PCES virtual reality classroom featured in EdTech Magazine
By Stuart Hedstrom, Staff Writer
GUILFORD — The “Pirate Portal” 360-degree virtual reality classroom at Piscataquis Community Elementary School has been included in an EdTech Magazine article on virtual field trips.
The link is at https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2025/10/virtual-field-trips-provide-students-accessible-excursions.
The article says that VR field trips via headsets help to contextualize learning.
FROM GUILFORD TO TANZANIA — Piscataquis Community Elementary School sixth-graders talk with teachers and students at a remote village school in Tanzania in June 2023 in the Pirate Portal virtual reality classroom. The PCES students raised over $5,100 to fund windows, doors and desks/chairs for the school after being challenged to make a difference in the world.
“You could go inside a volcano to learn about volcanic activity,” PCES Principal Anita Wright said.
Several years ago sixth-graders answered Wright’s challenge to make a difference globally in the “Make a Difference Project.” The students raised $5,145 to fund seven doors, 26 windows, 26 panes of glass and 37 desks/chairs for a remote village school in the east African nation of Tanzania.
During the fundraising students were able to livestream a VR visit on the other side of the globe.
“Our students Zoomed with the students in Tanzania, and they asked questions like, ‘Would you ever want to come to see us in Tanzania?’ And of course, the students here said, ‘Yeah, we’d do that!’” Wright says. “The experience made it real for them.”
Pupils can take trips that would otherwise be impossible.
“We can’t go to New York City and just walk through the city with two teachers and 15 kids. We’re not going to be able to do that in real life, but we were able to do it with a 360 experience,” said Jennifer Watson, former SAD 4 technology director.
“These pre-K students in rural Maine had never been to a city,” Wright said.
When they first got into NYC (via VR), “that room was completely silent. The pre-K kids were like, ‘Whoa, it is busy!’” Watson said. “Then, we rewatched the video and they were super chatty: ‘Look, there’s a cop over here!’ And one of the kids was jumping up and pointing: ‘I saw McDonald’s coming up!’”