This year, the Indiana Academy for Science and Mathematics offered a Virtual Reality Summer Adventure Camp. Led by the Indiana Academy’s Susie Cunningham, students toured our lab space. They heard a bit about VR in simulations vs gaming applications from me. But more importantly, they all explored one of our ‘drug house’ simulations to experience VR simulation.  Students were learning basics in Unity VR, and were very interested about VR’s use outside of gaming. These kids were on it! They asked some great questions, and were an exceptional group of 7th – 9th graders!

 

I think back to my own summer “computer camp” when I was an elementary-aged kid. Back then, the Apple II was the pinnacle of technology. I remember spending over an hour meticulously writing BASIC code. My objective, to get the computer to repeat a custom string of text on an ‘infinite loop’ (“Josh Rules,” was my choice). Fast-forward to now: students are learning incredibly powerful software, and at a much faster pace. Wow: foundational knowledge has come a long way. For me, my computer camp was a formative experience, something that is not lost on me. These seemingly kinds of BASIC experiences (see what I did there?) have potential, to strike a child’s imagination, at just the right time, in just the right way, just like it did for me all those years ago.

Proud to be a part of things like this, encouraged to see things like this well attended in our local community, and to meet such a bright group of students!