58 Whenmost parents thinkofwhat they’dwish for their children’s development, the answer is probably “less screens.” Prof. Adina Shamir, founder and director of Bar-Ilan’s Laboratory for Technology in Special Education, has a surprising answer for them: She agrees. “Much of the technology in children’s lives today encourages passivity. From the computer on which they do assignments at school to the iPad on which they watch YouTube at home, the common denominator is a static screen and unchanging content, which children can’t affect, but only consume,” explains Shamir. “Yet we know that children learn best when they’re engaged, both with their learning and their surroundings. If technology can be used to facilitate that engagement, it can be a powerful thing.” Fortunately for students, Shamir speaks from experience: As part of her studies on the impact of educational technology on students with special needs, she established Israel’s first Immersive Room, a part-research lab, part-therapeutic institute for young children with language delays and their families. Directed by Shamir and run by a research staff comprising world leaders in the field, the room is a 360°-projection, multi-sensory environment that transforms the walls, floor, and even ceiling into virtual windows onto new worlds—including, perhaps most importantly, students’ inner ones, too. “When students are in the Immersive Room, they’re not only able to see and feel what it’s like to be in a certain place. They’re also in a space that sees and feels them, too,” Shamir says. “Through features like touch screens and hot spots, the roomprovides sense of synchronicity with their emotions. For students with learning disabilities, emotions are even more important to the learning experience.” Indeed, Shamir’s team of researchers has demonstrated that even just a few sessions in the Immersive Room can be enough to help children with developmental language deficiencies improve their pronunciation and sentence structure. “Along with giving immediate feedback, the room heightens their motivation to learn and holds their attention for sustained periods. The result is much more active and effective learning.” In addition, she points out, the room’s screens can support customizable content, which is targeted to children’s specific educational needs. Learning All Around The Immersive Room
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDU2MA==