How One Teacher Uses Augmented Reality in the Classroom
By Heather Brantley, CTE Web Communications Teacher
As a dedicated educator, I always want the best for my students. I always strive to provide the best possible learning experiences for my students. My goal is to create a classroom environment where every moment counts, and the latest advancements in technology in education play a crucial role in achieving that. Unfortunately, limited budgets often pose a challenge in this area. Thankfully, the integration of augmented reality (AR) in the classroom has proven to be a valuable solution. With excellent apps like McGraw Hill AR, sharing the wonders of hands-on learning with students has become both effortless and cost-free.
Incorporating AR in the classroom offers a multitude of benefits. The app allows students to leverage technology while gaining a deeper understanding of its inner workings. It also provides them with the opportunity to actively engage with the lessons, bringing objects that are typically inaccessible to the classroom right into the palm of their hands.
McGraw Hill AR, provided by a partnership with Verizon Innovative Learning, is a remarkable addition to any educational setting. As a math teacher, I was able to use this app to demonstrate not only the appearance of 3D objects’ nets but also the process of opening and closing the nets, enabling students to grasp the concrete application of transforming from one object to another. The AR equation balancer within the app allowed students to explore how inequalities are affected when adding and removing objects in the AR setting. The recent additions of social studies content to the app have given students the ability to walk into history and glimpse into a world that can’t be recreated on a limited budget. The interactive AR components integrated into the app truly engage students and foster higher-level thinking, leading to insightful discussions with thought-provoking questions. Each lesson is designed to nurture critical thinking skills, allowing students to explore and learn within the safe comfort of the classroom.
Valuable skill-building opportunities that are highly sought after in CTE courses can be found in McGraw Hill AR. By providing hands-on simulations, the app helps students develop a stronger understanding of foundational skills. It covers a wide range of activities, including graph theory, growth functions, cross sections, and reflections, which can be applied in various CTE fields such as welding, cooking, and graphic design. As a CTE web communications teacher, I have found this app particularly useful in enabling students to explore and gain a deeper understanding of building websites, creating virtual worlds, and designing graphics that can be shared across multiple platforms.
As an educator who genuinely cares about the success of all learners, I am excited to advocate for the incorporation of AR technology in every classroom. While currently designed for social studies and math, the learning offered in McGraw Hill AR has a definite cross-curricular nature. The app goes beyond traditional boundaries, providing reading components that test comprehension and understanding, making it valuable in the reading classroom. Imagine the writing that a student can create from sharing the immersive experience in the ELA classroom. The engineering to build the Parthenon goes into physics. The possibilities for learning and discovery are endless as you dive deeper into McGraw Hill AR. It is an invaluable resource that I love sharing with fellow educators. After all, learning becomes more enjoyable when experienced through the lens of augmented reality — ask any student!
Heather Brantley is an experienced educator and founder of HeatherTechEdu. With a background in instructional design and technology integration, Heather is passionate about helping teachers and students leverage the power of technology to enhance teaching and learning. Through HeatherTechEdu, she provides presentations on AI/AR/VR in the classroom, instructional design services, and educational technology consulting to schools and districts around the country. Heather is currently teaching CTE technology and CEER at Pine Tree ISD.
