the botanical gardens in Boothbay, Maine, filled
with blooming wisteria and tall blades of grass
under “foot.”
Users can upload their work to Google Poly,
where others can discover it. She has found 3D,
immersive reproductions of Vincent Van Gogh’s
“Starry Night,” for example.
Iozzo said she feels reinvigorated by the new
technology, and gets excited when one of her
students has an “ah-ha” moment in which they
figure out how to create what they imagine.
Other teachers have brought in their classes to
use the headset. For example, for a lesson on
Shakespeare, students traveled to the Globe
Theatre using Google Earth.
“Tech is not going away,” Iozzo said, “so how are
we going to use it?”
In addition to creating a jungle in virtual reality,
the students exchanged art with students in
Guatemala, which was facilitated by Creative
Connections, an international cultural education
organization. Iozzo has partnered with
Creative Connections for years, and has visited
Guatemala, its rain forests and the school that
Creative Connections partners with. This year,
she had kids use the VR headset to help them
visualize the places the Guatemalan students
depicted and discussed.
The North Street students introduced
themselves and talked about the weather in
Spanish, then switched to English to comment
on the artwork sent by the Guatemalan
students. Miguel Barreto, the program director,
translated. In the artwork, students represented
parts of their cuisine, beliefs, artwork, heritage
and natural surroundings.
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