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Whether you’re in a realistic environment similar to your own, or a fictitious alternate universe that looks nothing like the world around us, virtual reality’s capability to make us think we are somewhere else is unbelievable.  How did this technology come to be?  How can we present our brains with “made-up” sensory information and feel physically transplanted into another space?  What IS virtual reality?  Let’s dive into the rich history of VR, and explore how such a remarkable technology came to exist.
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## What is Virtual Reality?

If you asked the average bypasser, “What is Virtual Reality?”, you might get answers like: a headset, a video game, or a computer program.  The truth is that virtual reality is none of these things.  The term virtual reality is referring to the simulated environment that we interact with as users of the virtual reality technology.  The participant is immersed in this “nearly” real environment, and can view it in 360 degrees. 

The written virtual reality definition in the dictionary goes something like this: 

*Virtual Reality - (noun) - the computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors.*
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Most consumer’s first thoughts when hearing the term ‘VR’, relate it immediately back to virtual reality games.  But there are plenty of practical virtual reality applications that have nothing to do with virtual reality video games.  There are types of virtual reality designed specifically for training in the medical field, providing realistic flight experience for training pilots, training military personnel in risky simulated situations, PTSD therapy or, like Futuclass, teaching students abstract concepts with tangible environments.
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## A History of Virtual Reality Technology

Virtual reality began with truly archaic technology and ideas that were developed over hundreds of years.  Innovators, dreamers, inventors, engineers and eventually computer scientists developed the technology with a combination of several underdeveloped ideas.  We can trace the idea of creating misperceptions of reality with 3-dimensional images as far back as the 1800’s.

![unnamed (7.png](/uploads/unnamed_7_59efb083fa.png)
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### Evolution of the Stereoscope and Related VR Technology

In the mid 1800’s, records and illustrations have educated historians about the creation of the first basic stereoscope contraption, credited to Sir Charles Wheatstone and thus dubbed the Wheatstone Stereoscope. The Wheatstone stereoscope used perfectly angled mirrors and a manipulation of human depth perception to create 3-dimensional images out of 2 flat images.  The contraption played on the combination of the vision of the left eye and right eye.

This contraption was revisited, refined, and reinvented with the creation of the Brewster Stereoscope and the Holmes Stereoscope.  The Holmes Stereoscope is reminiscent of the more modern 20th century toy that many of us played with as children - the patented ViewMaster.

![unnamed 6.png](/uploads/unnamed_6_a535b5c89b.png)

The ViewMaster was a handheld stereoscope that resembled binoculars.  It was created and patented by an Oregon postcard producer and photo finishing company called Sawyer Inc.  It became a globally known name with it’s iconic picture discs.  

All of this early stereoscope evolution was essentially the birth of modern day VR.  By working together to block out physical, environmental stimuli by covering the eyes, and simultaneously manipulating the brain’s visual and depth perceptions, it allowed users to feel as though they were looking directly at a single 3-dimensional scene.

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### Envisioning Virtual Reality Technology in Literature

The beginning of VR as we think of it today was originally as fictional as the environment it creates.  The idea blossomed in a 1935 story written by Stanley Weinbaum entitled “Pygmalion’s Spectacles.” The classic science fiction story outlined a man’s experience with a pair of goggles invented by an “elfin” professor. 

The goggles in the story allowed the user to the experience sight, sound, taste, and smell of a movie.  At the time the book was written, such technology was completely fictional.  Weinbaum described an experience with virtual reality technology that, decades later, would be put forth by companies like Oculus and Playstation. 

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![unnamed (4.png](/uploads/unnamed_4_ee52d725c2.png)



### The 3-Dimensional Movie (3-D Films)

In the fall of 1922, what is recognized as the first true 3-D film was shown at the Ambassador Hotel Theater in Los Angeles.  The movie attendant wore a special pair of glasses that made certain aspects of the film “pop” from the screen and add depth, in addition to the length and width typically viewed on the average movie screen.  The movie, entitled “[The Power of Love](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013506/)” was produced by Harry Fairall, and is now considered a “lost” film.
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### Early Attempts at True VR Technology

In 1956, an attempt at a more true to current VR experience was developed with the creation of “Sensorama”. The “[Sensorama](https://www.engadget.com/2014-02-16-morton-heiligs-sensorama-simulator.html)” was a bulky booth-like movie viewer developed by Morton Heilig and patented in 1962.  The booth layered sight, sound, smell - even wind machines and vibrating seats to create a full sensory experience.

![unnamed (3).png](/uploads/unnamed_3_bb8ef6f3e8.png)

The films were created by mounting three 35mm cameras on a cameraman.  One film captured the cameraman’s ride through the streets of Brooklyn on a motorcycle.  Viewers in the “Sensorama '' watched an edited version of this film.  During their viewing, they could feel the vibration of the motorcycle seat and the wind in their hair as they smelled the city scents and heard a collection of the urban sounds recorded on the biker’s adventure.

Only six films were developed for the “Sensorama” and it didn’t take off as Heilig expected, despite providing an incredible VR experience for it’s time.  Without practical application, the Sensorama was difficult to market.  Another barrier to success was the exorbitant cost of creating the films.

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### The Development of the HMD (Head-mounted Display)

Morton Heilig (creator of the Sensorama) had another patent for a gadget that has traveled in different forms with VR technology to present day.  This ‘gadget’ was known as the “Telesphere Mask” and was essentially the first Head-mounted Display (HMD). 

The iconic HMD  is what most people picture when they hear the question, “What is Virtual Reality?”.  It’s an image of a person wearing a sleek, cutting-edge pair of VR Goggles, like those developed by Oculus and Sony Playstation.

Present day HMD’s have gyroscopes, HDMI technology and motion tracking.  But one of those key features of VR - motion tracking - didn’t arrive on the scene until the year after Heilig patented his [Telesphere Mask](https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Morton-Heilig-Telesphere-Mask-1960-Source-Wikimedia-Commons_fig3_319618259).  Motion tracking is the ability for the HMD to sense the movements of the head and follow them in order to look around the virtual environment users are immersed in. 

This motion tracking was implemented by Philco Corporation as they developed cutting edge military technology called “[Headsight](https://patents.google.com/patent/US3205303)”.  Headsight allowed the military to travel into dangerous spaces with cameras that would move in synchrony with the head movements of the personnel conducting the investigation.  They could essentially look around a dangerous zone from a remote location of safety.
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### The Government’s Role in the History of VR

In the late 1960’s, the Air Force began using its first flight simulator model.  This flight simulator was developed by Thomas Furness in the Armstrong Laboratory at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. 

Exploring the training capabilities of this technology spurred the US Government to invest military funding into continuing to develop VR technology.  With additional funding and support, Furness continued improving, expanding, experimenting and working on the flight simulator until he released the completed [VCASS](https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA039999) (Visually Coupled Airborne Systems Simulator) which was a much more advanced, working flight simulator for the United States Military. 

![unnamed (1).png](/uploads/unnamed_1_f33b3e07b1.png)

This technology advanced further with the development of the “Super Cockpit” program in the late 1980’s.  Furness authored the program and developed the technology. It provided a realistic stream of continuously changing information, as well as visuals that were realistic to what pilots would face in-flight.  
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### Getting our Hands Involved

The handheld controllers often used in today’s modern virtual reality video games and simulations had to start somewhere.  Most believe that somewhere was actually the creation of the “[Sayre Gloves](https://www.evl.uic.edu/research/2162)''.  These techy  mittens used light emitters and photocells in a pair of wired gloves to simulate hand movement that matched the user’s hand movement.  This was a precursor to VPL Research’s “Data Glove” and Mattel Inc.’s “Powerglove”.  All hints at the hand control technology level we are at today.

![unnamed (1).jpeg](/uploads/unnamed_1_9cf794d4bd.jpeg)
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### NASA Gets Onboard

You know technology is getting serious when NASA gets involved.  In the late 1980’s, NASA used the brilliant mind and technological skills of one Scott Foster to develop audio components for the Virtual Environment Workstation Project (VIEW) - a VR training simulator for astronauts. NASA even uses a VR system to steer the robots roving Mars in real-time.  This “Computer Simulated Teleoperation” was designed by Antonio Medina, another scientist at NASA.
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### Modern Gaming Recognizes the Potential in VR Technology

Though there were hints of gaming entertainment in previous VR advances, the mass production of a virtual immersion arcade game known as “Virtuality” really launched a VR gaming explosion throughout the 90’s and early 2000’s.  

SEGA tried to get into the game with the SEGA VR headset in 1991 but never launched for reasons unclear.  They ended up coming out with the SEGA VR-1, which was an arcade style game launched in 1994.

Nintendo rolled out their “Virtual Boy” console, which was portable, in 1995 - but it was discontinued after only a year in production.  

![virtual-boy-all-about-101-featured.jpeg](/uploads/virtual_boy_all_about_101_featured_3250e340fb.jpeg)


In just the last decade or so, VR gaming has grown in leaps and bounds.  HMD based VR consoles are in many homes today.  But how did we get here?  A quick breakdown of how the 21st century changed the history of VR gaming:

- 2010 - First prototype of Oculus Rift headset developed by young entrepreneur Palmer Luckey 
- 2012 - $2.4 Million in Kickstarter investments launched Oculus startup 
- 2014 - Facebook buys Oculus for $2 Billion  
 Sony announces the PS4 Headset   
 Google comes out with Cardboard (A cheap HMD that is compatible with smartphones   
 Samsung comes out with its own HMD, the Samsung Gear VR   
- 2015 - Glovestone VR gloves released 
- 2016 - HTC releases its VIVE Steam VR Headset 
- 2017 - Google, Apple, Amazon, Samsung, Sony, and Microsoft are all developing their own VR headsets 
- 2018 - Oculus proposed the prototype of their Halfdome 
- 2019 - Oculus quest sells out everywhere as Facebook’s newest “stand-alone” headset    
 For the first time, more than one million VR headsets were connected monthly to STEAM   
- 2020 - The year will go down in history as one of the craziest years of our lives.  But Futuclass was busy continuing to push VR technology forward, developing outstanding VR STEM Lessons to present to students worldwide in chemistry and physics. 

![VR lesson image salts.jpeg](/uploads/VR_lesson_image_salts_7acb2885a9.jpeg)
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## We Understand the History of VR, But What Does The Future of Virtual Reality Look Like?

Like most technologies, virtual reality has come so far, yet it’s not nearly a complete development. It’s still considered an “emerging technology” despite being developed for over 50 years. The future of virtual reality will surely show us improvements regarding visual quality, level of interaction, and unique, creative applications.

The future of virtual reality looks like the development of “Extended Reality”.  This combines VR, AR, and MR to create a mind blowing experience that we can’t yet fathom.  It will likely make today's revolutionary VR technology obsolete and archaic in just a few years time.
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## Takeaways: 

Today’s VR owes its very existence to the pioneers throughout the history of VR technologies past, from the archaic 19th century stereoscopes to the Powergloves of the 80’s.  So the next time someone asks you “What is Virtual Reality?”, consider something more than goggles and gaming.  Consider virtual reality helping surgeons, veterans, soldiers and children in so many unique ways.  

Check out some of the [virtual reality chemistry and physics lessons Futuclass](https://futuclass.com/lessons) is offering to children in middle and high schools all over the world.  We’re working to create a tangible way to learn abstract concepts - and have fun while doing it!

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What is Virtual Reality? A History of VR

Homeschool Chemistry doesn’t need to be so intimidating for parents or students.
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## Why is Homeschool Chemistry Such a Struggle?

If teaching homeschool chemistry is becoming a nightmare, rest assured that you are not alone in your pain.  Homeschooling parents often struggle to teach secondary-level sciences to even the brightest learners.  Many parents become intimidated by the idea of teaching middle or high school chemistry, biology, and physics when they are still on the distant horizon.  

Thinking “How am I going to homeschool subjects like chemistry?” is a common fear.  The most important thing to remind yourself is that your concern is a sign that you’re already doing a great job.  Many homeschool families have faced these same problems and come out on the other side.  

We’ve created a list of clear, actionable tips to make homeschool chemistry a bit more painless for everyone.  Maybe you are in the throes of a high school chemistry struggle already.  Maybe you’re still teaching elementary-level sciences and simply planning for the future.  Whatever situation you're in, these tips can smooth out some of the inevitable bumps in the road.  

Before we decide how to tackle homeschool chemistry, we need to look at why it scares you in the first place.  This self-reflection will help you refine your teaching approach.  

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## 3 Reasons Why Homeschool Chemistry May Seem So Hard

1. How long has it been since you took chemistry?  If it’s been more than a dozen years since you took a chemistry class, you probably don’t remember a bit of that content.  You likely have no chemistry experience at your current job.  This leaves you with the same lack of knowledge as your student.  If you can’t recall a bit of your own distant class, how will you be able to teach homeschool chemistry to your child?
2. Is it possible that you had a bad experience in chemistry?  Think about your chemistry class memories.  Did you end up with a failing grade?  Did you have an unforgiving teacher?  Your negative memories of chemistry could be getting in your way.  They can distort your mental picture of what homeschool chemistry will look like for your family.  Understand that if your experience was bad, that cycle is not destined to repeat itself.  It doesn’t mean your child’s destined to also have a bad experience.
3. Is your student a math struggler?  Are you a math struggler?  Math is an essential part of chemistry success.  If your student is weak in math, you may be hesitant to introduce a new math concept.  
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## An Overview:  What Do You Learn in Chemistry and Why is Chemistry Important?

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Homeschool chemistry can begin in middle school, or earlier.  Curriculum should introduce students to basic metric units, measurement, observation, and scientific methods.  These kinds of introductory topics are introduced in the late elementary or early middle school years. They are usually exposed to these things in their general science courses, and more difficult chemistry topics come in late middle school, and more often high school.

What’s the basic content that should be included in a middle or high school homeschool chemistry curriculum?   Comprehensive chemistry classes cover a multitude of topics including (but not necessarily limited to):  

- Math Basics including Algebraic Concepts
- Atoms, Molecules, and Moles
- Stoichiometry (chemical conversions and equations)
- States of Matter
- Chemical Reactions
- Periodic Table and Periodic Trends
- Solutions
- Gases
- Acids and Bases
- Thermochemistry and Physical Chem
- Kinetics
- Electronic and Atomic Structure
- Nuclear Chemistry (radiation and radioactive materials)

This feels like a lot of information to cover. Could you just skip homeschool chemistry altogether and call it a day?  Probably not.  Why is chemistry important?

![Chemistry Advancement.png](/uploads/Chemistry_Advancement_9358a5d995.png)
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Chemistry is central to almost every single thing we do, use, see, and eat.  From the batteries in your cell phone to the chocolate cake that you had for dessert last night, chemistry played a vital role in all of them.  Chemistry research has led to life-saving medical treatments.  It’s created strides in plastics manufacturing, the oil and gas industry, and the testing of safe drinking water.
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## Is Painless Chemistry Even Possible?

It’s important to take a deep look at the type of learner your student is.  Do they do well with rote memorization and dry text?  Do they thrive on handwritten reports, research, and multiple-choice tests?  The answer is probably not.

Homeschool chemistry curriculums have been developed by companies using research-based learning theory.  You can choose to adopt a pre-planned curriculum and follow it to a ‘T’ or adjust it as needed.  Lean into the homeschool community to get hands-on testimonials, recommendations, and reviews from families who have experienced success with their homeschool chemistry curriculum.  You can find forums and social media groups of homeschool parents online that can give you first hand accounts of their experiences. There is no “one-size-fits-all”.  The best homeschool chemistry plan is the one that fits your child’s learning style.

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Some of the more notable homeschool chemistry curriculums available on today’s market are:

- [Apologia’s Chemistry curriculum](https://www.apologia.com/product-category/science/?a_aid=5a15db50739a1&subject=advanced-chemistry,chemistry,chemistry-physics) offers everything you need from student textbooks to exams and lab kits in both basic and advanced chemistry for middle and high school students. It’s one of the most often touted and highly recommended as the best homeschool chemistry choice on the market.  Apologia also has homeschool high school science options for everything from general science to physics and biology.
- [Friendly Chemistry ](http://www.friendlychemistry.com/index.html)has great basic science coverage that would serve in an upper middle school or high school homeschool chemistry setting.
- [Alpha-Omega’s homeschool chemistry](https://www.aop.com/) comes in the form of Christian-based, student-led Life Pacs that are a popular choice among parents.

![pexels-zen-chung-5538618.jpeg](/uploads/pexels_zen_chung_5538618_628aa0dd09.jpeg)
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## Thinking Outside of the Box for Middle and High School Chemistry Curriculum

Keep in mind that choosing to homeschool means choosing freedom.  Freedom to self-pace and adjust as you see fit.  Buying a prepared curriculum doesn’t mean you can’t sub in more interactive hands-on science content whenever and however you feel appropriate.

That freedom can go as far as scrapping a prepared homeschool chemistry program and building your own learning path from the ground up.  You might know from an experience with an older sibling, or a fellow homeschool family that your learner will not strive in the models available.  

Curating a chemistry course of learning that will work for your student can revolutionize their experience.  If you’re feeling intimidated, here are 8 actionable tips to make homeschool chemistry a more pleasant experience for you, and ultimately a success for your learner.
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## 8 Homeschool Chemistry Tips to Make Learning Easier

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### 1. Start Your Learners in STEM and Chem Early.
Research tells us time and time again that the earlier students are introduced to STEM topics like chemistry, the more comfortable they are with the complex version of it that’s introduced in upper grades.  Inspire in young children a love of learning and a sense of inquiry in chemistry, and you’ll see that enthusiasm carry over into middle and high school years.

Chemistry in elementary years can look like basic, [at-home kitchen chemistry](https://www.thoughtco.com/kitchen-science-experiments-for-kids-604169) experiments. Though structured chemistry classes don’t usually begin until middle school, there’s no reason why you can’t ignite excitement and interest in your kids early on.

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### 2. Set Your Student Up For Success With Your Own Attitude.
If during our previous point of self-reflection, you came to terms with the fact that you had a bad chemistry experience - choose not to share it.  Don’t tell your child that chemistry is hard.  Don’t tell your child that you failed.  And don’t tell your child you were “bad at chemistry”.

Your negative opinion of chemistry as a subject is adopted by your child and inherently becomes fact to them.  Gift them the opportunity to form their own opinions based on the experiences that they have.  

![RB I screenshot 12.png](/uploads/RB_I_screenshot_12_dd3181ecd8.png)
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### 3. Make Homeschool Chemistry Fun and Engaging
Keep the topic as fun and engaging as possible.  It may seem difficult to make chemistry “fun” if you took chemistry 20 years ago.  Technology has come a long way since then, and the edTech industry has managed to “gamify” all the most difficult parts of learning for children.

Middle-schoolers can learn the periodic table with Proton Don in a gamified, interactive periodic table on a website called “[Funbrain](https://www.funbrain.com/games/periodic-table-game)”.

Take us here at [Futuclass](https://futuclass.com/) for example:  balancing chemical equations is one of the most difficult parts of chemistry for students who are weak in math and algebra.  Our virtual reality set-up literally gets students ‘ hands-on’ when balancing chemical equations.
Finding new and different ways to make the most difficult parts of homeschool chemistry fun again goes a long way in enjoying the class, and ultimately retaining that knowledge.

![nick-karvounis-zgQFMGCQgvc-unsplash.jpeg](/uploads/nick_karvounis_zg_QFMGC_Qgvc_unsplash_eb6b498615.jpeg)
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### 4. Allow Time For Interest-Led Learning in Your Homeschool Chemistry Timeline
We always have end goals when we lay out what our homeschool calendar will look like.  We know roughly how long it should ideally take us to get through a course from beginning to end, and we try to stick to that timeline.

But the truth is - we are remiss as educators if we are not blocking out some wiggle room for our kids to pursue interest-led learning endeavors.  Curiosity promotes deeper understanding.  So if your child gets really interested in how chemistry affects our drinking water, let them run with that and facilitate that learning in every way you can.

![annie-spratt-VzIsqZ8K9LI-unsplash (1).jpeg](/uploads/annie_spratt_Vz_Isq_Z8_K9_LI_unsplash_1_0c735861c5.jpeg)
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### 5. Meet Your Child Where They Are
Choose an age-appropriate course of learning.  Starting with content that is too rigorous is guaranteed to derail your homeschool chemistry experience right out of the gate.  One of the easiest ways to do this is to research your state’s homeschool laws and recommendations.  

They’ll often list course and credit recommendations meant to guide parents in choosing what subjects to teach as they move along in homeschooling their children.  For example, algebra is often a prerequisite to chemistry.  If your child has not had a basic Algebra I class, the significant amount of math and equation balancing that goes on in a chemistry class will be difficult if not impossible for them.

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### 6. Rely on Your Community Whenever Possible. (After all, it takes a village!)
Keep your eyes and ears peeled for community programs that could serve as enrichment to your existing chemistry plans.  

Consider joining a homeschool co-op.  Chemistry is one of those subjects that are best performed in groups.  Labs and experiments thrive under the collaboration and compared results that occur in group learning. 

Consider reaching out to local chemists, chemical companies, or other professionals that could shed light on the career opportunities in the chemistry field and schedule a talk with your co-op group.  

![pexels-kampus-production-5940833.jpeg](/uploads/pexels_kampus_production_5940833_7b838f3751.jpeg)
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### 7. Admit Your Limitations.
If you hit a snag in the road, and it seems that you’re at an impasse, admit your limitations.  Admitting that the content is above your head does not mean you have failed as a homeschool parent.  

If your child needed glasses because they were struggling to see, you would not feel shame in taking them to an eye doctor to get the help you arent’ qualified to provide.  With that being said, there is no shame in admitting that you aren’t qualified to teach high school chemistry and reach out to tutors, professors, or other professionals who can give them the help they need. 

![pexels-andrea-piacquadio-3768146.jpeg](/uploads/pexels_andrea_piacquadio_3768146_6cdc66ebb6.jpeg)
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### 8. Keep Your Homeschool Chemistry Relevant.
How many times did you ask during your time in school, “When am I ever going to need this?”.  Relevancy gives us purpose.  Give your learners purpose by showing them as often and in as many ways as possible how chemistry is relevant to their lives.   

Let them bake with you.  Explain why you use which ingredients.  Let them salt the icy porch.  Explain to them why you chose salt instead of some other material.  Point out why things are stored a certain way in the garage to avoid combustion.  Show them how you use chemistry every day to clean, cook, and live out your daily lives.  

Take these tips and go forward confidently.  **Homeschool chemistry doesn’t have to be a nightmare** for you or your student.  You **can** create a plan, and put it into action with a positive attitude - all the while knowing you’re creating the best learning path possible for your child.  Let companies like Futuclass continue to develop solutions to help make homeschool chemistry fun and engaging.  Subscribe to the official [Futuclass newsletter](https://futuclass.com/) to keep up to date on the latest virtual reality product developments in chemistry and STEM learning enhancements.




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8 Homeschool Chemistry Tips to Make Learning Easier

Education got a lot more fun in recent years, with many teachers worldwide redesigning their lessons in the form of games. Termed &quot;gamification,&quot; this novel approach to teaching has had immensely positive results.

Students love the role-playing aspect of games. When applied in the classroom, gamified lessons are both educational _and_ entertaining. Because of this, the added immersion of virtual reality education has great potential to teach students even more effectively.

More than the other subjects, science education has arguably the greatest potential for gamification. Science lessons tend to be hands-on, and by turning concepts into game mechanics to be followed, students can learn them more effectively. Elements of exploration and information synthesis can easily be implemented into games, which are both vital for success in science.

In this article, we&#39;ll discuss what gamification is, how it works, what its benefits are, and how virtual reality can be used as a level up for gamified science education.
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## What Is Gamification?
![image4.webp](/uploads/image4_8090c46917.webp)

_Gamification introduces game elements and mechanics to make non-games - like lessons at school - more enjoyable_
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Gamification can have [two meanings](https://ssec.si.edu/stemvisions-blog/5-benefits-gamification): it can refer to adopting games into everyday processes, or it can mean using game elements and mechanics to make non-games more enjoyable.

In the classroom, we&#39;re usually using the second meaning. Education is traditionally a non-game. When we [gamify education](https://www.edutopia.org/blog/gamification-in-education-vicki-davis), we introduce elements such as narrative, roles, strategy, aesthetics, and mechanics (rules of play) to make things more interesting.

Rather than being seated at a desk all day and staring blankly at a lecture at the front of the room, gamification engages students with new fervor. No longer is the math problem in front of them a challenge to solve for x - rather, it is the puzzle that must be solved to defeat the evil math wizard, Kirais. Which sounds more fun: doing homework, or going on a quest?

By gamifying subjects, [students no longer see lessons as boring or tedious](https://www.edutopia.org/blog/gamification-in-education-vicki-davis). Rather, the lesson becomes a fun, interesting narrative structure for them to engage with. This is well-adapted to the playful imagination of adolescents. It is perhaps unrealistic to expect that children should be all business in the classroom, since they love playing everywhere else.

Indeed, play has been shown to be one of the most important aspects of learning for adolescents, for both humans and other species. With the exploratory nature of games, confined within the structure of game mechanics, [young members of many species simultaneously explore the world and synthesize and discern the most important, useful information](https://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/12-examples-of-gamification-in-the-classroom/).
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### Gamification of Science Education

Games naturally lead to combining knowledge to discern patterns. This makes games extremely useful for science education. The [Next Generation Science Standards](https://www.nextgenscience.org/) for education include teaching core ideas, scientific practices, and the ability to &quot;cross-cut&quot; knowledge across different disciplines.

Games are particularly good at teaching all three of these standards simultaneously. Games can be structured so that &quot;winning&quot; is founded on a firm understanding of core ideas, utilized through practices. And the exploratory nature of games is perfect for promoting crosscutting of scientific disciplines, as solving the next level may require using past concepts in novel ways.

[One article](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00607/full) proposes a fantastic way to think of it. Scientific literacy is characterized by content knowledge, procedural skills, and an understanding of the nature of science as exploratory and constantly evolving. Games are great at developing scientific literacy by implementing motivational scaffolds to engage students, cognitive scaffolds to develop reasoning abilities, and by promoting metacognition, forming connections between different knowledge bases.

Whether it&#39;s science or another subject, games imbue students with the vital skills to succeed in the modern world.
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### Fundamentals of Gamification: Dynamics and Mechanics

Gamifying is more than just calling an A a &quot;master&quot; badge, and a B a &quot;journeyman.&quot; Instead, gamification requires implementing both [game dynamics and game mechanics](https://www.edutopia.org/blog/gamification-in-education-vicki-davis) into lessons.

Game dynamics are the narrative and aesthetic elements that can make a lesson feel like a game. These include a narrative, with different characters, roles, and emotions, and a progression or storyline. These elements capture the imagination - and thus, the attention - of students, and engage them emotionally. No longer is it a boring lesson on the chalkboard. Now, it&#39;s a story about a friend, or a quest to defeat evil.

Game mechanics, on the other hand, define the structure of how the game is played. These can include the game&#39;s rules, scoring, and levels. Usually, the mechanics will make up most of the &quot;lesson&quot; side of the game - students will be required to understand a concept to succeed in the game.

By combining both interesting dynamics and useful mechanics, games are uniquely positioned to teach in a more engaging way.
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## Benefits of Gamification

![image1.webp](/uploads/image1_374b7baf8e.webp)

_Gamification helps students learn faster and more effectively - all while having fun!_

Teachers who have gamified their lessons have had great success. Not only do students reach learning objectives much faster, but they also become [eager to learn and participate in their education.](https://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/12-examples-of-gamification-in-the-classroom/)

By turning routine questions and problems into quests and adventures, students become more excited about learning new material. It is important to emphasize that almost any lesson that can be taught on a chalkboard can be taught through a game. The difference is not _what_ is taught, but rather, _how_ it is taught.

Besides this, collaborative games can foster [communication, cooperation, and in some cases, healthy competition, for students](https://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/12-examples-of-gamification-in-the-classroom/). One teacher found that using games led his students to speak three times more than usual. Students love to play, and when playing games, students feel more free to be social and active with others.

With their mechanics, games are great tools to simultaneously teach and test students. A student&#39;s score on the game is a good reflection of their understanding of the underlying principles. Because of this, games are just as useful for evaluating student performance as traditional assessments.

Last, but certainly not least, the immersive nature of games is stimulating for a student&#39;s creativity and imagination, helping them to think in new ways. This helps them develop the skill to think of the world and solve problems with unbounded novelty.
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## Level Up: Gamifying Virtual Reality Education
![image2.webp](/uploads/image2_875882b15d.webp)

_Using virtual reality to gamify education allows students to explore and discover fascinating new worlds of information_
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Science is founded on the creativity to synthesize fundamental principles in new ways while exploring natural processes. In doing so, new information and theories are discovered.

The immersive nature of games engages students&#39; creativity, making games well-suited for science education. It also makes a particular kind of games, using virtual reality, especially effective.

There are always uncertainties in the lab, and particularly in research labs, the answer to a puzzle is not always known. Teaching students the appropriate way to approach scientific problems using data, experimentation, and reasoning, founded on content knowledge and connections between different disciplines, will give students the [ability to think scientifically and to solve problems in creative new ways](https://www.thetechedvocate.org/how-teachers-can-gamify-science/).

With interactive experiments and VR lessons, virtual reality can be used to help students see and feel like scientists. These can be used to cultivate an experimental and exploratory understanding of the world, using reasoning and trial-and-error to solve scientific puzzles.

In the real world, scientific concepts can be challenging to visualize and understand. While a student may learn how to balance a chemical reaction on paper, they rarely get to see what actually happens when they run the reaction.

In virtual reality, they do. Students can balance a combustion reaction, for example, and based on how they&#39;ve balanced it, they may observe complete or incomplete combustion of a substance in the virtual world. If the game is structured such that they want to achieve the highest efficiency of combustion, they can tweak their balancing until they reach complete combustion.

Not only do students learn how to balance the equation, but they [learn how to use data as a metric for their success](https://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/12-examples-of-gamification-in-the-classroom/). They also learn how to apply balancing principles to a variety of reactions, not just the one that they test.

With virtual reality education, students develop the three pillars of the [Next Generation Science Standards](https://www.nextgenscience.org/). They develop the core knowledge of scientific subjects, the procedural approach to scientific problems, and the ability to cross-cut their knowledge of different scientific disciplines. As with all games, students also develop these skills much faster than with traditional learning methods because they are more engaged and are having more fun along the way.
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## Summary

Gamification has great potential to revolutionize education, particularly science education, by engaging students emotionally in their learning and by teaching them to think with purposeful reasoning.

Using virtual reality maximizes these beneficial qualities of games, and makes virtual reality education especially useful for science by developing students&#39; abilities to creatively synthesize information to solve practical problems.

With the fast expansion of games into classrooms worldwide, combined with the [technology boom for digital and remote learning observed in the past year](https://eonreality.com/self-directed-learning-initiative-pr/), it is only a matter of time before VR lessons become a mainstay of science education.
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### Sources &amp; Further Reading:

[https://ssec.si.edu/stemvisions-blog/5-benefits-gamification](https://ssec.si.edu/stemvisions-blog/5-benefits-gamification) 

[https://www.edutopia.org/blog/gamification-in-education-vicki-davis](https://www.edutopia.org/blog/gamification-in-education-vicki-davis) 

[https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00607/full](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00607/full)

[https://www.thetechedvocate.org/how-teachers-can-gamify-science/](https://www.thetechedvocate.org/how-teachers-can-gamify-science/)

[https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1106923.pdf](https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1106923.pdf)

[https://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/12-examples-of-gamification-in-the-classroom/](https://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/12-examples-of-gamification-in-the-classroom/)

[https://www.nextgenscience.org/](https://www.nextgenscience.org/)

[https://eonreality.com/self-directed-learning-initiative-pr/](https://eonreality.com/self-directed-learning-initiative-pr/)



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Futuclass
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What is Virtual Reality? A History of VR

8 Homeschool Chemistry Tips to Make Learning Easier

Gamification In Science Education

Choose your store

FutuclassBlog

What is Virtual Reality? A History of VR

8 Homeschool Chemistry Tips to Make Learning Easier

Gamification In Science Education

Futuclass
Blog