Virtual reality is the future—and it's already here! Our VR course gives students the confidence to understand the basics of virtual reality, build immersive worlds, and code interactive games. Starting with the foundations, students explore the differences between virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), design creative scenes like their dream room, and build unique avatars. As they progress, they dive into more advanced skills—animating characters, coding interactive elements, and even designing custom escape rooms.

The best part? Each student receives a personal VR headset as part of their kit and a full year of access to the CoSpaces platform. Whether it’s a week-long camp or a year-long adventure, our flexible course format can be adapted to any grade level. We offer in-person, virtual, and our signature HEART learning format, designed to maximize attendance and engagement.

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CoSpaces Edu for 3D creation and coding

Why did we choose CoSpaces Edu? Because it’s visually appealing, user-friendly, and perfect for both beginners and seasoned coders. Its simple interface lets students start creating right away, whether they’re just moving objects around or diving into CoBlocks—CoSpaces’ block-based coding system.

We love how CoSpaces simplifies project building, switching between scenes, and exploring advanced features like physics simulations. Younger students focus on creativity and game design basics, while high schoolers explore complex programming concepts like variables, conditionals, and even physics-based parkour games!

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Evolving with the students

Our VR course targets students in 2nd-12th grade with scaffolding built in to adjust to the student level. Early elementary students use an iPad-based app to begin VR exploration. Upper elementary and middle school students deepen their knowledge as they create custom avatars and design their own virtual games on the web-based platform. High school students take on advanced projects, such as coding full-scale games and interactive experiences using text-based TypeScript, the CoSpaces API programming language.

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Aligned to your standards

Our VR course is carefully curated to meet NGSS and individual state standards, integrating core educational objectives into every project. We empower our instructors with comprehensive training, focusing on lesson goals and project outcomes, so they can confidently guide students through engaging, standards-aligned content. This approach not only meets educational benchmarks, but also fosters creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.

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Subject Integration

Virtual Reality ties into all core subjects! Here are just a few examples:

Math

Students program an Animal Race to learn about 3D coordinates (XYZ) and how to move characters on a timed schedule

• California CCSS - 5.G.1: Graph points on the coordinate plane to solve real-world and mathematical problems.
• California CCSS - 8.G.1: Verify experimentally the properties of rotations, reflections, and translations.
• California CCSS - G-CO.2: Experiment with transformations in the plane.

History

One of our latest project highlights, created in partnership with Arizona PPEP High Schools, focuses on the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. Students research the history, reconstruct the city in VR, and creatively imagine how they could have helped its people further develop their society.

• AZ Academic Standards - HS.SP1: Chronological reasoning requires understanding processes of change and continuity over time, which means assessing similarities and differences between historical periods and between the past and present.
• AZ Academic Standards - HS.G2: Human-environment interactions are essential aspects of human life in all societies.
• AZ Academic Standards - HS.H1: The development of civilizations, societies, cultures, and innovations have influenced history and continue to impact the modern world.

Science

From driving simulators to Rube Goldberg machines, students explore physics concepts, such as gravity and mass, through interactive projects.

ELA

Every project integrates ELA skills, but a student favorite is the self-pride cultural diorama. Students research their backgrounds, build dioramas, and present their creations—complete with images and music—to the class.

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Project Highlights

Students use self-expression to design their dream rooms, build a cultural diorama, and bring stories to life through path movements and programmed conversations.

• Dream Room: Students explore the extensive CoSpaces library of items, images, and GIFs as they design, build, and code their rooms.
• Under the Sea: Students plan out their underwater stories as they build paths for creatures and code a treasure hunt.

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Students explore the stages of game development with a maze, an escape room, and some parkour!

• Maze Game: Students design mazes based on popular movies, such as Harry Potter and Finding Nemo, while programming guidance and obstacle characters.
• Parkour: Students consider the effects of gravity while designing challenging Parkour arenas with platforms, obstacles, and prizes.

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How do our students feel?

We love hearing from our students! Here are some of our favorite quotes:

• “Me gusto mucho las clases fueron muy entretenidas.” — 4th-grade student
• “It was one of the most fun things I have ever done. I never thought learning could be so fun.” — 6th-grade student
• “Thanks to the professors who were patient, thanks for making us want to come to college.” — 7th-grade student
• “Que este programa me ayudo mucho aprender nuevas cosas y que es muy bueno y me gusto mucho y lo recomiendo a muchas personas.” — 8th-grade student‍
• “I enjoyed this program. It really exceeded my expectations, which were low because I didn’t enjoy my experience as much in past migrant program classes. I would definitely recommend this class to others and would take it again next year if I could.” — 12th-grade student

Our VR course opens doors for students to create, code, and explore like never before. With CoSpaces, the possibilities are endless—and the future is theirs to build! It is one of many of our Game Design courses–others we offer using virtual platforms include Minecraft, Scratch, Roblox, and Unity. Are you interested in learning more about our VR or other Game Design courses? Schedule a free consultation with our Programs Director using the STEM Center USA Calendly and let's get started!