GEOGRAPHY VR CASE STUDY: Under the Sea (Student Age 6-7)

“The children had completed a series of lessons on The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson and had been focussing on using imaginative adjectives to describe a scene.”

“Part of the unit of work was based around expanding their vocabulary and use of synonymous language to improve the coherency and fluency of their writing.”

Anna O’Connor
Age 6 – 7 School Teacher (UK)

PRACTICAL SESSION

At the end of a sequence of teaching The Snail and the Whale, our Year 2 students used the VR headsets to explore a range of underwater scenes from around the world. Through this experience the pupils were able to apply the adjectives they had generated in their previous lessons to a real life setting. The children used the headsets in pairs; partner A put the headset on and told partner B what they could see, partner B scribed what partner A said and then they swapped tasks. We were amazed by how much vocabulary the children were able to use and how they were able to build upon the language they had already acquired. Because the children had immersed themselves in the setting they were writing about, we found that they were more able to apply the new vocabulary they had acquired, for example “shimmering, glistening water”, “majestic, large shark”. A key feature in this lesson was being able to direct the children’s attention to a specific point in the scene. This allowed children to focus on one object at a time and the teacher to direct the discussion.

IMPACT ON LEARNING

The children then wrote a descriptive paragraph about their experience under the sea using the vocabulary they had curated after each session on the VR headsets. Class teachers commented that they were so impressed by the willingness of some reluctant writers to use challenging adjectives in their writing and felt that their class had a better understanding of their vocabulary because they were able to apply it to a real life situation. The richness of the writing was evident when it was compared to a similar piece of writing completed by the pupils without the use of the ClassVR headsets.