HUNTINGTON — High school mathematics teachers are looking at the school year through a new lens, as some will incorporate virtual reality into their curriculum.
Cabell County Schools has acquired 96 Prism augmented reality headsets to be used in two mathematics classes each at Huntington High School, Cabell Midland High School and the Cabell County Career Technology Center this year.
Cabell County Schools Superintendent Ryan Saxe said Cabell County is the first county in West Virginia to present this option and it will be a great opportunity for students to learn math in a new way.
“I think about my own challenges when I was going through school around mathematical concepts, and it was really kind of hard for me to conceptualize mathematical concepts to solve problems on paper,” Saxe said. “What this does is it allows three-dimensional ability for students to manipulate and to touch and to feel the mathematical concepts to really put it into action. It’s really exciting.”
Saxe said the devices will expand the ways students can learn, and it may lead them to enjoy the subject after seeing it in a new way.
Cabell County Schools Deputy Superintendent Kelly Watts said the devices were acquired through a grant, and the district is already trying to get more to expand into middle school math classes. The six high school math instructors, along with two middle school math instructors, have begun training and could implement the devices in the upcoming semester.
Watts said the devices could be how students who typically struggle with mathematics gain interest or understanding.
“I think augmented reality, that is something that hooks and highly engages our students,” she said. “And as we know, mathematics — you either love it or you struggle with it — and I think that a lot of your students who tend to have some fear, this will hook them and engage them in a way that will bring it more to life for them.”
While the only curriculum for the devices right now is mathematics-based, Watts said applications for the devices in other subjects are in progress.
Saxe said mathematics could be just the beginning, and it is exciting to see how virtual reality could be used in the future.
“I think the application potential is really limitless because the ability to have augmented reality beyond mathematics, thinking about science concepts, or social studies and being able to travel the world — it is really a very futuristic opportunity that is available today,” he said.
Sarah Ingram is a reporter for The Herald-Dispatch, covering public K-12 education. Follow her on Twitter @SIngramHD.