A virtual environment is an environment composed of virtual reality. A combination of hardware and software works together to create a digital environment with which you can interact. It is sometimes very sophisticated, using very specific hardware; other times it is much simpler. The more complex virtual reality set up uses a headpiece and glove and allows the user to interact by simple movements; the headpiece allows the user to see what his or her hand inside the glove is doing. You are able to take virtual field trips to real or imaginary places. Sometimes this technology can be used for students to explore the Amazon or Antarctica; other times it allows students to explore things at the nuclear level. Using the virtual reality glove, things can be picked up and explored from any angle. Simple virtual environments are available all over the internet; the more complex environments are usually only available in places such as research labs.
I can see where virtual technology would be particularly useful in science and social studies classes in particular; a science student would be able to explore the ins and outs of the body’s circulatory system or participate in performing open heart surgery. The social studies student could see the Civil War up close and personal. While game systems like the Nintendo Wii offer a very limited version of virtual reality (and many people may think more of game systems than educational purposes when thinking of virtual reality), a full system with total interactivity could offer many educational benefits. Students could become fully immersed in whatever they are learning about through these types of experiences.
I can only imagine if my school had access to something of this nature. As a teacher at a relatively small, very rural school, there are many topics that my students just don’t “get” and this would allow a higher level of understanding for those topics.
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I could not even imagine having access to a virtual reality such as the more complex systems you discussed. To be able to walk into a virtual "Globe Theater" and experience the actual stage upon which the Shakespeare himself spoke and other actors spoke his words for the first time would be surreal.
It always seems as though it is the schools that need things of this nature, such as virutal reality, the most that cannot have access to them. Wouldn't it be awesome if there was an exchange program, or leasing program in which these things could be experienced at least once in a student's life?
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