Teaching children, who have grown up with smartphones, tablets and laptops can be challenging, given their short attention spans. In an effort to help students understand complex concepts, several city schools have either introduced or will be introducing virtual reality (VR) capsules of lessons.

In Bengaluru, Blossoms School introduced VRmodules that comprise five minute videos. Students are equipped with headsets and viewing aids that allow them to interact with the subject matter in 3D. They plan to share their expertise with several schools, both private and government, and are in talks with the Department of Primary and Secondary Education to have mobile classrooms for this purpose.

D. Shashi Kumar, head of Blossoms Research Application Interact Nurture (BRAIN) centre, which is the research wing of the school, said that they found that such teaching aids also help students with learning disabilities grasp concepts more easily. “We are currently using VR modules for students in classes nine and ten for science, social science, mathematics and english. When we teach a concept like the solar system, for instance, students find it boring if we show a video. But, when shown in virtual reality, it is engrained in the child’s memory,” he said.

Content for these videos is downloaded from the Internet, which is later converted into 3D format that is suitable to be seen with headsets. Mr. Kumar said that all the infrastructure for this has been imported. “Although the headsets are available in India as well, it is more expensive here,” he said.

Ramesh C.A., principal, Suma Public School said that he was planning to introduce this in his school in the coming academic year. “We saw the demo and are very thrilled,” he said.

Varsha B.M., a class ten student of Blossoms School said that she loved watching topics such as British rule in India and global warming in the VR headset. “We sit in our classroom for long hours and get bored. But learning concepts like this is exciting and we are hooked on to the content. We are so engrossed that after class, we go back and read up on the Internet about it,” she said.