virtual reality education

Virtual Reality (VR) in Education: A Complete Guide

Here’s everything you need to know about virtual reality and augmented reality in education, including use cases and benefits.

• By Laura Martisiute
• Dec 3, 2020

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Would you rather read about the moon landing or see for yourself what it was like to walk on the moon with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin? Believe it or not, experiencing the latter is just as possible as the former, thanks to the rise in virtual reality (VR).

The days of learning being restricted solely to reading textbooks and listening to boring lectures are numbered, and when they’re gone, students won’t miss them. Research shows that textbooks don’t generally improve student achievement and traditional stand-and-deliver lectures in universities lead to higher student failure rates than active learning methods. 

And while there are plenty of active learning techniques to choose from, including simply asking students questions or arranging students for group work, more and more educators are seeing VR’s true potential. According to a recent survey of teachers and students, 90% of educators believe VR may help increase student learning. Perhaps more importantly, the survey also found that 97% of students would attend a class or course with VR, which could significantly decrease dropout rates. 

It comes as no surprise, then, that education is one of the largest sectors for VR investment. Indeed, industry forecasts predict that VR in education will be a $700 million industry by 2025. But is VR in education all that it’s cracked up to be? Let’s find out.

What is virtual reality (VR) in education?

Virtual reality is a computer-generated environment that creates the immersive illusion that the user is somewhere else. 

Instead of looking at a screen in front of them, VR allows people to interact with an artificial three-dimensional environment through electronic devices that send and receive information like motion sensors and movement trackers. 

The most essential VR device is the headset, which generally looks like a pair of thick goggles. Fitted out with a unique screen and motion sensors, a VR headset tracks the user’s movement and changes the angle of the screen accordingly. Optional accessories can enhance user experience and include things like:

• Hand gloves. Wireless controllers that capture full hand and finger action in virtual reality and provide the user the sensation of touch.
• Treadmills. A mechanical device that looks nothing like the gym equipment you’re used to, a VR treadmill translates your real-life body movements into virtual motion.
• Vive Trackers. Small hockey puck-esque devices that bring physical objects you own into the virtual world.

Examples and applications of virtual reality in education

Below are just a few examples of how students and educators use VR at all education levels, including K12 education, higher education, vocational training, and special education.

K-12 education

At the K12 level (kindergarten to 12th grade in the US), virtual field trips are among the most common ways educators use VR. For example, in 2019, the Schaumburg School District 54 in Illinois utilized virtual reality kits in each of its 28 schools to bring students on virtual field trips to the moon, World War I battlefields, and the Great Hall at Ellis Island.

The enthusiasm from kids has been overwhelming, said Associate Superintendent Nick Myers in an interview with EdTech magazine . “We’ve seen truly emotional reactions to it because the students can see it, they can navigate through and be part of the experience they’re learning about.”

VR field trips are becoming so popular in education because, in addition to providing immersive and engaging experiences, they’re also accessible. Not every student may be able to join their classmates for a real-world trip to a museum or another country, whether because of a disability or expense. With VR, every student can go on the same trip at no cost. Because they don’t require expensive transport and logistics, virtual field trips are more cost-effective for schools.

Other uses of VR in K-12 education include language immersion and virtual lab simulation. Language immersion allows students to connect with people all over the world. On the other hand, virtual lab simulation gives STEM students the option of experimenting in million-dollar labs or mixing different chemicals in a virtual chemistry class without fear of blowing anything up in real life.

Special education

For students with special needs, VR creates new opportunities to safely explore the world and practice real-world skills, like obeying traffic signals or interacting with police officers, in a no-risk environment. 

For example, Danvers Public Schools district in Massachusetts used VR to introduce new students to the district’s middle school building in advance, something that was particularly helpful for students with disabilities.

Higher education

Choosing the right university can be a daunting and exhausting experience. With VR, applicants can go on virtual reality campus tours to see what it would be like to attend a college or university in another city or even another country.

For example, the University of Michigan athletic department uses VR technology to give potential recruits the chance to see and feel the campus and the athletic facilities from wherever in the world they may be.

But with VR, you may not even have to attend a physical university. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Steven Hill, professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, ditched Zoom lectures for a virtual 3D version of his classroom . Students can walk around the classroom, talk to each other at different gathering spaces, and even break into groups.

Of course, VR is useful for learners who attend physical institutions, as well. At the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, students use VR to learn acupuncture . In the UK, the University of Westminster has implemented a virtual training center that allows criminal law students to investigate potential murder scenes .

Vocational training

Unfortunately, vocational training is often seen as a second choice — something that students do when they can’t get into a university. Some trade schools are trying to change this by using VR technology to give prospective students a glimpse into a vocational graduate’s daily life.

In addition to attracting new students to trade schools, VR can also give trainees more opportunities to practice essential skills in a safe environment. For example, electricians can rewire a house with fewer safety hazards. Moreover, because trainees work with virtual materials, trade schools can save tons of money on physical materials.

Benefits of using virtual reality in classrooms

According to one study that looked at 1,000 students in three universities, the implementation of VR in classrooms led to students improving by a full letter grade . One of the main advantages of using VR in education is that it raises students’ grades.

In another instance, a hospital found that using VR to train medical students increased their retention rate by 80% a year after the lecture compared to 20% a week after when they didn’t use VR. This boost in retention isn’t so surprising when you consider that VR promotes student curiosity and keeps them engaged even when learning challenging topics.

For example, Barbara Mikolajczak, who runs VR camps and classes in Boston, was surprised to see how motivated her students were when working with other students from Australia when building a virtual version of a Boston church. “The students were so excited about converting meters to feet,” she said. “They realized that the doors wouldn’t be in the center, so that evolved into a lively discussion about what’s more important: the pure numbers or the symmetry of design. You wouldn’t have seen that in a normal lesson about the Old North Church.”  

Other benefits of virtual reality include increased collaboration, cultural competence, and fewer distractions. VR can also help students build better habits. Indeed, according to recent research , after using VR, people have been found to exercise more as well as show more empathy, among other things.

What about augmented reality?

Augmented reality (AR) differs from virtual reality. With AR, students can see digital assets in the real world rather than being hosted in an entirely virtual space as they are within VR.

In practice, this usually involves using a phone or tablet equipped with a camera and AR capability that can display a digital creation in a real context — imagine looking at your phone and seeing a 3D shark swimming around your living room. For educators, this technology has tremendous benefits.

By allowing students to view things like life-size dinosaurs or a model of the solar system in the classroom or in their own homes, AR technology can bring academic subjects to life for younger learners. AR technology such as Google’s enterprise-grade AR glasses also allows workers to see instructions for complex tasks appear right in front of their eyes.

By creating a seamless connection between interactive digital content and the real world, augmented reality can increase information retention for students and make digital instruction a more tangible experience.

What is the future of virtual reality in education?

By adding a new dimension to the learning experience, virtual reality can revolutionize education across every level. We are currently only seeing the early stages of an educational paradigm shift being created by virtual technology.

As VR technology develops even further with better eye tracking and motion sensitivity, it will create new layers of immersive experience. In the future, this means that learners will fully live out and understand learning experiences and educational moments.

Another part of the future of virtual reality in education is greater accessibility. As headsets and software become cheaper, virtual reality will ultimately become a ubiquitous part of education.

As hinted at by the popularity of Google Cardboard (the official VR cardboard case costs just $14.95 ), VR’s rise will change aspects of how teachers and educators work, too. However, the core tenants of education will remain the same. A powerful tool, VR will make great educators even better by giving them the means to engage new generations of learners like never before.

Laura Martisiute

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Learning in Digital Worlds

• Posted May 19, 2021
• By Andrew Bauld
• Learning Design and Instruction
• Online Education
• Teachers and Teaching
• Technology and Media

Eileen McGivney has spent her career studying education systems around the world. Now, her research isn’t taking her to a new country or continent, but into an entirely new reality.  

As a Ph.D. candidate in Human Development, Teaching, and Learning, McGivney is working to better understand how students and adults learn in immersive technology-enabled environments, like virtual reality (VR).

McGivney first encountered VR at HGSE as a researcher on the EcoXPT project at Project Zero, an ecosystem science curriculum set in an immersive virtual world, under Principal Research Scientist Tina Grotzer .

“I remember visiting a classroom of English-language learners and they were using their native language to solve problems in the EcoXPT simulation, and they were so excited and engaged,” McGivney says. “Seeing it used as a way to give students agency, which is so hard in a regular classroom, that’s when I got interested in it as a learning tool.”

The first time she entered the virtual space herself, McGivney called the experience “awe-inspiring.” Since then, she’s witnessed that same excitement in students of all ages experiencing the thrill of conducting missions in space and feeling the effects of zero gravity or kayaking in the Arctic to observe wildlife. But while these can be powerful, emotional experiences for students, they also have real educational benefits, instilling an increased sense of competence and motivation.  

For her latest project, McGivney has partnered with a Greater Boston-area public charter high school to study how immersive experiences can impact how students see themselves as scientists. In one project, students in a civil engineering course observed different structures around the world, visiting the pyramids in Egypt and soaring over skyscrapers in New York City.

McGivney says that not only have the students reported better ability to focus while using the headsets, but also a greater connection to the material. Many of the students she’s working with are English-language learners and first-generation Americans, who have appreciated the ability to visit and share locations that held personal meaning.  

Representation and questions of identity and diversity in immersive technology is an important aspect of McGivney’s research. Her adviser, Professor Chris Dede , who has long been at the forefront of studying learning environments based in virtual worlds, says her work is helping to advance the field’s understanding of these important aspects of the emerging technology.

“Eileen has knowledge and experience in implementing learning technologies in a wide range of educational settings, and her research has the important capacity to infuse culture and context into educational innovations, which the National Academy of Sciences has highlighted as a crucial next step,” Dede says.

This past semester, McGivney shared this knowledge with HGSE students through her module, The Virtual Self, in which students explored VR technology firsthand, and learned about the realities of the technology, its limitations, and how it can be most used most effectively.

“People got a sense of what it is all about, and when the novelty wears off, what are the valuable learning experiences,” McGivney says. For several students, the experience was one of the most impactful of this virtual school year at the Ed School. Not only did the VR experience help create community at a time when that was needed more than ever, but several students discovered a new passion, and a few mentioned even making a career out of the work.  

As Jessica O’Donnell, Ed.M. (TIE), said in Harvard Ed. Magazine, the virtual class had a real impact on her. “Although I was unable to physically meet my classmates on the Harvard campus this year, these interactions in virtual reality and the advancements in avatar design provided me with the opportunity to connect with my peers in an innovative and remarkable way.”

McGivney will continue to explore VR applications with a new project led by Grotzer with doctoral student Tessa Forshaw, and involving Dede, called Next Level Lab, looking at how immersive technology can help new members of the workforce, like veterans and recent college graduates, use simulations to prepare for job interviews and roleplay on-the-job scenarios they might encounter.

“A lot of Next Level Lab is about learning sciences and my piece is using immersive technology as a tool as one part of the training program to help folks practice these skills and gain competence,” McGivney says.

Despite its promises and the fact that we’re living in a time when students around the world are learning remotely, McGivney says that VR should not be looked at as a replacement for the classroom, but instead continue to learn how the technology can best fit within the current educational system.

“VR is a powerful tool and I hope through the work that a lot of people are doing on its role in education it will become clearer what it’s good for.”

The latest research, perspectives, and highlights from the Harvard Graduate School of Education

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Virtual Reality in Education: Benefits, Tools, and Resources

In the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage , a submarine and its crew shrink to the size of a human cell to ride through the bloodstream of a scientist and remove a blood clot in his brain. An imaginative tale of science fiction, the movie speaks to humanity’s desire to explore realms considered impossible to reach due to our physical limitations. But thanks to technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), students in elementary schools are now doing just that. Today, students go on virtual field trips to places ranging from the Roman Colosseum in ancient times to outer space to cellular-level passageways inside the human body.

The benefits of virtual reality in education are embraced by many educators, but some are still reluctant to use it in their classrooms. Reasons range from high costs to pushback from school administrators. Others see the value of both VR and AR as entertainment, but not as effective teaching tools in the classroom. Additional educator concerns, as reported in a recent EdTech report, include the bulkiness of the equipment, glitches, and the quality and availability of content. Despite these challenges, demand for AR and VR in education is expected to grow in the coming years. This means that current and aspiring teachers should take steps to learn about the benefits of virtual reality in the classroom.

Innovative teacher education programs like American University’s Master of Arts in Teaching help graduates become forward-thinking educators who can inspire students through technology. The program’s focus on preparing graduates with the skills to deliver education using a multidisciplinary approach is especially helpful.

The program prepares graduates with real-world technical skills using advanced virtual platform technologies. “The use of Mursion [VR] technology has provided American University’s teacher candidates the opportunity to practice science instruction before they work with ‘real’ students, enhancing our teacher candidates’ confidence and skill,” says Carolyn Parker, director of the Master of Arts in Teaching program in American University’s School of Education.

What Are the Benefits of AR and VR in Education?

Before looking into some of the benefits of virtual reality in education, let’s define what virtual reality is and how it differs from augmented reality. AR is used on a smart device to project a layer of educational text and lesson-appropriate content on top of a user’s actual surroundings, providing students with interactive and meaningful learning experiences. VR creates an entire digital environment, a 360-degree, immersive user experience that feels real. In a VR setting, students can interact with what they see as if they were really there.

In addition to providing students with immersive learning experiences, other benefits of virtual reality in education include the ability to inspire students’ creativity and spark their imaginations. And this can motivate them to explore new academic interests. AR and VR in education also helps students struggling to understand difficult academic concepts. For example, through AR, geometry students can check out 3D geometric forms from multiple perspectives; they can rotate a shape to see it from different angles and even view it from the inside. The benefits of virtual reality in education go beyond academics as well to include cultural competence, the ability to understand another person’s culture and values—an important skill in today’s interconnected, global society. For example, a virtual reality field trip to other parts of the world, whether it be Peru or China, exposes students to cultures other than their own.

Growing evidence suggests that AR and VR in education, as well as the combination of both technologies known as mixed reality, can improve student outcomes, too. For example, in a March 2019 report, EdTech cites a study showing that students in a mixed reality biology classroom received higher scores than other students. And AR and VR can help with memory retention and recall, as well—EdTech reports on a recent study that shows an increase in retention of almost 9 percent for students who learned in an immersive environment such as VR.

AR and VR in Education: Resources and Tips

Bringing AR and VR tools into the classroom doesn’t have to be expensive. Available resources, ranging from low-priced viewers like Google Cardboard to cost-effective equipment that can connect to smartphones, can be acquired without breaking the bank. Resources for teachers include affordable or even free apps, such as 360Cities, which allows students to visit places like Rome and Tokyo. Another app, TimeLooper, allows students to visit locations through a historical lens, such as London in medieval times or World War II. Platforms like Immersive VR Education and Nearpod allow teachers to develop lesson plans with VR and AR technology.

These, and other resources, are key to incorporating immersive education into classrooms. But how can teachers set up their classrooms to maximize the benefits of VR in education? Here are a few tips.

Ensure Ample Physical Space

To reap the benefits of virtual reality in education, it is important for students to use VR equipment safely. VR users often spin around or stride blindly, ignoring their physical surroundings. A misstep could lead to injury. Educators should ensure their classrooms’ physical environments are spacious and safe for VR explorers. Students should be at least an arm’s length away from each other and from objects in the classroom. When possible, use VR content that can be accessed by students sitting at their desks.

Supervise and Moderate VR Use in Classrooms

Research into the psychological impact of VR on students suggests that VR should be used moderately and under close supervision in school settings. The findings of the research as reported in a recent CNN.com article recounts that children who overused VR had false memories of having physically visited a place they actually never visited. Limiting VR education sessions to a couple of minutes as part of a longer lesson plan can address this issue.

Know When to Use VR in the Classroom

VR can bring academic subjects to life, offering students new insights and refreshing perspectives. But VR can’t replace human interaction. Learning is fundamentally a social experience, so VR is best used as a supplemental learning tool.

How can teachers use VR in the classroom? It depends on the subject. Using VR to teach grammar in classrooms may not make much sense because grammar is a relatively abstract topic. On the other hand, VR may work well for topics that are visual and tactile, for example, allowing students to learn “firsthand” about a historical event or famous monument.

As a case in point, because the Parthenon in Greece is a physical structure, students can virtually walk inside it to see its architectural details, thanks to VR equipment and software. Many STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) topics also lend themselves well to VR. When it comes down to it, what child wouldn’t enjoy “visiting” the planets of the solar system?

Develop a Plan for VR Learning

Among the most noteworthy benefits of virtual reality in the classroom is its ability to spark curiosity and interest in students. But left to their own devices, students may veer off topic. This is why educators should develop a structured plan to maximize the use of VR within lesson plans and then guide their students along the path. As part of the plan, it is important for teachers to determine goals and expectations for students and set guidelines for students to follow to ensure optimal learning experiences.

Teach Empathy and Cultural Competence

The magic of VR is that it brings different places throughout the world right into the classroom. These new perspectives can result in fostering empathy and cultural competence because they take students outside of their normal daily experience. The use of VR and AR helps students understand people’s unique situations across the world. For example, teachers can use VR applications to enhance language teaching by exposing students to the cultures of the people who speak the language. Using technology to build culturally responsive environments helps students respect cultures different from their own.

Virtual Reality Curriculum Guide: Experience, Immersion and Excursion in the Classroom

A framework for teaching with New York Times 360 V.R. videos, plus eight lesson plans for STEM and the humanities.

By Travis Feldler and Natalie Proulx

This guide is available as a downloadable PDF.

In 2015, The New York Times pioneered a new form of storytelling: virtual reality journalism. In an introduction to its first V.R. video, “ The Displaced ,” a documentary about three children who had been forced from their homes by war and persecution, Jake Silverstein, The New York Times Magazine’s editor, wrote:

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. By creating a 360-degree environment that encircles the viewer, virtual reality creates the experience of being present within distant worlds, making it uniquely suited to projects, like this one, that speak to our senses of empathy and community.

Since then, The Times has created a series of 360-degree videos that transport users from their living rooms to far-flung places — from Antarctica to Ethiopia, the depths of the ocean to Pluto, back to the beginning of the universe and through Olympic history.

Five years later, V.R. might not have taken off in the way many hoped it would , but it still has the potential to be a powerful tool for the classroom.

A Guide for Using NYT VR With Students

Getting started with v.r. in the classroom, lesson 1: a mission to pluto, lesson 2: meet three children displaced by war and persecution, lesson 3: four antarctic expeditions, lesson 4: time travel through olympic history, lesson 5: decode the secret language of dolphins and whales, lesson 6: memorials and justice, lesson 7: the world’s biggest physics experiment, lesson 8: journey to the hottest place on earth, why virtual reality.

Virtual reality is engaging, yes — its novelty can be an excellent hook for learning — but it can also be so much more than that. With The Times’s 360 videos, students are no longer mere spectators, reading about an event or watching it unfold, but participants in it. Virtual reality can create a visceral experience, evoke memories, and foster empathy and emotional connection in a way that is rare in other mediums.

It can also make abstract concepts concrete — taking students inside a giant microscope that smashes together subatomic particles, transporting them to iconic moments in history, or introducing them to people affected by the global refugee crisis.

And V.R. can take students to places they might otherwise never get the chance to go, whether that’s the Mississippi Delta, Antarctica or Pluto.

From a practical standpoint, what’s also useful about NYT VR is that the films are typically no longer than 10 minutes, so they are easy to fit into a normal class period without overwhelming students.

In this guide, we offer you an array of examples to leverage immersive technology in your classroom using New York Times content and give you the tools to create V.R. lessons of your own.

How to Use This Guide

This guide comes in two parts: (1) a framework for teaching with virtual reality and (2) a set of eight lesson plans, each based on an NYT VR video. It’s meant to be flexible based on your curricular goals and the needs of your students. Here are a few suggestions for using it in your classroom.

Teach Our Lesson Plans. We’ve included eight lesson plans suitable for STEM and humanities classes that can be taught in one to two class periods. Each one is based on an NYT VR video, or series of videos, and includes activities for before, during and after the V.R. experience.

Practice Skills. Virtual reality is ripe for practicing a number of academic skills related to STEM and the humanities. You can use the lessons in this guide or the videos on their own to teach students skills like:

Making predictions and observations and drawing conclusions.

Asking media literacy questions .

Having discussions and making claims grounded in text evidence.

Practicing descriptive writing and communicating complex concepts.

Using multiple literacies like reading, viewing and listening.

Building empathy and taking the perspectives of others.

Build Your Own Curriculum. Are you teaching about animal intelligence in biology? Reading a novel about refugees in language arts? Learning about the civil rights movement in social studies? You can use any of the lesson plans in this guide to supplement a unit you’re already teaching. Here are a few ideas:

Use a video as an engaging hook at the beginning of a unit.

Take a “virtual field trip” to build background knowledge on a culture, place, people, historical event or scientific concept you are studying.

Make what you’re learning relevant to the real world by inviting students to connect what they’re studying in class to a VR video.

You can also draw on the themes and learning strategies in this guide to create your own lesson plans or units around an NYT VR film of your choice. Find many more 360 videos to use in your classroom in the 360 Video stream or the New York Times YouTube channel .

Learning Strategies for V.R.

We suggest a few teaching ideas to get the most out of virtual reality with your students.

Roles and Goals. Virtual reality is experiential; it asks viewers not just to watch the film, but also to participate in it. By giving students roles to play (astronauts, anthropologists, museum curators, deep-sea divers) and having focused objectives (collecting data, sharing insights, making recommendations), teachers provide students with a mission to decode their experiences.

Partners. Pairing students creates a community of trust, develops empathy and deepens experience sharing. It’s also useful if you have a limited number of viewing devices. Ensure that each partner has a role in the activity. For example, one student might view the video and share their observations verbally while another student records them.

Exploration and Inquiry. This medium is all about exploration, inquiry and play, so while students will have a learning objective, they should also have plenty of time to follow their curiosities and investigate the new worlds they find themselves in. We suggest students watch the video at least twice: once to explore and again to make specific observations related to their roles and goals.

Journaling. After students view the V.R. video, they should have an opportunity to record their observations, synthesize their ideas and reflect on their overall experience. Each of our lessons includes a journaling opportunity, such as the “If I Were There” and “Notice and Wonder” protocols. Then, students can discuss what they wrote.

Tips for Getting Started With V.R. in the Classroom

From safety precautions to technology requirements, here’s what you’ll need to teach with NYT VR.

A Tool, Not a Curriculum. Virtual reality is not a technology that should replace other teaching resources; instead, it should serve as a complementary tool that can enhance learning across disciplines. As with any new technology being introduced into the classroom, success depends on expectations, an effective strategy and the practical details of how it is being used.

Safety! Safety! Safety! We always recommend sitting when participating in V.R. experiences. Partners create an additional safety measure because the partner who is observing can ensure that his or her partner is safely experiencing the VR content.

Before starting, go over a list of dos and don’ts. Some of our personal favorites include:

No standing up.

If you are starting to feel dizzy or getting a headache, take the headset off.

Do not flail hands or legs around to avoid causing potential accidents.

Virtual reality can sometimes be an intensely emotional experience. Remind students that if they are feeling overwhelmed, it’s OK to stop.

Technology. To get started, you’ll also need some basic technology. Here are some general requirements:

Internet : V.R. experiences can be downloaded or streamed. We recommend downloading the experience to the device so that streaming issues are avoided.

Mobile Device : Smartphones are essential to powering these experiences.

Headset : Choose a headset that makes the most sense for the mobile devices that you are using. There are mobile device-agnostic headsets that could work with a variety of phones. Prices start under $10 for a simple cardboard viewer and go up from there. Most headsets also come with compatibility specs, so that you can be better informed on how to pair accurately.

Without Headset : 360 videos can also be viewed without a headset, but the experience isn’t as immersive. When viewing 360 videos in this format, you can drag the screen while the video is playing to view the surrounding environment in 360 degrees.

Headphones : Headphones allow the user to be more immersed and reduce the disruption to the experience that could arise from using speakers.

Finding Experiences : The NYT VR app no longer exists, but you can view NYT VR experiences via your mobile device on The New York Times, or via the YouTube VR or Within apps on the Oculus. You can also find several Times 360 videos on TechRow , a subscription-based V.R. and video delivery system for the classroom.

The NYT VR Video: “Seeking Pluto’s Frigid Heart” (View on The New York Times or YouTube VR , 8 min.)

On July 14, 2016, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft zipped past Pluto and its moons, scanning the dwarf planet in unprecedented detail. Before this moment, the best images of Pluto were only a few fuzzy pixels wide.

In this virtual reality video, students will travel on New Horizons, gliding through space at a million miles a day. They will fly over Pluto’s rugged surface and smooth places, stand on icy mountains, and watch the moon Charon rise on the horizon and touch down on a frost-rimmed crater billions of years old.

Roles and Goals Students have been selected to form a student space force to board the New Horizons spacecraft traveling to Pluto. As members of this elite team, their goal is to document their experience and share their insights on the dwarf planet with their peers.

Before Your Mission to Pluto Have students write down at least five facts they know about Pluto. For example:

• What is Pluto? • How big is Pluto? • Where is it located in the solar system? • What are some of its defining features? • How many moons are in Pluto’s orbit? • Can life exist on Pluto?

Compile students’ facts into a class list. They might check their facts, or find out more information, here .

Then, invite them to make a prediction based on what they already know: What do they think it would be like to visit Pluto?

During Your Mission Now, students will experience the NYT VR video “Seeking Pluto’s Frigid Heart.” As they watch, they should pay attention to Pluto’s unique characteristics. After viewing, they should record what they observe about Pluto:

• Location in the solar system • Surface features • Temperature • Gravity • Moons • Atmosphere

After Your Mission Students should report back to the space command center to share the insights they gained on their mission. Invite them to reflect on the following questions in writing or discussion:

What was it like to “visit” Pluto in the V.R. film? How close were your predictions to what you experienced? Based on what saw, what do you think it would be like to actually go there?

What are some of the defining characteristics of Pluto? How do those compare to what you know about Earth?

What is one new thing we learned from the New Horizons mission to Pluto? What questions do you still have about the dwarf planet?

What do these insights reveal about the universe we live in?

To share what the New Horizons mission found when it flew past Pluto, The New York Times created this interactive based on images and information from NASA. Invite your students to demonstrate what they learned about Pluto by creating an original drawing or series of drawings and annotating them with key information about the dwarf planet.

Further Reading and Viewing NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft Sends Signal From Pluto to Earth Images of Pluto From NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft

The NYT VR Video: “The Displaced” (View on The New York Times or YouTube VR , 11 min.)

More than 70 million people are currently displaced from their homes by war and persecution. Half are children. In this V.R. documentary, viewers travel to Ukraine, Syria and Sudan to learn the stories of three of those children.

Roles and Goals Students have been invited to form a student council to explore the impact of civil war on children, refugees and internally displaced persons in Ukraine, Syria and Sudan. As members of this council, their goal is to share insights from their experience with their peers and identify ways they can support displaced people in their community and around the world.

Before Your Trip to Ukraine, Syria and Sudan What do your students know about the global refugee crisis? Before they take off on their trip, have them create a K/W/L chart , either individually or as a class, to record what they know and what they want to know about the crisis.

Then, have students to look up the definitions of “ refugee ” and “ displaced person .” They can add these definitions to their chart.

Finally, show students this three-minute clip (Facing History and Ourselves) of Samantha Power, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, giving an overview of the current refugee crisis. Invite them to discuss what they learned and the questions they have, and then add those to their K/W/L chart.

During Your Trip Now students will embark on their virtual field trip to Ukraine, Syria and Sudan by watching “The Displaced.” As they watch, they should pay attention to the moments of “connection” and “disconnection” they have with the three children profiled in the film. In what ways are their personalities, families, homes, hopes and dreams, and life experiences similar? In what ways are they different?

After students have finished watching, they can journal or make a list in a T-chart about the “connections” and “disconnections” they have with the children.

Lastly, they can add anything new they learned about the refugee crisis to their K/W/L charts.

After Your Trip Invite students back together to discuss their insights from the visit, either in writing or together as a class:

Which moments in the video were particularly surprising, moving or affecting to you?

What are some of the causes of displacement around the world? How does displacement affect the lives of children particularly?

How was virtually visiting Oleg, Hana and Chuol different than learning facts about the refugee crisis? What did it feel like to “be” there?

What are some things you found you had in common with these children? In what ways are your lives different? What do you think it would be like to be forced from your home?

If you could talk to these children, what questions would you ask them? What else would you want to know about their lives?

As members of this special student council, students should come up with a proposal for how they can support refugees or people who have been displaced.

They might start by watching Ms. Power talk about small steps individuals can take to help refugees in this one-minute video (Facing History and Ourselves).

Then, they can brainstorm actions they can take on a school level, a local level, a national level and an international level. For example, if there are refugees at their school or in their community, what could they do to support them? If students themselves are refugees, they might share their experiences and what support they would want most from others.

Here are some more resources to get them started:

How You Can Help Refugees in the United States (The New York Times)

4 Ways You Can Support Refugees (Voices of Youth)

Taking Action to Assist Syrian Refugees (I Am Syria)

Students might choose one of the actions they brainstormed and develop it into a plan for supporting refugees in their school, community or country.

Further Reading The Displaced: Introduction The Displaced: Oleg The Displaced: Chuol The Displaced: Hana

The NYT VR Videos: “The Antarctica Series” (View on The New York Times or YouTube VR, links below)

In this collection of four V.R. videos, viewers explore life on, above and below the Antarctic ice. They’ll dive under eight feet of ice with expert divers, fly in a helicopter through the McMurdo Dry Valleys, travel in a military plane over the Ross Ice Shelf, and join the people at McMurdo Station who make life possible on the least habitable continent.

Roles and Goals Your school has decided to establish a student expeditionary force to Antarctica to explore life around the continent. Students’ goal is to document their experience and share it with their peers so they can better understand the Antarctic environment and landscape as a whole.

Students can choose from among these four expeditions:

In “ Under a Cracked Sky ” (10 min.), dive under eight feet of sea ice to swim with seals, explore ice caves and float above a dark seabed crawling with life.

In “ Three Six Juliet ” (11 min.), fly in a helicopter through the McMurdo Dry Valleys, one of the most extreme environments on Earth.

In “ McMurdo Station ” (9 min.), join the mechanics, cooks, drivers, firefighters, scientists and others who run a research station on the least habitable continent, thousands of miles from civilization.

In “ A Shifting Continent ” (15 min.), fly with scientists in a military cargo plane as they probe the structure of the Ross Ice Shelf, a Texas-size chunk of floating ice.

Before Your Antarctic Expedition Have students choose the expedition they want to go on, or assign them to one, making sure each excursion has an even number of people.

Invite students to convene with the other students who are going on their expedition. In their groups, have them discuss what they already know about Antarctica. Then, based on their prior knowledge and the description of their V.R. experience, have them make a list of essentials they would likely need to take with them.

Finally, challenge them to make some predictions: What do they think they will find as they explore life on, above and below the Antarctic ice?

During Your Expedition Now students will embark on their chosen Antarctic expedition from “The Antarctica Series.” As they watch, they should act like researchers, collecting data on their experience to report back to their classmates. They will become the “experts” on this particular piece of the continent, so it’s important they take detailed notes about their observations.

They can use the “If I Were There” journaling protocol to record what they find:

• If I were there, I would touch … • If I were there, I would see … • If I were there, I would hear … • If I were there, I would smell … • If I were there, I would taste … • If I were there, I would feel …

After Your Expedition Have students rejoin their small groups and synthesize the data they gathered from their expeditions before sharing it with their peers. They can discuss the following questions:

What was interesting or surprising about your journey?

What were some of the unique characteristics of the place you visited?

What are the conditions like for researchers there?

What have researchers learned from studying this specific piece of the continent? In what ways might this research contribute to our understanding of the world, the universe or ourselves?

Next, have at least one person from each group meet together in “teaching groups.” In these groups, each expert should have a chance to share what they learned on their respective expedition while the others take notes.

After everyone has had a chance to share, invite each group to discuss the following questions:

Could you see yourself doing any of the research jobs you observed in the V.R. videos? If so, which ones and why? If not, why not?

How do you think the research conducted by scientists in Antarctica might affect the world? In what ways might it affect your lives, if at all?

Do you think it is worthwhile for countries to spend time, money and resources studying Antarctica? Why or why not?

Further Reading Antarctic Dispatches

The NYT VR Video: “The Modern Games” (View on YouTube VR , 9 min.)

In this virtual reality experience, created ahead of the 2016 Rio Games, The New York Times transports you to iconic Olympic moments throughout history. Viewers travel back in time to stand beside history-making track and field star Babe Didrikson, record-setting long jumper Bob Beamon, and the fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt.

Roles and Goals The New York Times has invited your students to create a virtual reality documentary exploring Olympic history. As members of this special team, their goal is to examine how The Mill , the visual effects and content creation studio responsible for “The Modern Games” documentary, transformed archival imagery into historical settings viewers can visit. Then, students will research and design a V.R. experience of another iconic Olympic moment to add to the video.

Before Your Exploration of Olympic History Invite students to share their memories of Olympic Games they’ve been to, watched on television, or read or heard about.

Challenge them to be as specific as possible when describing their experiences: What do they remember most about this moment? Where were they and who were they with? What sights, sounds, tastes and smells come to mind when they relive this memory? What were they feeling? What thoughts were running through their heads? What was the social, political and cultural context during the year those games took place?

Then, have them explore the birth of what are known as the “modern Games” in Athens in 1896, either via this New York Times retrospect or these artifacts from Olympic.org .

How were the modern Games different from the Greek athletic competitions from which the Olympics originated? What were some of the highlights of these first Games? How do these Games compare to the ones your students have experienced?

During Your Exploration Now, students will travel back in time to some of the most iconic Olympic events in “The Modern Games.” As they watch, they should choose one event to focus on and use the “If I Were There” protocol to record their observations:

After Your Exploration Invite students to come back together to discuss their experience:

What was it like to experience iconic Olympic moments through V.R.? What can we learn from this medium that we may not get from written texts, photos and videos?

What role do the Olympics play in global history? What do they say about the cultural and political landscapes of the era in which they take place?

Can the Games be an opportunity to break through social barriers to inclusion? Give one example from the video.

Now, it is students’ turn. Assign small groups to choose one of the Olympic Games throughout history and design a V.R. experience for an important event, moment or person at those Games. They can learn more about how The Mill constructed the scenes in “The Modern Games” in this behind the scenes video .

As they put together their experience, they should consider the following questions:

What event, moment or person will be at the center of your experience?

What photo would you use as the setting for your scene?

Who would you interview and why?

What other sound effects would you use?

Where would you position users in the scene? What effect will this location have on their experience?

What experience would you want users to have as they navigate the video? What other visual or experiential aspects might you include? Why?

Students can present their designs via a mood board or story board created on Canva. Or, if they have the resources, they can produce their own V.R. videos .

The NYT VR Video: “The Click Effect” (View on Within , 7 min.)

Until recently, most research on sperm whales’ communication had been conducted from a boat. Why? For one, few scientists were brave enough to swim with the world’s largest predator. And the animals tend to be scared off by the burbling of scuba gear or submarines and robots.

The best option for studying these mammals is free diving: diving dozens, sometimes hundreds, of feet on a single breath of air.

In this V.R. video, viewers join a journalist and a marine scientist on a free dive as they capture the secret “click” communication of dolphins and sperm whales.

Roles and Goals Students have been invited to form an elite diving team to investigate the secret language of dolphins and whales. As a member of this elite team, their goal is to document their experience and test their hypothesis on whether whales and dolphins are “intelligent.”

Before Your Dive First, have students research the animals they will be studying during their free dive: dolphins and sperm whales . They should compile a list of basic facts about the two species.

Then, if they haven’t already brought it up, explain that both animals use echolocation, a form of sonar that allows animals to “see,” and perhaps communicate with each other, under water.

They can test this out with an echolocation activity from Education.com. You’ll need at least two students to participate. One student will stand in the center of the room, blindfolded. To test his or her ability to locate sound, the other student will move around the room, clapping twice. Each time, the blindfolded student should point to where he or she thinks the sound is coming from. (If students are not in the classroom, they can watch this short video instead.)

Ask students: What does this experiment tell you about echolocation? Why might this skill be useful to whales and dolphins? Whether echolocation is a “language” is a topic scientists have debated for decades. Do you think it can be considered a form of communication? Why or why not?

Then, invite students to develop a hypothesis based on what they’ve learned so far: Are dolphins and whales “intelligent” in the way that humans are? That is, can they communicate, learn, understand and socialize? What more information would you need to know to answer this question? How might you go about collecting data to prove or disprove your hypothesis?

During Your Dive Now students will free dive with whales and dolphins in the V.R. video “The Click Effect.” As they watch, they should make observations of the animals’ behavior.

When they are finished, they might create a T-chart, on one side citing evidence from the video that supports the claim that dolphins and sperm whales are intelligent, and on the other, evidence that might contradict that claim.

After Your Dive Invite students to come back together to share the insights from their dive. They can reflect on the following questions in writing or discussion:

What was it like to virtually free dive and swim with dolphins and whales? How was it different from reading about them in the warm up?

What is one important discovery about dolphins and whales’ use of echolocation that scientists made in their research?

Fabrice Schnöller, a marine researcher, says that other animals can “see the world in a different way.” How did you see the world in a different way through this experience?

James Nestor, a journalist, claims that “Tens of millions of dollars are spent every year looking for signs of intelligent life in the universe. But there’s already intelligent life in the universe, and it’s right here,” in our oceans. Do you agree? Why or why not?

Have students write a report to send back to the lab summarizing their findings. After this expedition, do they believe that dolphins and whales are intelligent in the ways we conceive of intelligence? If they do not feel like they can answer this question yet, they can make a list of questions they would need to know the answers to before reaching a determination. How might they go about researching and collecting data for these questions?

Further Reading Opinion | A Conversation With Whales

Remembering Emmett Till

In this virtual reality documentary, we explore how the mississippi towns where emmett till’s murder took place more than six decades ago are trying to memorialize him..

On hot August night more than 63 years ago, Emmett Till was lynched here in the Mississippi Delta. His case was so horrific that he became an enduring symbol for racial hostility and injustice. In 1955, Emmett, a 14-year-old black boy from Chicago, was kidnapped, brutally beaten and lynched in Mississippi after he was accused of whistling at a white woman at a grocery store. His body was thrown into a river and found days later. “The body was so badly damaged that we couldn’t hardly just tell who he was, but he happened to have on a ring with his initials.” The men charged in Emmett’s killing, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, were acquitted by an all-white, all-male jury, and though they later confessed, no one served any time. His mother, Mamie Till Mobley, was thrust into the media spotlight and spoke out on national television. “Well, the whole trial was just a farce, and — but the verdict was the one that I had expected to be given.” She held an open-casket funeral, and in allowing his tortured body to be photographed, brought public attention to the case, profoundly shaping the civil rights movement. “For him to have died a hero would mean more to me than for him just to have died. And I know that his life can’t be returned, but I hope that his death will certainly start a movement.” Here in Mississippi, the name “Emmett Till” has been carried by black families generation to generation, often as a cautionary tale. But only in the last decade or so have officials formally recognized what happened to the teenager in the summer of 1955. I came to Mississippi to learn how these communities are grappling with the legacy of Emmett Till. There are still physical reminders of his death. Many of these structures are easy to miss or not fully accessible. They are off remote dirt roads, along a deserted bridge and even on an old plantation. But now there’s an effort to memorialize his story with historical markers. Here in Sumner, the Emmett Till Interpretive Center puts up some of these markers. Jessie Jaynes-Diming gives tours of these sites, including one with a sign that has been marred by vandalism. “This sign here is the replacement sign for the one that disappeared. And as you can see, it has many different bullet holes in it. We’re due to replace it with a bulletproof one. We do have another one that is up at this particular time, but it’s also shot up. I would not replace it again. I want the world to see just as Mamie did. I want the world to see how some people still feel about Emmett’s death.” Another important site in the story has escaped vandalism, but has withered under neglect. This roofless, crumbling building was once Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market, where Emmett encountered Carolyn Bryant Donham, the shopkeeper, in 1955. You could drive right past it and not see it, save for the marker to its side. It’s currently owned by the Tribble family, whose patriarch was a juror in the murder trial. Over the years, the Till center and others have tried to buy the building and have it donated to be restored as a memorial, but so far, the negotiations have been unsuccessful. Emmett was kidnapped from his uncle’s house and brought to this barn, where he was brutally beaten and tortured. The barn’s current owner, Dr. Jeff Andrews, has maintained the structure, upgrading the exterior. He allows people to visit, but it’s unmarked. The Tallahatchie County Courthouse in front of you was the site of the murder trial. Mississippi State Senator David Jordan is one of the last living people to have witnessed the trial in 1955. He was a college freshman then, and he came with his classmates. “So when we walked inside of the courtroom, the four of us were sitting side by side. And as we looked forward — and we could look at at the courtroom like it is now, it was exactly like it was in 1955. When Mrs. Till and Congressman Charles Gage walked in, I believe they walked to their right, and they they took a seat up where the African-American reporters were.” “For 50 years, our community wanted to forget what took place here. And it wasn’t until the community finally came together across racial lines and offered the first apology that we began work on restoring our courthouse back to the way [it was in] 1955, and opening up the Emmett Till Interpretive Center across the street.” Outside the courthouse, there’s now a sign to mark the murder trial on one side, on the other side there’s a Confederate monument. It was put up in 1913, during the Jim Crow era. I came back to this bullet-riddled marker, where Emmett’s body was recovered from the river. Over and over again, the signs have been vandalized. Is there a larger message? A dark interpretation would be that some people don’t want to be reminded of his murder. But for those invested in preserving Emmett’s legacy, their hope is that such memorials help visitors walk away with an honest account of what happened to this 14-year-old boy all those years ago. I was struck by the contrast of the decay and emptiness of Bryant’s Grocery store, and its outsized role in Emmett Till’s fate — and in turn, American civil rights history. In so many ways, this embodies the push and pull of public memory — and the question of how America chooses to forget or face its history.

The NYT VR Video: “Remembering Emmett Till” (View on The New York Times , 8 min.)

In “ Remembering Emmett Till: The Legacy of a Lynching ,” Veda Shastri, Audra D.S. Burch, Tim Chaffee and Nicole Fineman write:

In August 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till of Chicago was accused of whistling at a white woman at a grocery store in Mississippi. He was later kidnapped, tortured, lynched and dumped in a river. Today, more than six decades later, the local communities in towns closely connected to Emmett’s story are grappling with the legacy of the lynching.

In this 360-degree documentary, students will travel with Audra D.S. Burch, a New York Times correspondent, to the Mississippi town where Emmett was killed. They will visit several key locations to explore the cultural reckoning happening now and examine the role that physical structures related to the Emmett Till case play in the efforts to memorialize him.

Roles and Goals Students have been invited to form a student team of curators to help memorialize Emmett for the Emmett Till Interpretive Center. Their goal is to visit the places that make up the narrative of what happened to Emmett and make suggestions for how the center can commemorate this painful history.

Before Your Visit to the Mississippi Delta Invite students to do a quick-write responding to the following question:

How should a community memorialize a painful history — such as a murder, a riot, a lynching or a massacre inspired by racism?

Should it create informational markers, preserve old structures and build statues? Should it try to teach future generations what happened? Or, should it do nothing in an attempt to move on to a better future?

After students have finished writing, have them discuss their response with a partner.

During Your Visit Now, students will travel to the place where Emmett’s murder took place, in the virtual reality documentary “Remembering Emmett Till.” As they watch, they should pay attention to the various markers of Emmett’s story shared in the film, as well as their own emotional reactions.

Have students journal about what they saw and heard, and how it made them feel. They might use the following prompts:

• One location that stood out to me was … because … • One quote that resonated with me was … because … • One emotion I had while watching was … because … • One question I have is …

After Your Visit Have students come back together to discuss what they learned. They can reflect on the following questions in writing or discussion:

What happened to Emmet Till over 60 years ago? How are the two communities where these events happened still grappling with the legacy?

Should the Emmett Till Interpretive Center stop trying to replace the bullet-riddled historical markers, as a way to show the world that some people still want to erase this painful history? Or should they rededicate a new marker, to ensure that vandalism doesn’t prevent people from learning about these events? (You can read this 2019 article to get an update on this story.)

Do historical signs and markers matter? Do you ever read them? Are they important to maintain?

What do you think the Emmett Till Interpretive Center should do next to help preserve the legacy of what happened in these towns? After watching the film, what would you advise?

Have students visit the Emmett Till Interpretive Center’s website to learn more about the center’s work. Then they can use their new knowledge to provide additional insights into answering the key question: How should these two communities memorialize this painful history?

Invite them to write up a proposal or sketch a design of one way these communities could commemorate Emmett’s legacy.

Further Reading Emmett Till’s Murder, and How America Remembers Its Darkest Moments Emmett Till Memorial Has a New Sign. This Time, It’s Bulletproof.

The NYT VR Video: “Inside CERN’s Large Hadron Collider” (View on The New York Times , 6 min.)

In this virtual reality experience, viewers travel beneath the fields of Switzerland and France to tour the largest microscope ever built. They’ll explore the ins and outs of the machine, hear about its future, and study the remnants of the Higgs boson, a long-sought particle that helps explain why there is mass, diversity and life in the cosmos.

Roles and Goals Students have been invited to form a committee to study the Large Hadron Collider, developed by physicists at CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research, before it closes for upgrades. Their goal is to learn how the microscope works and share their findings with their peers.

Before Your Tour of the Large Hadron Collider Have students begin by discussing these questions: Why are microscopes important? What do we use them for? What are some things we’ve learned about our world that we would not know without them?

Then, invite them to read about how CERN’s Large Hadron Collider works:

The collider is a kind of microscope that works by flinging subatomic particles around a 17-mile electromagnetic racetrack beneath the French-Swiss countryside, smashing them together 600 million times a second and sifting through the debris for new particles and forces of nature. The instrument is also a time machine, providing a glimpse of the physics that prevailed in the early moments of the universe and laid the foundation for the cosmos as we see it today.

What might scientists learn about the universe from this machine? In what ways might this knowledge be useful to us?

Finally, have them brainstorm questions they would want to ask the physicists of CERN about the collider.

During Your Tour Now, students will travel beneath the French-Swiss countryside to tour the microscope in the V.R. video “Inside CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.” As they watch, they should pay attention to the different parts of the machine and how they work.

After the video, students should jot down what they learned about the following components of the collider and the role each plays:

• The “racetrack” • The detectors • Compact Muon Solenoid • Atlas • The computer banks

After Your Tour Gather the students back together to share their insights with each other about CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. Students can discuss what they learned using the following prompts:

What was your experience like inside the collider? What are some things you discovered on your tour?

Why was the discovery of the Higgs boson so significant? How did the collider aid in that discovery?

How do you think the research conducted by physicists using the Large Hadron Collider might affect the world? How might it affect you personally?

Now, have students create a model to illustrate how a subatomic particle would travel through the Large Hadron Collider.

The model can take any form students like, but they should remember that the goal is to help their peers understand how this microscope works. They might create a drawing or a digital illustration. If they have the resources, they can build a virtual model using 3-D software or a physical one using clay or some other material. They could create a comic or a short video that follows an animated proton on its journey through the collider. All models should include labels of the key elements they portray.

They can find more information in the article “ It’s Intermission Time for the Large Hadron Collider .”

Finally, invite students to reflect: What did they learn from creating their model? What are its limitations? In other words, what is the model not able to show? What questions did this assignment raise for them?

The NYT VR Video: “The Land of Salt and Fire” (View on The New York Times or YouTube VR , 6 min.)

Tectonic shifts are disrupting the traditional way of life for people in the Afar region in Ethiopia. In this V.R. video, students will be transported to Dallol, Ethiopia, the hottest place on Earth, where they will travel with camel caravans across salt flats and active geothermal zones, to find out how the Afar people are adapting.

Roles and Goals Students have been invited to form an anthropological expedition to document life in Dallol. As members of this team, their goal is to document their experiences and share insights with their peers to better understand Dallol’s unique geography and people.

Before Your Excursion to Dallol Before visiting the people and places they are studying, anthropologists always conduct background research. Have students do this by first finding Dallol on a map. Next, invite them to spend a few minutes doing a Google image search of “ Dallol ” and “ salt trade ,” an important economic activity in the region.

Then, discuss what they notice and wonder about what they see. Ask them:

• How would you describe the landscape of Dallol? What is unique about it? • Where does the salt trade predominantly take place? • How is salt mined? What tools are used? • What might you expect to see on a visit to Dallol?

During Your Excursion Now students will embark on their expedition by watching the NYT VR video “The Land of Salt and Fire.” As they watch, remind them that anthropology is the study of human societies and cultures, so they should pay special attention to how the people of Dallol have developed their society and what role the environment has played in it.

After they’ve finished, they can use the “If I Were There” protocol to record their observations:

After Your Excursion Invite students to reconvene and discuss the discoveries they made. They can reflect on the following questions in writing or discussion:

What was interesting or surprising about their trip to Dallol? What did it feel like to “be there”?

What role has the salt trade played in the lives of the Afar people over generations?

What are the forces that are changing the Afar people’s traditional way of life? How are they adapting?

How can an environment influence a people’s way of life? How does the environment where you live influence how people live and work in your community?

The goal of anthropologists is to publish their findings so they can share what they’ve learned with the public. Students can create a one-pager to share their insights with their peers. They can summarize their findings with an illustration, a quote and a question they might want to ask the Afar people. Post the one-pagers around the classroom and have students do a gallery walk, or invite them to present their work in small groups.

Further Reading Voyages: The Danakil Depression, Ethiopia

Travis Feldler is the founder of TechRow , a social enterprise that explores how to leverage immersive technology inside schools to improve learning outcomes.

Natalie Proulx joined The Learning Network as a staff editor in 2017 after working as an English language arts teacher and curriculum writer. More about Natalie Proulx