Chicago — The San Isidro Independent School District in Texas is embracing the immersive power of virtual reality technology through implementation of the award-winning ClassVR VR/AR headsets in its middle and high school classrooms. The district leveraged federal GEAR UP Pathways to the Future grant funding to purchase ClassVR, which includes thousands of pieces of VR and AR content to support all subject areas. San Isidro ISD is among 13 school districts in Texas Region One Educational Services Center’s service area to have signed on with ClassVR using GEAR UP Pathways to the Future grants.
“The GEAR UP program has been great for bringing technology and training to our district,” said Cristobal Vela, GEAR UP facilitator for San Isidro ISD. “ClassVR provides an excellent opportunity to have students experience places that they otherwise would never be able to visit.”
English teachers, for example, are using ClassVR to immerse students in scenes from author John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.” Social studies teachers are using it to take students on virtual field trips to big cities such as Times Square in New York City. In sixth and seventh grade science classes, students are using ClassVR to virtually go inside of an atom to see how it’s constructed.
The GEAR UP grant program is designed to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education by providing services for high-poverty middle and high schools. San Isidro ISD serves a rural community in southern Texas where 95% of students are Hispanic/Latino and 100% qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
ClassVR is an all-in-one VR/AR headset designed specifically for K-12 schools. Used by more than 1 million students in 100,000 classrooms worldwide, it includes all hardware, software, tools, training, support and implementation services needed for teachers to deploy AR/VR in their classrooms. ClassVR’s content hub, Eduverse, gives teachers access to thousands of VR and AR resources and content to enhance lessons and engage students more deeply in what they are learning. Students can virtually experience walking with polar bears, swimming with sharks, or traveling back in time to see what it was like in a World War I trench.
New for the 2023-24 school year, Avantis aligned 400+ lessons in ClassVR to U.S. state standards in science, social studies and English language arts, providing added value and convenience for teachers.
In addition to qualifying for GEAR UP grants, ClassVR also qualifies for ESSER funds because it helps teachers support student academic achievement and address learning loss.
“Utilizing grant funding for ClassVR is really a great way to support equity in schools because it gives students access to cutting-edge technology, and allows those who might not have had opportunities to travel, to experience different places through the power of virtual reality,” said Avantis Education’s Chief Executive Officer Huw Williams. “GEAR UP grants offer a great opportunity to bring technologies like ClassVR into schools to help enhance lessons and support academic success in secondary school and beyond.”
To learn more about ClassVR, visit http://www.classvr.com.
About Avantis
Avantis Education, the creators of ClassVR, provides simple classroom technology used by more than a million students in over 90 countries.
The world’s first virtual reality technology designed just for education provides everything a school needs to seamlessly implement VR technology in any classroom, all at an affordable price. To learn more visit www.avantiseducation.com and www.classvr.com.
