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Google visits area schools

Mirror photo by Sean Sauro Central Cambria literature teacher Stephanie Reese (right) presents an augmented reality lesson to students Friday in the high school library as part of the Google Expeditions Pioneer Program.

EBENSBURG — A group of students rotated a smartphone Friday, looking through its screen at a sea creature.

They argued about whether the animal was a stingray or a manta ray as the creature moved atop a library table.

In reality, the ray did not exist, but Central Cambria students were able to study it through the use of augmented reality.

A Google employee visited the local high and middle schools Friday with the technology, after Central Cambria was selected from a pool of applicants as a pilot site for the Google Expeditions Pioneer Program.

“It’s no longer just about textbooks,” said Kenneth Krott, the district’s technology director. “They’re going to actually be able to see those things in front of them.”

Unlike virtual reality, in which a user is completely immersed in a digital world, augmented reality allows users to see digital objects in the real world.

For example, groups of students held Google phones Friday and pointed them at different locations inside the library. The library’s existing furniture and books appeared, but so did a number of digital sea creatures.

At Central Cambria Middle School, students already rely on digital text and educational videos, Principal Chris Santini said.

“This is the next step,” he said.

About 400 students rotated through a series of augmented reality lessons Friday set up in two rooms.

Science, math, history and literature were among the subjects to get the augmented reality treatment.

Three-dimensional dinosaurs were used for a lesson on ratios, and augmented dice could be used to teach probabilities, Krott said.

Literature teacher Stephanie Reese showed off World War I vehicles and tools.

“This gives them the opportunity to see the tanks and entrenchment tools,” she said, explaining the technology will help her students better visualize a setting when they read Ernest Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms” later in the year.

“Especially because there are students that have a difficult time visualizing,” Reese said.

Santini said both teachers and students were excited to have a large technology company like Google visit the district.

A Google representative at Central Cambria could not answer questions Friday.

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