Chere Smith

EDTC 601

Activity4:ProjectVirtualRealityPersuasionandApplication

Virtual reality is the use of computer technology to create the effect of an

interactive three-dimensional world in which the objects have a sense of spatial presence.
It is also an artificial world that consists of images and sounds created by a computer and
that is affected by the actions of a person who is experiencing it. Some similar terms
used to describe virtual reality are avatar, cyberspace, interface, portal, simulator, and
virtual prototype.
Virtual reality is not being used in my educational setting at all. When I was in
high school I remember creating a town using SimCity in my humanities class and how
much it helped understand what went in to maintaining a town. I personally have not
used virtual reality in my classroom but I can see an advantage to using it. I have heard
of science classrooms using it to preform dissections before doing them on real animals.
As with all technology in the classroom, I think anything done in moderation will only
enhance our students learning experiences.
When I started the activity in discussion, I was more on the for virtual reality side.
For this discussion, I researched the cons of using virtual reality in classrooms. Some of
the cons that I found were the cost of using virtual reality programs in schools and
classrooms, the time needed to learn how to use the hardware and software, the health

and safety effects it may have on students and the reluctance to use and integrate new
technology into curriculum.
Tree Map

Bibliography
Pantelidis, V. S. (2010). Reasons to Use Virtual Reality in Education and Training
Courses and a Model to Determine When to Use Virtual Reality. Themes in Science and
Technology Education, 2(1-2), pp-59. Retrieved from
http://earthlab.uoi.gr/theste/index.php/theste/article/view/22
Smith-Robins, S. (2011). Are Virtual Worlds (still) Relevant in Education? eLearn
Magazine. Retrieved from http://elearnmag.acm.org/featured.cfm?aid=2078479
Summarizing Paragraphs on Virtual Simulation:
Interactive Body
The simulation from the BBC site allows students to drag and drop bones, organs,
muscles, and parts of the nervous system to a human body. The site provides students
with key information and hints and allows for students to try multiple times until the

move to the right area of the body. The learning objective for the activities are to help
students study the human body and anatomy using a virtual human body. The age group
that would work best with the site would be 8th through 12th graders. This older age group
would be able to navigate the site and be able to also take notes while completing the
simulation. I personally would not use this site in my classroom because it is in another
content area. For teachers using this simulation, little set up is needed. Students choose
what area of anatomy they are studying and get started. I could see teachers using this
site to introduce units (or topics), to review before or after a quiz, or as an assessment
tool to see what students understand or still may need help with. This could also be used
to help with class discussions by having individual or teams of students come up to the
board and drag and drop parts to start the discussion.
Visual Fractions
The virtual world has many components to it including worksheets, guided notes and
games. I will specifically speak to the games section of this site. The site offers games
for the elementary to middle school aged students. They are working with adding,
subtracting, and simplifying fractions while playing games with the lead character
Grumpy Grampy and leading him through different scenarios. Even though it is aimed
at a younger age group, I could see my students using this as a fun review activity for
fractions. The site offers different languages that would help with my English Language
Learners.
Bricks or Clicks
This site, designed for high school students, allows students to get a taste of running a
business. Students have to assign how much of their budget goes into merchandising,

advertising, and promotions and from there they can see how they compete with other
companies (students in the class). The objective of this world is to have students use
business math in a virtual setting. Student will be able to see stock prices; company
profits, and uses decision-making skills.
Virtual Reality Lesson Plan
Virtual Reality Lesson Plan
Title: Division: Expressing and Interpreting Remainders
Grade level: 6th Grade
Subject/topic(s): Math
Content Standards: Colorado Standards:
STANDARD 1:
Students develop number sense and use numbers and number relationships in problem-solving
situations and communicate the reasoning used in solving these problems. In order to meet this
standard, a student will
construct and interpret number meanings through real-world experiences and the use of
hands-on materials;
represent and use numbers in a variety of equivalent forms (for example, fractions,
decimals, percents, exponents, scientific notation);
know the structure and properties of the real number system (for example, primes,
factors, multiples, relationships among sets of numbers); and
use number sense, including estimation and mental arithmetic, to determine the
reasonableness of solutions.
STANDARD 2
Students use algebraic methods to explore, model, and describe patterns and functions involving
numbers, shapes, data, and graphs in problem-solving situations and communicate the reasoning
used in solving these problems. In order to meet this standard, a student will
identify, describe, analyze, extend, and create a wide variety of patterns in numbers,
shapes, and data;
describe patterns using mathematical language;
solve problems and model real-world situations using patterns and functions;
compare and contrast different types of functions; and
describe the connections among representations of patterns and functions, including
words, tables, graphs, and symbols.
STANDARD 6:
Students link concepts and procedures as they develop and use computational techniques,
including estimation, mental arithmetic, paper-and-pencil, calculators, and computers, in
problem-solving situations and communicate the reasoning used in solving these problems. In

order to meet this standard, a student will

model, explain, and use the four basic operations - addition, subtraction, multiplication,
and division - in problem-solving situations;
develop, use, and analyze algorithms; and
select and apply appropriate computational techniques to solve a variety of problems and
determine whether the results are reasonable.
Marzano Strategy(ies): Cooperative learning, nonlinguistic representations, and cues, questions,
and advance organizers.
NETS Standard(s):
The ISTE NETSS and Performance Indicators for Students:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Creativity and Innovation

Communication and Collaboration
Research and Information Fluency
Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
Digital Citizenship
Technology Operations and Concepts

Learning Objectives:
Students will:
1) Practice expressing and interpreting remainders in a division problem
2) Be introduced to expressing a remainder as a fraction or decimal.
Address standards as you address:
What is essential for learners to know or understand about the topic?
How to divide with equal shares and what to do when you have a remainder.
If students remembered one thing about this study, what would it be?
How to visually represent division into equal parts.
Evidence of Understanding:
What will should students be able to do or express when they understand the learning objectives?
Students will be able to successful navigate through the problems from each website, using the
practice problems we did as a class and from visually seeing cues, and questions from the site.
Instructional Procedures:
Plan a sequence of instructional activities and assignments that address the learning objectives.
Math Message: Students solve a division problem with equal shares

Three students share 13 sticks of gum. How many sticks of gum does each student get if they

receive equal shares?

Number of Students
3

Sticks of gum per student

?

Sticks of gum in all

13

Math Message Follow-up:

Have several come up and show their thinking in solving the problem on the SmartBoard.
1. Ask: How many sticks of gum does each student get? 4
2. Ask: Are there any remaining sticks (remainder)? 1
3. I am sure that several students are going to ask, Who gets the last stick of gum?
4. Ask: Should the remaining 1-stick of gum be ignored? No, that would be a waste
5. Ask: What should be done with the last stick of gum?
a. Draw a rectangle to represent one stick of gum and divide it into thirds. Label
each section 1/3.
6. Act out the problem with actual sticks of gum (optional)

Expressing Remainders as Fraction: Whole group

Tell the students that they will be learning how to solve division number story problems in which
something must be done with a remainder in order to provide a useful answer.

Work through the following division number story examples.

o Example One: Four brothers are given 35 fruit bars. They agree to share equally. How
many fruit bars will each brother get?
Draw a simple picture to organize the information.
35 4 = ?

Number of Fruit Bars

Number of Brothers

35

Brother 1
llllllll

Brother 2
llllllll

Number of Fruit Bars

Per Brother
?

Brother 3
llllllll

Brother 4
llllllll

8 bars each with 3 remaining

35 4 = 8 R 3
* Place the remainder as a numerator
* Place the divisor as the denominator
So the answer is 8 (cut up the remaining bars)

Each brother gets 8 fruit bars each.

o

Example Two: Four people split the cost of a $15 present equally. How much does each
person pay?
Draw a simple picture to organize the information.
15 / 4 = ?

Cost of Present

Number of People
Splitting the Cost
4

15
Person 1
lll

Person 2
lll

Amount Each Person

Will Pay
?

Person 3
lll

Person 4
lll

15 / 4 = 3 R 3 => 3
$3 each with $3 remaining (Change dollars into quarters - $3 = 12 Q)
Person 1
$3
QQQ

Person 2
$3
QQQ

Person 3
$3
QQQ

Person 4
$3
QQQ

So each person pays $3.75

Students log on to their laptops to practice division using a virtual manipulative by going
to the link below. (Independent Practice)
Rectangle Division
Interpreting Remainders in Problem Context (Whole Group)

Explain to students that the remainder is not always converted to a fraction or a decimal.
Depending on the situation a remainder might be ignored because the remainder cannot be splitup, or it might be rounded up

Example of Remainder that is Ignored:

o

Three children divide a set of 16 toy cars equally. How many toy cars does each child
get?
16 / 3 = ?

Number of Toy Cars

Number of Children

16

Child 1
lllll

Child 2
lllll
16 / 3 = 5 R 1

Child 3
lllll

Number of Toy Cars

per Child
?

The remainder is ignored since cutting up a toy car would destroy it, so each child gets 5
toy cars.

Example of a Remainder That is Rounded Up:

o

Charlie has 29 photographs. He can fit 6 photos on each page of his photo album. How
many pages must he use to hold all his 29 photos?
29 / 6 = ?

Number of Photos

Photos per Page

29

Page 1
6

Page 2
6

Page 3
6

Number of Pages
Needed
?
Page 4
6

Page 5
5

29 /6 = 4 R5
After he fills the first 4 pages, he will still have 5 photos left, so he needs another page to put the pictures
in.
Students log on to their laptops to practice division using a virtual manipulative by going
to the link below. (Independent Practice)
Set 5: Division - Interpreting the Remainder

Plan for Technology:

How will technology support learning in this activity?
Students will log on to laptops or netbooks and use the following websites to practice and
support what we do in class.
Websites:
Rectangle Division
Set 5: Division - Interpreting the Remainder
Essential Questions:
Essential questions are provocative and make students think about the lessons within a greater
context.

Have several come up and show their thinking in solving the problem on the SmartBoard.
Example with the Sticks of Gum problem, these can be applied to all question types.
7.

Ask: How many sticks of gum does each student get? 4

8.

Ask: Are there any remaining sticks (remainder)? 1

9.

I am sure that several students are going to ask, Who gets the last stick of gum?

10. Ask: Should the remaining 1-stick of gum be ignored? No, that would be a waste
11. Ask: What should be done with the last stick of gum?
a. Draw a rectangle to represent one stick of gum and divide it into thirds. Label each
section 1/3.
12. Act out the problem with actual sticks of gum (optional)

Assessment:
How will you assess your students?
Students will complete an exit ticket with problems from our class discussion and their VR
experience. There will be three levels of questions (equal shares, writing the remainder, and
writing the remainder as a fraction) to assess what level students are comfortable with. Answers
can be inputted using the clickers.