AR supports special needs

The Valley Day School in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a special education school, has introduced augmented reality to enhance students’ social asset and science curriculum learning as well as to offset high frustration levels and emotional outbursts.

When the school’s computer lab was updated in 2017, included were prepared lessons that can be tailored to individual technology or literacy issues.

“Each of our ten classes has two experiences every two weeks in the 13-station computer lab” says Ron Hall, Valley Day’s education director.

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“The first 50-minute session involves acclimating to the technology side of the activity, and the second one, led by the class teacher, explores the actual lesson concepts.”

With hundreds of lessons available, students explore subjects from plants and photosynthesis to classifications of animals.

An inch thicker than a normal monitor, each station also includes an interactive stylus pen and 3D glasses.

Students feel vibrations through the stylus, such as program-induced crashes and bumps, providing a kinesthetic and tactile aspect to learning. Being able to control and manipulate keeps curiosity levels up and boosts engagement.

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