AN EDUCATIONAL VR EXPERIENCE
OUR GOAL
We’re Changing the Way Teaching is Done. 5x more Immersive.
We aim to develop a full curriculum of short VR experiences, each one modeling a simple halachic concept. The curriculum will be grown to cover hilchos shabbos and kashrus, and can eventually cover other areas of both halacha and Jewish experience as well (such as a VR experience to allow a child to participate in yetzias mitzrayim or bringing a korban pesach).
BENEFITS
Virtual reality brings a number of significant advantages to the educational field.
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
– Speeds up the absorption of the material.
– Prevents boredom and decline in interest.
– Encourages critical thinking and problem-solving in its training models.
– Allows for a safe space for children to try out their new skills, there are no consequences for failures, allowing the children to put their knowledge to the test confidently.
– Bridges the gap between theory and practice.
ENGAGING PRESENTATION OF MATERIAL
– Material is presented in a more “gamified” form. The children are learning in an environment that is not associated with boredom or being forced to learn.
– Another benefit of gamification is how it enables children with ADHD to learn things more easily by providing a boost in external motivation. The gamification adds an element of dopamine reward by providing achievements, rewards, and new quests to try out. It activates a positive feedback loop that keeps the child with ADHD engaged.
– There is an increased level of “ownership” children have in the lesson, since the child is immediately involved in the problem-solving aspect of the material. This increases engagement of the children in the lesson.
PROVEN BOOST IN RETENTION OF THE MATERIAL
– Experiential learning has a 90% retention rate for the material taught. Traditional learning models allow for 30% retention of what a student hears and 20% retention on what they see.
– When learning in an active hands-on environment, children are more likely to be present and focused throughout the lesson.
REENGAGE REMEDIAL STUDENTS
VR and experiential learning allows remedial students to experience learning in a safe and easy to engage environment. They are afforded the opportunity to learn and make mistakes in an acceptable and shameless experience.
ACCURATE SKILL BASED TESTING VS MEMORY BASED TESTING
When testing students with VR, the student is tested in a real life environment. They need to actively engage in real time problem solving, and put previously taught skills to the test. However, they are not simply trying out an activity that was taught in theory, rather they are putting into practice that which they have already experienced. Because of the retention rates of experiential learning, a student who previously grasped a concept will easily demonstrate their understanding and application of the idea.
OUR PATH FORWARD
We will develop a simple, minimally viable product in VR. The experience will be one that can be viewed on a traditional VR headset or a computer, allowing the MVP to be experienced by the widest base of users possible.
The next step is to present the MVP schools, educators, curriculum writers, parents, and students, allowing us to initiate a feedback loop and collect data. We will be able to analyze the potential interest of both the educators and the students, and collect information from them on how to best suit our product to the widest range of schools.
Once we have compiled our research we will write a proposal to raise the necessary funding to create a small curriculum and implement it in a few controlled classrooms.
After we have established an effective product and method of creation, we can finalize funding and create a full spectrum curriculum, and begin implementing the solutions in Jewish day schools across the United States.
We currently require $20,000 to develop the MVP so we can move on with this project. We will use this money to create a short scenario teaching the halachos of putting pots on and off a fire on shabbos. The MVP consists of a single room designed to look like a kitchen with a small number of scenarios, such as putting a cold pot on a covered flame, and putting a hot pot back on to an open flame.
