It’s hard to imagine learning without a teacher, a blackboard, notes, desks, or even a school. However, that’s the future put forward by educational researchers in NYU’s CREATE Lab.
Last Thursday, the senior class trekked out to serve as guinea pigs for the CREATE Lab’s experiments, joining the hundreds of other students who have helped the researchers understand how educators can use digital media to help students learn. We had the opportunity to use VR headsets to immerse ourselves in educational simulations, a step forward in educational technology from the more traditional format of using interactive websites by taking both visual and hands-on learning to the next level.
Across four experiments, we participated in both academic and user research. The academic research, which the NYU CREATE Lab plans to publish, focused on both our emotions and learning ability in using VR simulations to teach material. The user research, on the other hand, is designed to test how well the CREATE Lab’s experiments were working by getting feedback about any difficulties or areas for improvement that students were facing in their trials. In contributing to these experiments, the senior class helped develop and refine how schools could educate students in America’s and the world’s future.
Even though technology can prevent learning by distracting students or decreasing their attention span, the NYU CREATE Lab has a more optimistic vision of a world where technology can facilitate the transfer of knowledge better than ever before. Students engaging with their classroom material in virtual reality simulations may retain knowledge better after virtually re-enacting the ideas presented in class, from tearing apart chromosomes during mitosis to perhaps speaking Spanish while virtually in Madrid. We were glad we could experience the cutting-edge before most of the world.
After our dutiful participation in the CREATE Lab’s experiments, the senior class enjoyed pizza for lunch, our minds filled with wonder about how classrooms may look at BASIS in the years ahead, with VR headsets crowning each student’s head. Mr. Brauch had some more immediate takeaways for BASIS Independent students from the NYU CREATE Lab, though. As a fantastic opportunity to see research in action, he noted, the seniors learned firsthand how researchers design their experiments and studies, a skill that comes in especially handy for Senior Projects.
We look forward to sending more lab rats in the senior classes to come! Sign up, learn a little, eat some pizza, and immerse yourself in the future.
