In 21st Century Teaching and Learning this
semester, we are being given the opportunity to learn about different
technologies to use in our future classrooms. These presentations began with
Google Cardboard! If you haven't been given the opportunity to work with this,
I highly recommend that you do! Google Cardboard is a tool used for virtual
reality tours and placing yourself in an alternate world for a moment in
time. We learned many ways to use this in our classrooms!
First, we learned to use them for
virtual fieldtrips. How neat would it be to teach a lesson about the civil war
and then allow your students to immerse themselves in that time? Google
Cardboard is perfect for this! It connects with your phone to allow the
students to be thrown into whatever world we choose! This technology is
innovative and an amazing way to show students exactly what you are trying to
teach them.
Google Cardboard connects with the 4
c’s in many ways as well. It promotes critical
thinking by allowing the students to create their own 360 picture to use
Google Cardboard with. In the presentation, the girls talked about being able
to use the tool to create their own photo or image to present to the class.
This is a wonderful opportunity for the students to think critically. They are
being asked not only to create a presentation, but to stage an event. For
example, they might be doing a presentation on the French and Indian war. For this
image, they might be challenged to act out a scene and take a 360 photo of it
for the presentation. This forces the students to think critically and create a
scene specific and authentic to the course material. Critical thinking is key
with this assignment option.
Google Cardboard connects with communication by allowing the students
to post their creations for others to use. They could use the activity
mentioned above and post a link to it in their classroom blog for their peers
and parents to view. Parents and classmates would be able to give feedback
about the image and in depth connections and facts about what they are seeing. They
are being encouraged to communicate and take information from others about
their work.
Collaboration
is supported with this tool by allowing the students to work together on a
project and create a final finished product. They are also able to go through
an experience together. While completing the virtual fieldtrips or even the
virtual reality, the students are all collaborating about what they are seeing
and experiencing. Some students will see different aspects than others. The
collaboration allows them to share and all gain from the experience.
Creativity
is clear in this tool with both the teacher and the student. The teacher
must be creative with her choice and usage of the tool. The students must be
creative when coming up with a way to use it in an assignment. There is no way
to be generic with this tool. The students must rely on their own creativity in
order to make this tool worth while!
Google Cardboard is an amazing tool
that is worth implementing into the daily classroom. Virtual reality is a world
that needs to be explored more for our students!
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