Students Take a Roman Holiday with VR Apps

Students in Alicen Morley's history classes recently had opportunities to take unforgettable field trips to locations like the Palace of Versaille in Paris, France, the Parthenon in Greece, and the Colosseum in Rome. These trips were made possible by the power of virtual reality.

Ms. Morley's class is equipped with a set of Google Cardboard viewers -- headsets students can use for viewing and interacting with virtual reality environments on their smartphones. Through apps like Viewmaster (yes, the same company that made those classic red stereoscopic toys you played with as a kid!) and Google Expeditions, students are able to explore 360-degree 3D images and videos. The Viewmaster app provides self-guided tours for students, while the Google Expeditions app makes the experience collaborative by connecting a teacher tour guide to a class full of students.

Ms. Morley wanted her students to engage in an immersive experience with the places they read about and discussed in class. They learned about the ornate rococo style and excesses of the courts of Louis the XIV and Louis the XV of France, and then they got to see the palace firsthand with Google Expeditions. Other classes learned about government and religion in ancient Greece and then saw how those influences affected art and architecture when they visited the Parthenon through Viewmaster's Destinations app.

Once students were familiar with how Google Expeditions works, they were ready to become the tour guides themselves. Working in partners, students took turns leading an expedition to ancient Rome to point out significant landmarks and points of interest. Students learned to think critically about what they were seeing so that they could make inferences about what the structures could tell them about the society they were studying.

Google Expeditions has possibilities for applications in many different subjects. Students can visit underwater ocean habitats, travel to the moon, or even explore the human heart through virtual reality. It's exciting to think where Boone's students will head next!

Story Street: BHS Students Share True Life Stories in New Podcast

Advanced Composition students at Boone High School have stories to tell. For a recent assignment asking them to write a personal narrative or character sketch, these students shared snapshots in writing of important moments or people in their lives and focused on developing those moments thoroughly with specific, sensory details. The end goal for each student author was to create a clear picture in the minds of his or her audience and to convey a sense of significance about the event or person in their story.

For inspiration, students listened to an episode from NPR’s Snap Judgment podcast and noted observations of the author’s writing style. They also picked up on aspects of the spoken performance of his story, noting how the author used vocal inflection and music to manipulate the mood.

After writing their stories, students used an app called Soundtrap to record themselves reading aloud. Then, following the model of the example they listened to, they turned to choosing music they could add to the recording to enhance their story’s mood. Some students used music loops available within the Soundtrap app while others browsed the internet for their music options. They exercised digital citizenship skills as they learned to search for music labeled by artists for reuse through Creative Commons licenses.

Once the music fit with the words, students created mp3 files of their recorded stories. The final recordings were uploaded to Soundcloud. Like YouTube, Soundcloud allows users to upload their own content to share with the world, except the site focuses on audio rather than video. The result is a brand new podcast called Story Street (be sure to subscribe!). The first episode featuring stories from seniors Jenna Kirby, Michael Foley, and Sarah Schrupp is provided here for your listening enjoyment.