1.21.16

This week in class we discussed our PDP and some of the goals that we may have for the semester.  One of my goals is "I will learn one new technology piece each week that I can incorporate into my future classroom."  One technology piece that I recently learned about is Google Cardboard.

For those of you who don't know, Google Cardboard is a virtual reality and augmented reality platform developed by Google for use with a fold-out cardboard mount for a mobile phone.  They can be purchased fairly cheap on Amazon but come from China (mine took 3 months to get here!).

With Google Cardboard you can use the Google Street View app to virtually visit almost any location in the world.  This is a unique tool for the classroom because when using it students feel as if they are actually there instead of when you just put up pictures on a slide show.  The other really cool thing you can do with Google Cardboard, is that you can add your own locations.  You would use the Street View app and your camera to take 360° photos of the location and then save them to the app, making this technology tool useful for virtual field trips and learning about other states or countries.

Using Google Cardboard directly relates to NCTCS 4.d "Teachers integrate and utilize technology in their instruction. Teachers know when and how to use technology to maximize student learning. Teachers help students use technology to learn content, think critically, solve problems, discern reliability, use information, communicate, innovate, and collaborate."


I also found a really cool article that we could share with our class to teach them how technology can be used to solve problems.  This article, titled "How a Google Cardboard Virtual Reality Device Helped a Surgeon Operate on Infant's Heart," comes from abcnews.com.  The infant, who's life was saved because of this operation, was born with only one lung and a heart defect.  The doctor and his team found that the CT scans of the baby's heart and lung could be translated into a 3-D image viewable from the Google Cardboard device.  Dr. Burke said "it changes when you see something in a different way...it gave me the information in my hands on demand."  Burke used this information and the Google Cardboard images to plan the surgery step-by-step.  He credited the images on Google Cardboard for helping him through the tough surgery.
By teaching and showing our students how technology can be used not only to learn but also to solve problems and innovate, they may become doctors using technology learned in our classrooms to save lives!  How awesome is that?



http://abcnews.go.com/Health/google-cardboard-virtual-reality-device-helped-surgeon-operate/story?id=36167944