Ain’t Virtual Reality Grand?

Ain’t virtual reality grand, and isn’t it a great teaching tool?

Well, maybe; depends.  Today I watched a 5^th grader play a ‘virtual reality” plumbing game on his computer during “free time” (actually, I think he was just doing whatever he wanted to do, regardless).  But the problem wasn’t that the shit in the toilet that he plunged didn’t stink.  The real problem was that I saw no indication that the author of the game knew: “hot on the left, cold on the right”, much, much less, “shit goes downhill”.

Having just spent a few back breaking hours digging gravel and leaves out my culverts after 12 plus inches of rain in one month, I was struck by the fact that in the game, I didn’t see any indication that a clog must be fixed from the bottom up, and a leak from the top down.  Physics my dear; fluid dynamics and the brush pile effect.

So, virtual reality isn’t going to teach anyone very much if it doesn’t acknowledge what “real” is in the first place.  TV was supposed to be the teaching innovation of the 20^th century.  Virtual reality has just as many promoters now.  Wanna bet what it is all going to be used for?

Yup, just like 90% of TV.