Ideas to Action 2019: Virtual Reality Activities in Sauk Prairie

Our financial strength means we can turn ideas into reality. Investing in our members drives innovation and collaboration that, in turn, fuels other libraries to take projects further. This series, written by award recipients, highlights projects and outcomes of the 2019 WiLS Ideas to Action Fund. If you’d like your project considered for the 2020 award period, visit our Ideas to Action website or email us at .

A $5000 grant from WiLS enabled the Sauk Prairie High School Library to purchase a Google Education Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality kit. The 27 unit VR kit is a popular commodity with many teachers, mostly at the Middle School level, interested in visits to the library to take their students on a VR tour relevant to their curriculum. The student response to VR has been enthusiastic and at times, students cannot contain their surprise at the wonders before them. Many students that have not had the experience yet, beg teachers for the opportunity to participate in the activity by bringing their class(es) to the Library. The activities we are doing are catching on and the requests keep coming. Because of this, I have had to alter some of my initial plans, specifically for drop-in activities during lunches or study hall periods with the VR equipment. My plan is to resume a few voluntary drop-in sessions during the 3rd trimester.

How have we been using them

• In lieu of physically visiting a botanical garden, SPHS GEDO students used the Deserts of Arizona VR tour to complete a course requirement.
• Bob Marquardt (7th grade Social Studies) introduced the “Geography of the United States” tour to his 100+ students. Half of the students worked on a State project in the classroom, while small groups of 12 students came to the Library Classroom to view the wonders of the United States.
• Joanne Witthoft (7th and 8th grade Spanish students) toured Mexico’s Day of the Dead on Day of the Dead, October 31, 2019.
• Dan Halling (HS US History) took students on an excursion to learn more about D-Day by visiting the D-Day War Memorial in Bedford, Massachusetts.
• Kurt Rossbach (HS Art) gave students a peek at the Life and Art of Frida Kahlo as part of a self-portrait unit.
• The HS Gay Straight Alliance of students visited the History of the LGBT Community in NYC.
• Lynn Wipperfurth (8th grade Science Literacy) took a tour of the National Park System; after the tour students were prompted to think and write about why the System was created.
• To coincide with the 6th grade SS unit on ancient Egypt, Traci Schutt’s students participated in two center rotations: how to draw like an Egyptian and a virtual tour of ancient Egypt.

What works best

Using the VR Equipment as part of a center based activity works significantly better. Virtual Reality can be very exciting for students. While we have enough units for an entire class, having all students participate at the same time in a teacher-led tour is very chaotic. I always recommend that we find an extra activity for students to complete in a center rotation. This works at all levels (MS and HS) and students are then in smaller groups when they reach the VR rotation.