The VR/AR lesson plans in this section were created to enrich some science subjects under the new BC Curriculum.
These subjects include Gen. Science 11, Environmental Science 11–12, and Geology 12.
These new lesson plans highlighted the use of instructional resources in the realm of virtual and augmented realities, which are publicly available online. These resources are properly acknowledged in each lesson plan. Users of these lesson plans should also use them accordingly.
Each lesson plan might serve as a filler in a 60-minute science class, or an extended activity or an assignment for the students. The central theme of these lesson plans revolves around awareness and understanding of climate change.
The lesson plans serve as one avenue in exploring the pedagogical use of VR/AR in STEM education. As VR/AR start-ups expand rapidly in Canada, providing in-service teachers, teacher-candidates and graduate students the necessary skills and resources to harness the potentials of VR/AR technology in education is a necessity.
As educational research regarding the impacts of VR/AR in education sector is expanding, we are initially using this blog site as a platform to explore pedagogical proficiencies on how to harness these resources to impact teaching and learning process.
For example, some studies have shown that VR/AR immersive environments boost students’ engagements, interactivity, creativity, and critical thinking.
The suggested time to be spent with each lesson plan is 15 minutes. However, each teacher and every science class has different needs and limitations, so “how” and “when” to use-the-VR-lesson-plans-question depends on the plan, creativity and resourcefulness of a science teacher.
We look forward to hearing comments from science teachers and other users of these lesson plans in order for us to evaluate them and make sure that they can serve the teachers and general users with purpose.
Kindly send your comments and feedback here.