For educators exploring mobile, large display, virtual reality or augmented reality
platforms using 3D, it is important to know the value added benefits of these products. To date, most reports about the effectiveness of using
stereo 3D in the classroom revolve around increased retention of learning,
‘wow’ factor, motivation to learn, and higher pre-test/post-test scores. What if
there is another benefit we are missing entirely, something much more appealing to educators?
One advantage of
teaching with 3D, based on recent learning experiences in advantage of teaching with 3D, based on learning
experiences in Swedish schools, appears to be the acceleration of curriculum. The growth dividend
associated with the acceleration of curriculum seems very attractive. Here’s how it’s evidenced in some Swedish
schools.
Using the
3D Classroom, a richly 3D simulation series
produced by Sensavis,
teachers in Sweden are seeing some surprising results, even at very young ages.
At the intermediate school level, Principal Mattias Bostrom reported the
following example of curriculum acceleration in action:
An
8th grade biology teacher using The 3D Classroom stopped having tests in
anatomy at the end of a course. Instead he had the 8th grade students teaching
what they had learned to 4th and 5th grade students, but using the same 3D
visualization tools. This way he could better understand the depth of the 8th
grade students’ knowledge. During the experiment, the instructor noticed that
the 4th and 5th grade students asked tougher questions than he had imagined
they would ask. The
biology teacher, curious about what the younger students had learned, conducted
another spot experiment. He took the
last year’s final test for 8th grade anatomy and gave it to the 5th graders. He
was surprised and delighted when the 5th graders scored better on this test than
last year’s 8th graders. Humorously, at the same time he was a bit worried what
to teach the 4th and 5th graders when they became 8th graders.
Stay tuned next week for a post involving curriculum acceleration by even younger students.