Interactive Virtual Reality In 3-D, The Newest Learning Tool

Watch what happens when the Oculus Rift headset and the Leap Motion 3-D gesture controller are combined to help kids learn the periodic table.

By Morgan Clendaniel

Remember the days when students would come to class armed with only a notebook and a textbook? In some places, that time is long gone, as laptops and iPads make their way into schools. Now a creative technology studio has come up with a platform for classrooms that makes digital textbooks look ancient.

Chaotic Moon’s immersive 3-D experience allows students to manipulate virtual objects and experience whatever they’re studying firsthand. The platform marries a Leap Motion gesture controller with an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset so that students can experience scenarios arguably more memorable than anything they’d read in a book. In this video demo, shown below, a “student” learns about atoms and molecules by looking at the periodic table of elements in 3-D, manipulating hydrogen and oxygen atoms, and finally taking a trip under the sea to hammer home the importance of H2O.

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