Hey Teacher, if my Science Experiment is in VR, Can I cause Explosions?

This article, from EdSurge news, suggests that virtual reality (VR) could be a “tectonic shift” toward closing the gap between the rapid technological advances and slow methodology changes in schools.

VR could help students learn and retain information better by making learning into an active creation rather than simply reading text or watching a movie. For example, students could fly through a blood stream while learning about cellular biology. The author (who has vested interest because she works for a VR startup) explains that this would also help with shortened student attention spans. (He/she never explains why, but I assume because it would be interesting enough to hold attention longer. This makes me wonder how long this will remain novel to the students.)

Though actual experiments are expensive, time consuming to set up and prepare for, potentially dangerous, and require space and real time, an experiment done with VR eliminates all of these problems while still offering the student the opportunity to do the experiment. I see a lot of value in this argument because I see these factors majorly limiting high school experiments even in affluent school districts. Ideally the VR would be so advanced though that it would still require the same precision rather than having just a few options and channeling the user toward the correct method. If schools can't afford the costs of science experiments now though, I doubt they'll be able to afford the investment of a VR system.

VR also serves as an opportunity to use technology in the classroom in a more meaningful and interactive way than movies or e-texts that simply present the same information the same way but digitally. It could be a great learning tool, it just seems expensive and new.