Chasing Efficiency: Learning with 3D

We learn more in less time," 9 year-old Preston explains, sitting cheerfully in his Minnesota classroom. This trumpeting of learning efficiency is one of the increasingly apparent benefits of teaching in the 3D classroom. Learning efficiency simply means that students can reach a deep understanding of their learning goals in a shorter amount of time.  This economy in learning really matters. When teachers and learners are more efficient, it frees up more time in the curriculum to cover or learn [more topics]—or to go deeper than the students were able to go before.

Learning efficiency is not evidenced solely in the 3D classroom, of course; many technologies, when used well, usher in the same advantage to learners. Consider the time-saving advantages of such a familiar educational technology as the word processor; or think about the omnipresent graphing calculator, which enables students to complete ten times the number of transformations than possible with pencil and graph paper in the same amount of time. 

That’s learning efficiency in a nutshell. 3D visualization, however, promises a brain-based renaissance for promoting learning efficiency like never before.