Over the summer of 2018, Trinity’s hardworking staff installed a virtual lab with the use of grant money.  The virtual lab is intended to create an interactive learning experience for students through the use of gross motor skills, while also allowing students and teachers to stray away from the traditional classroom setting.  

The virtual lab functions by the use of an overhead projector that projects onto a white mat on the floor while motion-capture cameras detect the location of the three different wands.  Although there are only three wands that can be used at once, Mr. Smith, biology teacher, noticed that the interactive nature of the lab caused the whole class to participate.

“Students who were sitting on the sides watching would help those  physically participating in the activity,” stated Smith.

The virtual lab can be used for virtually any subject in one way or another.  Teachers can schedule a period and take their students to the lab. Mrs. Welsh’s AP Physics class utilized the lab to demonstrate how to graph a position function.

Junior Brett Zimmerman expressed, “It helped me really visualize what a position graph should look like.”  

The virtual lab was also used in Ms. Shaw’s English classes.

Senior Anna Poach said, “Participating in the virtual lab was great preparation for the Beowulf test and was a fun way to review what we learned in class.”

Teachers have the opportunity to get creative; they can program their own activities to use in the virtual lab.  Smith was able to program a game about matter cycles for his Honors Biology class. This game involved sorting cards into the water, carbon and nitrogen cycles.  There are, however, already games pre-programmed that teachers can incorporate into their lessons with ease.

Smith has seen the progression of technology throughout the years, “From movie projectors to VCRs to DVDs to desktop computers, I’m sure there will be even more technological advances at Trinity in the years to come.”  

So, what new technology will be found at Trinity in the upcoming years?  Only time will tell.