Can you create immersive experiences to share with students this winter? Virtual reality (VR) is a game-changer in education, allowing teachers to bring new concepts and environments directly into the classroom. Although you might have access to headsets, you can create engaging learning experiences for students by incorporating simple virtual reality education resources like panoramic views, 360 videos, and more.
Today, on the blog, I have a handful of virtual reality winter adventures for you. I’m using the term virtual reality pretty liberally here and have included augmented reality and other digital experiences I think you and your students will enjoy.
Virtual Reality Education: Winter Edition
These connect to popular winter themes, but you can really tailor them to any time of year. From navigating icy terrains to understanding the physics of winter sports, these immersive experiences are designed to enhance learning in a memorable way.
Glacial Exploration Experience
Students can embark on a virtual journey to step on a glacier, observe the terrain, and understand the ecosystem. National Geographic has lots of 360 video content to explore on YouTube, and here is a video you might want to check out with a tour of Iceland’s Glaciers.
Explore Ice Age Animals
The Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County shared augmented reality resources you can explore with students to learn about Ice Age animals. This blog post from their site includes QR codes you can scan with Snapchat, but I would recommend skipping that option and trying out the QR codes you can scan with the camera of a tablet or smartphone. I’ve tried it out on my mobile device, and it’s pretty impressive.
Winter-Themed Tour
Whether you head to Antarctica or Alaska, you can take students on a winter-themed tour. Have you tried out Expeditions Pro? I read about an environmental education connection in this Edutopia post by educator Katie Mauro. Expeditions Pro has hundreds of existing tours to try out, or you can make your own.
Northern Lights Journey
AirPano is a website I often share when talking to educators about curating resources for students. They have video content, too, including videos you can access on YouTube. You might use this video featuring the Northern Lights to spark a discussion with students or play it during independent work time and refer to it later on in the school day.
Coloring Activities
One of the first times I saw augmented reality in action a decade ago was through the coloring book pages of QuiverVision. They have lots of educational content (some free, some paid), and you can certainly make a winter connection. For example, you might use their Plant Life Cycle pages and talk about the impact of seasonal changes on different types of plants.
Bring Art to Life
If you’ve stopped by the blog before, you know I love to include resources from Google Arts & Culture on lists like this one. They have an interactive page created alongside the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium featuring “Winter Through Bruegel’s Eyes.” Scroll through this multimodal experience, which includes artwork, interviews, and more.
Learn About Antarctica
Another selection from Google Arts & Culture is “Antarctica: What lies beneath.” Students can explore maps, primary source documents, and even information on sled dogs. This interactive experience might even act as an exemplar for something students create to share their research on a winter theme.
Virtual Winter Climbs
If you’d like to take students on a virtual hike, you’ll want to explore Reality Maps, which lets you interact with a map to better understand the terrain of different mountains. One of the reasons I included it on the list is because you can toggle between summer and winter to see how the terrain changes.
Virtual Reality Education Experiences
As you explore virtual reality and immersive learning experiences with your students, they might have questions like – how was this created? Discovery Education has oodles of free resources for educators, including this behind-the-scenes look at designing virtual field trips. You can see their videos on this resource page.
What will you explore with students this winter? Integrating virtual reality education into the classroom is a step towards a future where learning is more engaging, interactive, and immersive. Even without headsets, students can take a virtual trip to a variety of winter places.
I’d love to hear where you explore and what your students learn about wintertime. If you snap a picture, tag me @ClassTechTips on Instagram or Twitter/X to share your experience!
