West Point High Students Virtual Learning

WEST POINT, Miss. (WCBI) – Some West Point high school students are traveling the world without leaving the classroom.

New technology is helping students absorb the lessons, while taking in the sights.

“Gone are the days of just standing up there at the black board taking notes, you have to catch their attention,”said 9th Grade Social Studies Teacher Bruce Mize.

Mize’s 9th graded social studies class, just got back from France, then headed out to New York City, without leaving the 662.

“The virtual reality is a way to bring the field trip to the classroom. Not only that, but it opens up doors to just about anywhere in the world we want to go and any experience we want,” said Mize.

The 18 year teaching veteran says he’s never been able to present a lesson like this before.

“The first time we went to Versi France then the streets of Paris , we were studying the french revolution. Now we’re going to the lower East Side of New York to the Tenement House Museum, studying the industrial revolution,” said Mize.

Asia Hill says, at first, she was skeptical about a virtual field trip.

“I thought it was going to be like, I don’t know, you wouldn’t be able to see much but you actually did see a lot. When you look around you stay in your own personal space and you see a lot more than you thought you would,” said Hill.

While students avoided buying a plane ticket, the virtual experience is still expensive.

“My goal was to try to prove that we could do virtual reality on a budget and I quickly learned that wasn’t the case. Using the little cheap $20 phone from the store is just not compatible with it. So, I quickly ran out of funds. Lucky enough Metro PCS in Columbus was kind enough to donate the phones,” said Mize.

Keavona Johnson is thankful for the learning experience, because visualizing the sights helps her gain a better understanding.

“We get to visit places without actually going there and see how people use to live. It’s like certain stuff you can remember, like the people, you may remember everyone in a certain room, instead of reading it,” said Johnson.

Mize plans to take his class to actually tour Rome in 2019.