participation. Hence, it is important that learning is always interactive and engaging and the immersive VR environment provides an exciting route to knowledge acquisition.

This week, we launched a whole class VR session to students in Year 10 GCSE Computer Science. We explored the internal working of components of a computer and the possible devices within a home Wi-Fi network.

Throughout the session all I could hear were comments like “wow this is fully immersive”, “now this makes sense” and “This is awesome and enhances my understanding”.

At BGS, we believe that VR can make a very positive contribution to students' learning experience, particularly to the retention and recall of concepts being taught in lessons. More and more engaging content is being developed, which will further aid and enhance the students' learning.

VR provides students with the chance to encounter new experiences and learn in a significantly more captivating setting. Like other cutting-edge educational technologies, it does not replace teaching in the classroom but rather offers a chance for inventive educational approaches that can be adjusted and guided by the teacher to cater to the class's requirements in the most effective way.

My students and I are looking forward to the next time we use VR at BGS!