BIOLOGY VR CASE STUDY: The Human Body (Student Age 10-11)
“This was the children’s first lesson in their Science topic – The Human Body. The idea was to immerse them in learning which would hook their interest in how various parts of the body functioned and worked.”
“The medium term plan was make sure the children understood exactly why certain parts of the body were designed in such a way and how the shape, size and structure of different aspects of the human body contributed to a healthy human being.”
James Tromans
Age 10 -11 Primary School Teacher (UK)
PRACTICAL SESSION
During the session, the children were given the opportunity to take a 360-degree virtual tour of the human body using the ClassVR headsets. We used the Human Anatomy Playlist to explore different sections of the body and provide a detailed view of body parts for the pupils to interrogate and ask questions about. Following the experience, children wrote down as many body parts, facts, questions and key words that they could, based on what they had experienced. For example, we looked at how the skull was shaped and structured to provide protection to the brain; we also looked in more detail at how the skeleton was formed to provide protection to the vital organs within the torso.
IMPACT ON LEARNING
This VR experience formed the starting point to their topic. It generated questioning, which allowed the teacher to tailor future lessons to meet the children’s needs. It exposed students to language that they might not have experienced normally and gave the children the chance to explore the human body in a safe and purposeful way. Following this lesson, the children then explored the heart in more detail using the ClassVR headsets, looked inside a beating heart and explored its job within the body. This was the perfect starting point for the heart dissection that took place the lesson afterwards, as children already had an understanding of the heart’s role, and what they should expect to see inside it.