A teacher describes how he uses New York Times VR in the classroom

[Here’s a detailed first-person description of how to use VR (and presence) in the classroom. It’s from the New York Times, where it includes more images. –Matthew]

Cayne Letizia uses Google Cardboard in the classroom

Reader Idea | New York Times Virtual Reality in the Classroom

By The Learning Network
August 31, 2016

Using virtual reality, or VR, in the classroom can help students learn about the world in a powerful new way, says Cayne Letizia.

In this series of lessons, he uses Times VR reporting as a way to hook students on stories about everything from the refugee crisis to life on Pluto to the secret languages of sea creatures — and to inspire deeper reading and writing about each.

Find new Reader Ideas all week this week — and if you’ve taught with The Times, write in and tell us about it here.

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Teacher: Cayne Letizia

Institution: Valhalla Middle School, Valhalla, N.Y.

Grade Level of Students: Upper Elementary and Middle School

Idea: Last fall, The Times debuted NYT VR, a mobile app that can be used — along with headphones and optionally a cardboard viewing device — to “simulate richly immersive scenes from across the globe.”

Inspired by the arrival of the small Google Cardboard VR viewer that came in home-delivery subscribers’ Sunday papers of Nov. 8, 2015, Mr. Letizia immediately began planning classroom applications for reading and writing with the new technology.

Why We Chose It: Mr. Letizia is the kind of imaginative teacher who collects and experiments with ideas from all over — and, as we know from a previous Reader Idea he sent us, many of those ideas come from The Times.

We love how he introduces his students to VR as a “powerful empathy engine” for understanding the lives of others, and we hope his forays will encourage other teachers to try the technology too.

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What Mr. Letizia Did and Why, in His Own Words

VR as a Springboard for Reading and Writing Instruction

On a cold day in early November I went outside to grab our New York Times from the driveway and noticed a large cardboard box attached to the iconic blue bag.

Upon further inspection and review of the directions, I downloaded the Times VR app and set up the Google cardboard goggles.

That Sunday, The Times Magazine featured three pieces about children driven from their homes by war and persecution — an 11-year-old boy from eastern Ukraine named Oleg, a 12-year-old Syrian girl named Hana and a 9-year-old South Sudanese boy named Chuol.

I vividly remember standing in my kitchen with my wife and three children as we each took turns eagerly trying on the goggles and watching the short VR video of an airdrop of food in Somalia.

I had chills while I looked around and saw people running to collect rice bags being dropped at my feet.

It was a moment I will not forget, for in that moment I knew the future, my children’s future, would look vastly different than mine had at that age. It must have been like the excitement my grandparents had when TV shifted to color.

More important, I realized what awesome implications these devices would have on my teaching. That Monday I brought my pair of goggles in and a few pairs I borrowed from my neighbors to share the experience with my students.

The objective of the first lesson was pretty simple: share this cool new experience with students.

Lesson Procedure

1. Students read the Wired article “Google Cardboard’s New York Times Experiment Just Hooked a Generation on VR.”

2. While reading the article we used the “Questioning the Author” protocol.

This is a series of inquiries that students can make about the content they are reading. The strategy is designed to encourage students to think beyond the words on the page and to consider the author’s intent for the selection and his or her success at communicating it.

The guiding idea behind the lesson came from the article:

Especially as a medium for non-fiction, I believe the hype that VR can act as a powerful empathy engine, a uniquely direct way to put us in someone else’s world.

Students completed the following “Q the Author” questions:

  • What is the author trying to tell you?
  • Why is the author telling you that?
  • Is it said clearly?
  • How might the author have written it more clearly?
  • What would you have wanted to say instead?

3. Dividing the room in half, students moved to one of two areas in the room based on if they believed VR technology is a powerful tool for empathy or if it is not.

While in their new groups students provided reasons why they do or do not think VR is a powerful empathy tool. For a few students I used the Learning Network Word of the Day to explain the word empathy. A discussion ensued.

4. Next, students experienced the short one-minute excerpt called “The Food Drop” from the NYT VR film “The Displaced.”

While we took turns using the four goggles, other students began to read a hard copy of the article “The Displaced: An Introduction.” As they read, each student annotated the text. (Note: Many different keys exist for annotating. In the beginning of the school year I usually have my students create their own classroom Annotating Key. But if you do not have a “go to” key, here is a link to a few examples.)

5. We revisited our question and it became immediately apparent that all the students shifted their positions to how the VR goggles were indeed a powerful tool to build empathy. Another deeper discussion occurred around our guiding quote.

Four Borrowed Goggles Is Not Enough: Going Further

The challenge of having only four goggles to share among six classes and over 50 students was logistically daunting, to say the least. We put the VR Lessons on hold until I could figure out a way to address the issue.

Through the help of generous donors over at Donors Choose, I was able to secure 50 additional VR goggles. This allowed students to all engage in the lesson simultaneously without having to wait their turn.

We started with “The Displaced: An Introduction,” and I again used a guiding quote from the article to frame the lesson. This time it was this one:

We decided to launch The Times’s virtual-reality efforts with these portraits because we recognize that this new filmmaking technology enables an uncanny feeling of connection with people whose lives are far from our own.

We discussed this quote and how it relates to our previous quote. My students are middle-schoolers and instantly made connections to the three portraits The Times Magazine highlighted in the series:

Students then used their VR goggles and personal smartphones to watch the 11-minute VR video “The Displaced” and read the accompanying articles for each refugee portrait.

Going Further: Debating the VR Technology

Having explored the argument that VR technology can increase empathy by placing us in a person’s world, we moved on to what others think of the technology.

Using another Times article, this one a look at “The Tricky Terrain of VR Technology” by the public editor, we explored this article together using this graphic organizer.

Other VR Applications

Besides the obvious benefits for teaching empathy, I have found the VR goggles have been a great springboard for reading and writing lessons.

They add another dimension to reading and writing activities and serve as a great motivator. Even when the VR goggles are just a small part of the lesson (five to 10 minutes), students get excited about the topic. I imagine as the technology advances and more apps and videos are created the classroom implications will continue to expand.

As the school year began to wind down, we also used New York Times VR technology to decode the secret language of dolphins and whales via “The Click Effect” and set foot on a dwarf planet three billion miles from our classroom via “Seeking Pluto’s Frigid Heart.”

As The Times continues to create VR reporting, my students will continue to use it to explore the world.

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