Category: Education

A new avenue for teaching and learning resources is getting opened up by virtual reality (VR) in education. The foundation of virtual reality is the product of a 360-degree digital world, which offers a stimulating and immersive user experience that seems genuine.

Here, we will explore some advantages of adopting VR in school and how it may enhance education. Thus, Tech Review Advisor helps you in finding the best virtual reality for your education purpose.

What Is Virtual Reality(VR) technology?

A simulated world may be produced by computers using virtual reality (VR). Users may explore and engage with the artificially created, computer-generated world that gets created. While traditional user interfaces do not immerse the user in the experience, virtual reality does. Users may engage with the captivating 3D environment instead of merely observing it, on a screen, in front of them. Tech Review Advisor helps you in gaining more knowledge on Virtual Reality in education. The computer becomes a gatekeeper to this synthetic world by replicating as many sensations as, including vision, hearing, touch, and even smell.

Why is VR technology chosen in school education?

In education, virtual reality gets utilised to increase students’ interest in their studies. The real world we live in gets created by virtual reality. It can change how education gets delivered in the modern world. It may also employ in the military, medical field, security industry, anti-terrorism field, forecasting weather, etc.

What makes VR effective in education?

The usage of virtual reality can improve learning and engagement among students. The idea behind virtual reality (VR) education gets to create a virtual environment, whether real or made up, and let users view and engage with it. It can completely change the way that educational information gets given.

Visual learning helps you be more driven to comprehend what you are studying when you are engaged in it. Processing the information will be less mentally taxing.

Here are a few characteristics that make virtual reality in teaching so effective.

Enhances understanding

Students might have trouble understanding complex ideas that benefit from VR in the classroom.

For instance, biology students may observe brain structures and neurons from various angles using VR headsets and instructional apps. A form may get rotated to get seen from several perspectives, even from the inside.

Virtual reality (VR) may liven up the classroom and provide pupils with real-world experiences that aid in developing new understandings.

Students can better understand complex ideas when they can picture them.

VR makes it easier to demonstrate practical abilities

Although it is common knowledge that individuals learn best by doing, current schooling shows how little learning occurs by doing. Students are more concerned with reading instructions than really putting them into practice.

VR in education gives the lessons an experiential anchor. Learning with VR inspires students to make their discoveries.

Instead of just passively reading, students may learn by doing.

Virtual field trips

Through the creation of a completely immersive sense of time and location, virtual reality (VR) may be utilised to interest pupils in historical and geographical issues.

Consider taking a student to the Great Wall of China. Virtual reality in education can make it possible even when no school funding could physically support these excursions.

More educational than simply reading about history or geography is providing an immersive sense of place and time. Virtual reality panoramas get used on every excursion, which ranges from visits to historical sites to Mars. Additionally, locations that are inaccessible in person can get visited by people from all over the world.

Naturally, virtual reality will never be able to take the place of actual travel and excursion experiences. But VR makes experiences conceivable that wouldn’t otherwise be possible.

Scalable VR training

Institutions require consistent investment in training tools for their students, such as science lab equipment, medical equipment, etc.

Budgets are tight, and all this equipment needs to be maintained and upgraded.

By merely investing in the software and a reasonably priced VR box or VR headset, teachers may grow their operations at a far cheaper cost.

Students who use virtual reality can also learn valuable skills. The ability to learn from real-world situations is one of the massive advantages of this style of instruction.

Because they happen in a secure and regulated virtual world, the effects of mistakes made by pupils during VR instruction are low.

Additionally, VR enables students to experiment with topics they wouldn’t have access to in a classroom.

Conclusion:

Without a doubt, virtual reality in education will result in a beneficial change in the efficiency of information transfer.

Additionally, VR may get used in more modern technology in the classroom and assist students in creating a better future for themselves and those around them.

With the advent of VR technology, schools will get equipped with cutting-edge equipment that will improve student engagement and learning.

Over the next several years, it is anticipated that virtual reality in education will become more prevalent.

Read About More Cutting Edge Tech Being Used in Schools

Why schools should invest in 3d scanners for their students.

Halloween, a contraction of All Hallows’ Eve, is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31 every year. This popular festival dates back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. But now it’s observed all over the world. Halloween activities include parties, carving jack-o-lanterns, donning costumes and spooky treats.

Children wearing costumes go house to house after dark, calling out at each door “trick or treat”! Then people give them ‘treats’ like candy or gifts.  Among the fun facts, you may be wondering about the history of Halloween and how it pops into the culture through the ages.

Let’s reveal the facts of origin of Halloween.

Religious origin

Halloween is believed to be tracked by the dogma and practices of Christianity. The root word of Halloween derives from All Hallows’ Eve which is the commingled Scottish word of “All Hallows” meaning “to make holy” and “Even,” or “E’en,” meaning evening.

Thus Halloween (31^st October) means the evening before All Saints Day on November 1, and the two days earlier All Souls Day on November 2. These three days are called Allhallowtide together.

At this triple-day festival, Western Christians like the Roman Catholic and a large number of Protestant denominations of Christianity commemorate the saints as well as pray for the recently departed souls and martyrs.

Halloween is basically preparing themselves for All Saints Day on the evening of October 31 on Halloween with prayer vigils with other honorary events. After harvest, when there is plentiful food, the Halloween festival becomes more celebratory too.

On the other hand, Historians say that Halloween or Hallowe’en originated from Celt culture as early as AD 270. But my opinion is today’s Halloween has both Celt and Christian influences. To understand the fact read out the history.

Celtic Tradition

The Celts lived almost 2000 years ago in different locations of the world that now lie in the United Kingdom, northern France, and Ireland mostly. Ancient Celts of Ireland arranged the annual feast of ‘Samhain’ a special costume party on 31^st October.

They believed that between summer and winter, there is a boundary night when the limit between the living people and the dead is blurred. They also thought that the deceased ghosts came back to the earth on October 31, which was the last day of the year as Celts observed November 1 as their new year.

A fallacy is that evil spirits are released on 31^st October in the world to attract the festival and ‘eve’ returns to ward off the demons. Thus, people wore costumes on Halloween to disguise themselves so evil spirits can’t harm them.

According to Christian history of Halloween, a group of missionaries came to the Celt in England and Ireland. After hearing Gospel, most people of Celt accepted Christianity. After that Celt added Gospel with the All Hallows Eve festival.

According to a study by National Geographic Channel, Catholic churches were influenced by Celts Samhain. Thus, the Vatican sanctioned November 1 as a holiday and designated the day as All Saints Day to honor martyrs (saints) and departed souls.

And afterward, October 31 and November 2 were announced as All Hallows’ Eve (Halloween) and All Souls Day respectively. Generations passed by and Halloween transformed into today’s rituals.

How the rituals of Halloween are changing over the years?

Celtic celebrated the festival of Samhain on October 31 where they lit bonfires and dressed in costumes. They did it so that ghosts can’t recognize and harm them. But how did it come into America?

The rituals of Halloween were brought to the United States by some Irish immigrants in the 1840s for fleeing a potato famine. Thus, it got popularity first among the farm communities. They gathered together at the season’s end and used different natural elements as costumes.

Let’s talk about some Halloween rituals that are changing rapidly.

Pranks leading the way

In the last centuries, there were lots of pranks integrated with Halloween. Stealing garden gates and throwing cabbages are the two most popular among them. But now the style of Halloween pranks is changed. Hanging toilet paper in tree branches or egging houses are now popular.

Halloween parties are gaining popularity

Between the 1930s to 1950s, most Halloween parties were held at homes rather than parties in downtown centers. But now Halloween parties are very common even in school classrooms.   Celebrations have especially increased due to the involvement of mass people.

Store-bought treats are replaced by homemade food

What children expect now in trick-or-treating, is candy, right? But before the 1970s, children get nuts, fruits, popcorn, ball, or money. In the past, parents and senior citizens were very much concerned about children’s health.

Halloween Costumes

Halloween costumes are changing every year. According to the National Retail Foundation report of 2019, superheroes were the most popular children’s costumes for Halloween over princesses.

But this changed in 2021, Foundation was the most desired children’s costume to be superman, whereas princess and witch positioned runners up and third place respectively. Fake blood is now also a trending costume option.

Rise of Halloween TV specials and Halloween-themed parks

To spread Halloween popularity, most TV broadcasts Halloween-themed special programs. “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” launched in 1966 and that was a beginning of a trend. Afterward, as a continuation of the “Halloweentown”, “The Simpsons”, and “Hocus Pocus” were developed.

On the other hand, seasonal theme parks decorate the parks with Halloween themes and arrange special attractions and facilities during this time to attract people.

Halloween Games:  Play the Google Doodle Halloween game.

Where is Halloween celebrated?

Nowadays, Halloween is celebrated around the world but it’s most popular in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom. In some countries, it’s gaining popularity such as Australia, Belgium, Greece, France, New Zealand, Italy, Singapore, Japan, South Kore, Malaysia, and many more.

And Halloween is observed alongside traditional holidays in many other countries like Brazil, Germany, Ireland (alongside Samhain), Philippines, Columbia, China, Netherlands, and so on.

Summary

Halloween originated from the Celt Samhain festival. Celts celebrated the event in the memorial of their dead relatives and to thanksgiving between the end of summer and the long dark winter. Influenced by Celts, Halloween is observed on 31 October every year around the world either as a religious or non-religious event.

DevOps is both a culture and a way of working in which software developers and IT operations engineers collaborate within a single team to achieve a predetermined goal.  In older methods of developing software, software development and software operations were clearly separated.

The programmers were only marginally involved in the operation of the software they had developed, and they knew very little about its location or usage. In the meantime, those in charge of operations (known as sysadmins) had a limited understanding of what the software did and how it was developed, and they had to pray that it worked as intended.

You can become a DevOps Engineer regardless of your prior experience as a Developer, Operations professional, Quality Assurance specialist, or if you are a beginner. After the application’s code has been developed, a DevOps engineer is able to write code for it; however, they are also responsible for the application’s continuous automated build, deployment, and operations.

They collaborate with the business leaders and manage the workflow in its entirety to ensure the successful integration of the software with the automated processes. The best and fastest way to get into devops is to enroll in a devops engineer course and learn all the skills required.

Let us try to break down the skillset and aspects that are essential for being a successful devops engineer.

Skills required for a career as a successful DevOps engineer

Certain skills are required to become a DevOps engineer and are therefore considered prerequisites. You do not need to possess all of these abilities immediately; rather, you can acquire some of them through experience. Don’t let the lengthy list overwhelm you. You can begin with one or two of the following, as appropriate:

Expertise in Computer Programming

For DevOps engineer positions, the level of competition and peer pressure is always high; therefore, if you want to advance in your career, you will need to exceed expectations. Being able to code in multiple languages, such as Python, Java, Ruby, or a similar language, can put you in a better position than working in a network or information technology alone. If necessary, you will be able to debug sections of code and resolve build and deployment errors, which will prevent the software development lifecycle from cycling back and forth between development and deployment, thereby saving time and resources.

Understanding of Network and Storage Systems

Because DevOps professionals manage a large number of servers, connections, data, and storage, they should be able to handle any network issues that may arise. This implies that they should be familiar with IT network and storage concepts. Working with real-time systems requires familiarity with various protocols, application programming interfaces (APIs), and capacity decisions to support the required infrastructure.

Because of this, a network engineer with prior experience in server maintenance can easily transition into a DevOps engineer position with minimal additional training. Prioritize the acquisition of scripting skills and familiarity with a variety of configuration and deployment tools. Familiarize yourself with Linux, OpenStack, and a public cloud service such as Azure or AWS in order to prepare. Continuous integration utilizing tools such as Jenkins and Kubernetes is yet another topic on which you should focus your long-term education.

Infrastructure Management and Regulatory Compliance

For newly developed systems, the DevOps workflow is available. However, legacy systems require attention and should be quickly integrated into the DevOps world. These systems must be configured to be compliant, secure, scalable, and well-balanced. Additionally, they should have adequate backups. All of this should occur without disrupting any of the currently operating businesses. In a nutshell, it is necessary to automate the activities that were previously performed manually.

Mechanisms of Mechanization

Puppet, Kubernetes, and Jenkins are three of the many available DevOps automation tools, but Puppet, Kubernetes, and Jenkins are the most popular. Ultimately, the DevOps process aims to automate as much of its work as possible. Starting with the generation of code, every single task must be automated, including building, testing, and deployment. In addition, monitoring and post-production testing were automated, enabling continuous integration and expediting the production of results.

Security

To ensure the overall security of a DevOps environment, specific practices must be developed using a wide range of policies, strategies, and methods. The development, testing, build, deployment, and monitoring phases of the DevOps life cycle cannot be completed without security. There are risks associated with each successive phase. For example, the vast majority of deployments are conducted in a cloud environment; therefore, cloud security concerns must be addressed. Similarly, containers and the tools used to manage them, such as Docker, Kubernetes, etc., have their own vulnerabilities.

To address these security challenges in a cloud environment, it’s crucial that DevOps teams prioritize security at every stage of the development lifecycle. By adopting shift left security practices, teams can identify vulnerabilities earlier, reducing risks and improving overall software quality. This involves integrating security measures from the earliest phases of design throughout testing and deployment.

Virtualization and Cloud Computing

Virtualization refers to the execution of a virtual instance of a computer system in a layer that is separate from and abstracted from the actual hardware. Due to virtualization’s ability to partition a large system into several smaller ones, a server can be utilized by a greater number of users or applications with varying requirements.

In light of this, virtualization is an essential component of DevOps. Imagine we have the ability to virtualize the hardware and duplicate the existing network. This will facilitate collaboration and coordination between the development and operations (IT) teams. In addition, a simplified testing interface will be made available.

Testing

If you are familiar with agile methodologies, you are aware that their development process follows a pattern of incremental and iterative development. Software development includes both testing and development. DevOps represents a natural progression. In addition to testing the functionality of a product, testers are responsible for testing its operations, performance, and security, as well as the analysis of data and logs.

Competence in Speaking and Hearing

Finally, but by no means least, a successful DevOps engineer Chicago must have excellent communication skills. Due to his role as a mediator between the IT team and the development team, he is responsible for ensuring that both teams collaborate effectively. In addition, as a DevOps engineer, you will always be part of a large team, which will provide ample opportunities for interaction and discussion. Effective communication requires not only saying the right things at the right times but also in the right order. You can compete for any job if you possess this skill, not just the position of DevOps engineer.

You can nurture your child’s love of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) by offering various activities, programs and schools for them to learn from. Related fields are on track to dominate in the future, and helping your kids develop their interests can set them up for success.

Many resources are available to help nurture your child’s love of STEM projects and encourage their interest in related fields. Here are some of them, as well as some fun activities you can do together.

Make Learning Fun

Children are curious by nature — they always have questions. Foster their curiosity by creating opportunities for them to have fun and learn simultaneously. Kids have different learning styles, but enjoyment appeals to everyone. Making things interesting can help them develop a relationship with education they can carry throughout their lives.

A love for knowledge can change your child’s life and instill a sense of purpose and direction for their path into adulthood. There are many ways that you can make learning fun for kids. Use your imagination and create games that help teach your child, like making a sandbox out of a pencil holder for them to trace sight words into the sand.

Another fun idea is to make a color sorter with pipe cleaners and a potato chip can. Teach your kids about shapes with blocks, and then let them build their own with Popsicle sticks. Incorporate STEM projects into the mix with dominoes to help them learn math and any other ideas you can think of to help your child connect to real-world situations in a fun and creative way.

Nurture Soft Skills

Nurture your child’s soft skills like problem-solving and teamwork to prepare them for STEM work. These can boost a child’s intelligence and prepare kids to learn more hard knowledge. Soft and hard skills are necessary for the future generation to succeed.

Developing soft skills can help children perform better academically. You can encourage your child to learn and practice in situations in their daily lives, like when they play outdoors and decompress after a long day at school. Putting puzzles together frequently can help children build their problem-solving skills.

Identify your child’s strengths and weaknesses so you can prioritize which skills to focus on developing. Pay attention to their interests and what they like to do. Teach them things they won’t learn in school, like manners, empathy and self-control. These soft skills and effective communication can equip your child with a solid foundation to build upon.

Explore Opportunities

Explain the necessity of STEM to your child and how they can benefit from it. They may not have adequate exposure to the opportunities in these fields of study without your guidance.

The future for STEM skills is promising, so if your child is interested, foster their education and growth in these subjects as much as possible. Guide to finding a hobby that involved STEM skills.  Take them to museums and enroll them in programs encouraging STEM education that can inspire your child to grow and explore avenues that best suit them.

STEM Project Ideas

Finding STEM projects that apply to all ages can be challenging. Here are some activities children can enjoy from an early age. Experiencing and observing them rather than listening to an explanation can nurture children’s love for them.

Cloud in a Jar

You can tailor this activity to younger or older kids. Teach older ones about the connection between the project and the clouds in the sky. Younger children will likely just enjoy the experiment.

Pour some hot water into a jar and place the lid upside down on top. Put some ice cubes on the lid, leave them for about 20 seconds and then spray some hairspray inside the jar. Replace the cover with the ice still on top and watch a cloud form and appear inside the jar. Remove the lid and watch the water vapor escape into the air.

Crystal Sun Catchers

Use hot water and Epsom salt to create crystals. Stir equal amounts of hot water and salt for about two minutes in a glass jar. Pour the mixture into clear plastic lids and place them in the sun to dry. Ensure you don’t overfill the caps by pouring off excess liquid.

Allow them to dry and crystallize for a few hours to a day. Carefully poke a hole in the lids to put a string through and then hang up wherever you like. The crystals will sparkle in the sunlight. These are very fragile suncatchers and only last for a limited time. They are a fun learning experience for kids, but you should handle them carefully and make extras if they break while hanging them up.

Foster Your Child’s Love of STEM Projects

STEM industries are in high demand, so the need for workers is also growing. Nurturing your child’s love for STEM projects will set them on the road to success by fostering their ambitions and possibly securing their future.

About the Author
Ava Roman (she/her) is the Managing Editor of Revivalist, a women’s lifestyle magazine that empowers women to live their most authentic life. When Ava is not writing you’ll find her in a yoga class, advocating for her children or whipping up something delicious in the kitchen!