FVvr - Virtual Museum Created by Students!

While researching Qlone, a phone 3D scanning application, I stumbled across an amazing site.

The FVvr (Fort Vancouver Virtual Reality Museum is an initiative of the Vancouver iTech Preparatory School in Vancouver, Washington.

While I really want you to see for yourself the amazing things this school is doing to preserve and present historical artifacts that otherwise might be beyond our experience, I will share some screen captures to whet your appetite.

And remember, this was all accomplished by Middle School students!

Students as Teachers 

Click on the photo to see it in full size, or better yet, listen to Abby tell the story of this captured artifact and interactively examine the object via SketchFab.

Abby's Virtual Museum Contribution - Dog Carving

The idea of students being curators is powerful.  Teachers ALWAYS learn more than students and the way the students have created their own virtual museum demonstrates that students CAN become teachers!  In order to curate this item Abby had to dig into so many facets of this items origins and it shows in her narration

Students as Researchers

To be honest, this next example brings back a painful childhood memory.  I was about six years old and lived in Burke, Virginia which, apparently, had been the site of a Powhatan settlement at one time.  We were constantly finding arrowheads, etc.  But, for some reason, my sister and I decided to turn over a modestly large rock and to our surprise found a necklace.  On showing it to my grandfather, he said, "Throw that old thing away.  It's only an old boars tooth necklace!", which we obligingly did to our deepest regret to this very day!  And, that's the thing about historical objects.  Most things that are 'precious' day historically had to surve through a 'junk' phase to get here.

But, I am happy to say that Payton saw the value in this necklace and took the time to research its history and function for the visitors to FVvr's virtual museum.  Listen as Payton tells the story.

Payton's Virtual Museum Contribution - Beaded Necklace

It's wonderful to see how the teachers behind this project encouraged their students to dig deeper to not only find the possible history of an artifact; but, the meaning of that artifact to the original owner.  It is this kind of connection that makes history come alive.  Kudos to Payton for the work she has done to help us understand this item in its deeper context.

Students as Curators

Curating a museum display usually involves an "Archaeological Theme" grouping multiple artifacts which interact to form a deeper understanding of that theme.  While all the students involved obviously acted as curators, deciding which items to scan and how to present them, three stand out as focusing on a single activity and bringing light to the individuality of its expression in the life of the user. 

The first is from Olivia:  See Olivia's Museum Display

Olivia's Virtual Museum Contribution - Tobacco Pipe

The second is from Cristian: See Cristian's Museum Display

Cristian's Virtual Museum Contribution - Tobacco Pipe Bowl

And, the third from Robert: See Robert's Museum Display

Robert's Virtual Museum Contribution - Tobacco Pipe Bowl

As I listened and watched, I could not help but be impressed by the work that went into creating and curating these objects and how the experience of doing so will affect the lives of these young students forever.  At YouthQuest Foundation, we like to describe our educational goals as "Changing the trajectory of young lives."   I have no doubt that the trajectory of the lives of the students taking part in the Virtual Museum has been changed in profound and positive ways through this experience.

Though an entire country spans between the Vancouver iTech Preparatory in Vancouver Washington and our YouthQuest students on the east coast in Maryland, DC, Virginia and South Carolina I cannot help but, believe that all of our students can benefit with an ongoing commitment to using 3D technology in the pursuit of making history come alive.

To the teachers that created this visionary project... THANK YOU! 

In the future I plan to return to the Virtual Museum until we have examined all 112 contributions and how they can contribute to the benefit of all classrooms everywhere.

A Word on 3D Capturing 

Like FVvr, we have found that, at least at this point in time, using photogrammetry is easier and likely to produce better results than a dedicated 3D scanner.  FVvr has used a different application than we have tested (Qlone) producing excellent results.  Our experience using 3DZephyr and the Sony Experia XZ1 has been VERY positive.  I might add that NO 3D scanner that we have tested measures up to the Sony Experia for faithfully capturing the features of our black students.  And, for that, we are very grateful.  

I'm not sure that Qlone provides that benefit; but, it does seem to handle specular items very well.  So, we'll be testing Qlone with our Immersion students in the near future.

Both of our efforts have benefited by the capabilities of SketchFab.  It's a wonderful platform for viewing 3D work.  We have been able to download scans of ancient ceramic works of art and print them with our Z450 full-color printer to create our own mini-museum in the classroom,  

If you are involved in a similar project or are interested in museums in the classroom I urge you to let us know in the comment section of this blog article.