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STEM

Inspirit Launches Affordable XR STEM Education Platform for Middle and High School Students

Inspirit introduces its Innovative Learning Hub featuring cost-effective XR STEM education and the latest tech advancements.

XR STEM education has taken a leap forward with the official launch of Inspirit’s Innovative Learning Hub. The digital platform provides educators with affordable access to a premium library of virtual reality and augmented reality experiences designed specifically for middle and high school students. Focusing on enhancing learning outcomes and increasing engagement, Inspirit is revolutionizing the way STEM subjects are taught worldwide.

Breaking Down Barriers With Immersive Learning

Inspirit is a research-driven EdTech startup that pioneers immersive XR experiences for STEM education. The company’s Innovative Learning Hub stands as the premier choice for immersive XR STEM education, encompassing diverse subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and vocational training.

Through XR experiences, Inspirit’s platform provides students with experiential learning opportunities. By engaging in simulations and exploring 3D models, students gain a deeper understanding of complex STEM concepts.

The advantages of VR education have long been embraced by both teachers and students, who have found immense value in its experiential approach. But with Inspirit’s XR expertise and easy-to-use technology, the platform bridges the gap between theoretical concepts and real-world applications, providing students with a deeper understanding and fostering engagement.

Renowned for its commitment to rigorous research, Inspirit collaborates with Stanford University researchers to unlock the full potential of XR learning. The result is a unified platform that seamlessly integrates into schools, improving learning outcomes and providing teachers with an intuitive system to embed into their curriculum.

Experts in the field, like Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab and professor of education, recognize the impact of Inspirit’s approach, emphasizing the importance of teacher professional development and curriculum alignment for successful integration and long-term usage in the classroom.

“Inspirit is unique in that it is led by a VR pioneer who puts ‘education first’, with a huge amount of experience in the world of STEM,” said Bailenson, in a press release shared with ARPost.

Unparalleled Access to Immersive XR Content

The Innovative Learning Hub boasts a comprehensive library of age-appropriate XR experiences that align with educational standards. From engaging simulations to interactive lessons, students have the opportunity to explore and study complex concepts, making learning tangible and enjoyable. This cutting-edge content ensures that students receive the highest-quality educational experiences.

Cross-Platform Compatibility for Seamless Learning

Flexibility is a key advantage of Inspirit’s Innovative Learning Hub. Students can access the library of XR content from various devices, including laptops, Chromebooks, and most VR headsets designed for educational use.

This compatibility maximizes schools’ existing hardware investments while expanding learning capabilities. By eliminating the need for costly subscriptions and one-off purchases, Inspirit promotes inclusivity and accessibility, allowing all students to benefit from a comprehensive STEM curriculum.

XR STEM Education: Inspiring Students and Shaping Futures

As a firm believer in the transformative power of immersive technology, Aditya Vishwanath, co-founder and CEO of Inspirit, actively champions its potential for revolutionizing XR STEM education.

The Innovative Learning Hub serves as a platform that grants middle and high school students the opportunity to engage with exceptional XR content. “Our research-based methodology ensures all middle and high school students have an opportunity to access top-notch XR content that enhances their learning experience, prepares them for the future, and inspires them to pursue their dreams,” said Vishwanath.

Quelle:

Inspirit Launches Affordable XR STEM Education Platform for Middle and High School Students

4. Juli 2023 0 comment

Examples

T-Mobile, Prisms VR Extend Immersive STEM Learning Opportunities

Partners to leverage 5G and VR Headset to expand XR education to 11 Michigan school districts

This Monday, immersive education solutions provider PrismsVR announced a partnership with T-Mobile and Lenawee Intermediary School District (LISD) to distribute its application across 11 Michigan school districts by leveraging 5G networking.

The move will give each chosen rural education institution Meta Quest Headsets equipped with PrismsVR software and 5G integration. The partnership will secure the 11 districts with immersive education tools and the infrastructure to support it. Generally, the program assists schools utilising poor and unreliable network connections hindering the ability of students to connect with emerging education solutions.

According to T-Mobile, over 19 million US citizens have limited internet access, creating a barrier between students and up-to-date learning opportunities; the partnership with PrismsVR and LISD is looking to solve this challenge – empowering students with 5G connectivity.

John Saw, EVP of Advanced & Emerging Technologies, T-Mobile, added:

From major cities to small town America, our 5G network is inspiring and creating opportunities for students to connect with the world around them like never before. Our work with Prisms VR is just another example of our goal to bring 5G innovation to everyone.

The firm notes that while many schools have access to an internet connection. A rural school may not have the connectivity infrastructure to handle numerous internet-intensive devices or applications simultaneously – like VR headsets.

T-Mobile’s 5G network system overcomes outdated internet infrastructures, providing improved resource and time considerations.

Anurupa Ganguly, the CEO and Founder of Prisms VR noted that the firm’s goal is to make math/STEM learning opportunities relevant. Moreover, the CEO explains that PrismsVR connects users to a “world that students want to live in.”

She also added:

VR powered by T-Mobile 5G allows us to democratize access to visceral experiences that empower students to build connections with current and compelling problems and abstract up to math models & equations from there, rather than memorizing procedures in a sterile vacuum. With recent advances in spatial computing, we finally have the opportunity to teach STEM disciplines how they should be taught: through one’s own life experiences.

PrismsVR Launches, from eLearning to Consumer Solution

Since 2021, PrismsVR has been working on expanding its immersive STEM learning solutions as both a dedicated school and consumer XR service. At the same time, as PrismsVR scaled its application, as its eventual partner, T-Mobile, also focused squarely on scaling 5G-ready XR solutions.

In October 2021, PrimsVR gained traction, securing roughly $3 million in a bid to expand an early version of its STEM learning software. PrismsVR secured capital from a phase one funding period worth $250,000 and a phase two grant worth $1.2 million.

Among its various 2021 funders, T-Mobile gave the firm $175,000 in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) support while supporting PrismsVR in deploying its solution by supplying ten Title I schools with VR headsets.

Moreover, in early 2022 PrismsVR expanded its solution across Oklahoma District Schools. The move secured roughly 47 school districts across 13 states with PrismsVR software at the time, with further international pilots.

At the time, the CEO said:

Since our founding, it has been important that people do not see our product as a purely coastal or high tax state solution. That’s not what we’re about. [At Prisms], our goal is to make math exciting and accessible to all students.

PrismsVR also works closely with immersive service administration service ManageXR to streamline its application distribution for education staff members. In 2022, the firm leveraged the ManageXR onboarding service to scale its STEM learning platform to schools in 60 areas, distributing the service across roughly 5,000 Pico and Meta Quest devices for selected institutions.

Moreover, in 2023, PrismsVR continued its application distribution expansion by securing $12.5 million in funding to support a consumer launch model.

Prisms launched its immersive learning service as an application on Meta Quest’s digital storefront for VR/MR applications.

Meta Quest and Pro users can now access the service. The application is available for a seven-day trial from Prisms or $24 as an annual subscription.

T-Mobile, PrismsVR Continued Shared Expansion Goals

PrismsVR joined T-Mobile in its emerging technology expansion goals in 2021 when the firm first became a T-Mobile Accelerator Program member.

In November 2021, T-Mobile and Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon Spaces XR Developer Platform, which aimed to accelerate and refine the production cycle of consumer and enterprise-level immersive applications.

As part of the developer platform, T-Mobile ran an accelerator program scaling eight immersive industry start-ups via essential resources and feedback from T-Mobile IT engineers and business leaders – one of the chosen start-ups was PrismsVR.

At the time, Ganguly explained in an exclusive comment that scaling 5G-ready XR provides “strong partnerships between content platforms, hardware providers, and network operators”, which helps K-12 institutions adopt immersive learning goals.

The CEO also noted:

Without T-Mobile’s support to forge critical relationships and set up early-adopting schools with next generation infrastructure, our launch across schools [during the COVID-19 pandemic], which required radical math learning tools the most, would have been impossible.

Additionally, in 2022 before T-Mobile concluded its programme, the firm added three other start-ups to its accelerator ambitions.

Quelle:

T-Mobile, Prisms VR Extend Immersive STEM Learning Opportunities

12. April 2023 0 comment

Examples

Passive vs Active Learning: The Cadaver Conundrum

Picture this: you are enrolled in an anatomy course, either because you love science or because you had to fill a prerequisite. There are three ways in which you can learn the courseinformation: 1) in the real world, you travel to a cadaver lab as a class, and engage with a dead human being, 2) you listen to a lecture as you look at pictures in a book/computer or watch a video, or 3) you enter into a virtual reality cadaver lab from the comfort of your hometo join your teacher and classmates as you pull organs from a simulated human body, pass them around, and expand them so large that you can step in and examine the arteries, ventricles, cavities, and more.

Two of these three are examples of active learning (1 & 3), with the second one being an example of passive learning. All three are used globally in education, but which is the best way to learn? While some people may say ‘it depends,’ the reality is that in most cases, there is one clear winner. Let’s take a look at the data.

The American school system, like most schools around the world, has a major issue with its STEM (Science-Technology-Education-Math) education. A recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 52 percent of adults believe the main reason that young people do not pursue STEM undergraduate degrees is because these subjects are too difficult. Less than 40 percent of college students in the US who enter their undergraduate degree with an interest in STEM end up completing a STEM degree, with that number shrinking to 20 percent among students from underrepresented backgrounds. Clearly, some barrier exists between the amount of young people interested in STEM fields and their success in obtaining a degree. These disappointing statistics raise an important question: How can we encourage better academic performance and foster greater interest in STEM courses among young people? The solution lies with active learning.

Many STEM-related courses still employ what are known as “passive learning” techniques. Gabby Unangst, a writer for ASU Prep Digital, defines passive learning as traditional teaching methods, such as lectures, in which students “receive information from the instructor and internalize it.” Schools have used passive learning techniques to instruct students for hundreds of years, with lectures remaining standard today. However, lectures have many disadvantages, including rapid loss of student attention and limited application of the material to real-world situations.

In recent years, researchers have found scientific evidence to support the point that passive learning is often ineffective. According to a 2014 article from Science.org, students are 1.5 times more likely to fail in a class using passive learning as opposed to one using active learning. Additionally, students who participated in active learning scored six percent higher on exams than those who participated in passive learning. These statistics show that active learning can help students perform better academically and that incorporating it into teaching may help people succeed in various fields, like STEM, that are commonly perceivedas too difficult for the vast majority of students.

So, what does “active learning” actually mean? Scientist Scott Freeman defines active learning as teaching that “engages students in the process of learning through activities and/or discussion in class, as opposed to passively listening to an expert.” Active learning promotes higher content retention levels, engages students more fully, and provides more context to the information being taught than passive learning does. Various active learning techniques include asking questions to students, cold-calling individuals, inciting group discussions, or using interactive technology, like virtual reality headsets. These active learning methods enable students to receive immediate feedback from their teacher and peers, thus allowing the teacher to alter their methods of instruction to best suit their students. By applying these active teaching methods to STEM classes, the US will be able to improve its science and math proficiency and increase student achievement. For these reasons, active learning is the key to unleashing student potential and promoting the future of STEM education.

Even in non-STEM courses like literature, active learning can work wonders. Take the classic American novel To Kill a Mockingbird. While active learning cannot replace the experience of students reading the book and enjoying the pleasure of page turning (even if it’s digitally),immersive virtual reality can help students better understand the book’s concepts. VictoryXR built the courtroom from the book (and movie) for this express purpose. As you may recall, inthe 1930s, White citizens sat on the ground floor, while Black citizens were required to sit in the balcony. In virtual reality, students can better understand what it was like to be separatedby race. Even more, some students can sit in the jury box and the Judge’s seat as well as at the attorney’s tables. A discussion or re-enactment of this scene brings the book to life and leads to greater empathy for issues of race in 1930’s America.

There are many VR companies creating content to better engage with learning. VictoryXR creates educational content in virtual reality that enables students to harness the benefits of active learning experiences. Immersive virtual reality experiences range from fully-developed‘metaversities’ to 360-degree field trips. They facilitate engaging, interactive learning that students of all ages can access and enjoy.

Quelle:

https://www.university.co.uk/post/passive-vs-active-learning-the-cadaver-conundrum

17. November 2022 0 comment

Examples

ManageXR, Prisms to Scale Immersive STEM Learning

Prisms of Reality launches its immersive learning platform across thousands of Pico and Meta Quest VR headsets

This Tuesday, extended reality (XR) device administration service ManageXR partnered with immersive learning solution Prisms of Reality to scale virtual reality (VR)-based science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.

With help from the ManageXR onboarding service, Prisms is scaling its STEM learning platform to schools in 60 areas, distributing its solution across roughly 5,000 Pico and Meta Quest devices for selected institutions.

The alliance significantly streamlines the deployment and onboarding of Prisms’ STEM learning experiences. ManageXR allows young students to get hands-on VR learning with minimal setup barriers, an essential consideration for scaling immersive education tools, according to Anurupa Ganguly, Founder and CEO of Prisms Of Reality.

He also added,

“Education technologists need to understand that every minute lost to troubleshooting technical difficulties is a minute stolen from a student’s learning time. We take this responsibility very seriously at Prisms, and it was clear that ManageXR was the best MDM to ensure a seamless experience for our students and teachers”

Additionally, Prisms is utilising the ManageXR application and Device Setup tools to sustain various VR headsets and create a custom home environment for students to navigate their learning options.

ManageXR also includes tools to reduce troubleshooting times with its web console, streamlined onboarding processes with an application patching system, and a forum for device performance analytics. Prisms also use the ManageXR ecosystem to distribute application, firmware, and hardware updates.

More on ManageXR

In December 2021, ManageXR secured $4 million USD in a funding round to expand enterprise coverage leading into 2022.

Luke Wilson, Founder and CEO of ManageXR, explained at the time that his firm required funding to answer the demand for VR devices at a large scale – also saying that there is a “growing trend in companies delivering XR to their employees at a very large scale.”

The platform helps companies to deploy virtual, augmented, and mixed reality (AR/VR/MR) devices and software across a dispersed workforce.

The solution entered general availability in April last year, following a testing phase, readying the solution for businesses exploring industry 4.0, digital transformation and immersive tools in the wake of the hybrid working boom.

Quelle:

ManageXR, Prisms to Scale Immersive STEM Learning

16. August 2022 0 comment

Examples

Indian Schools to Adopt XR STEM Learning

Chennai education institutions are set to gain Metaverse learning tools from Meynikara

This Monday, the Indian School Education Department, in collaboration with augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) startup Meynikara, is launching a series of immersive learning courses at five regional government-backed schools.

The partnership provides three governmental and two corporation schools, in the Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni Assembly constituency, with “Meta Kalvi”, an immersive learning lab that enables Metaverse-based science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education.

Meta Kalvi provides affiliated schools with real-time 3D environments where teachers and students can collaborate and learn. The labs also aim to improve the way students participate in learning theoretical concepts by allowing them to interact with immersive visualizations.

According to Ganesh Ram, the Director of Meynikara, the learning platform increases student attention spans and engagement. He added that VR helps boost education to “the next level” and makes the experience “fun and engaging for students.”

Participating students sign into a Meta Kalvi environment with a secure login ID. Additionally, students and teachers can track performances with leaderboards. The solution also enables teachers to conduct exams, hand out assignments, and assess students.

R. Raguraman, the Founder of Meynikara, added,

“At present, we have maths and science lessons in English and Tamil that students can experience through VR and we are building up a library for other subjects as well”

The founder also explained how the Meta Kalvi service comprises 12 VR headsets, with an accompanying timetable to host students digitally.

The Rise of Immersive STEM Learning

Meynikara introduced its solution with an event hosted on its Metaverse, and School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi and others appeared digitally to celebrate the debut.

The Minister expressed interest in promoting the STEM learning platform across more regional schools. VR technology is also helping to transform international classrooms with powerful visualizations.

Prisms of Reality has also begun distributing its STEM learning platform across the US, providing students with a digital environment where they can interact with learning visualizations.

Other STEM-related immersive education tools are seeing great success. In April, GigXR and Cambridge University Health Partners teamed up to provide healthcare students with an immersive SaaS to enable repeatable training scenarios.

Additionally, firms such as Seaberry are providing AR-powered welding courses, and the XR Association recently launched its Education Working Group designed to enhance global immersive learning opportunities.

Quelle:

Indian Schools to Adopt XR STEM Learning

15. Juli 2022 0 comment

Examples

Prisms of Reality Debuts at Oklahoma District Schools

The firm’s CEO tells XR Today how it plans to expand nationally to enhance STEM learning

Last week, Prisms of Reality, an immersive eLearning platform, announced that it is deploying its innovative virtual reality (VR) solution across Oklahoma state school districts.

The San Francisco, California-based firm is redefining science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning for the modern classroom with an assistive VR teaching tool that aids students learning algebra, using intuitive visualizations displayed within an immersive VR environment.

Anurupa Ganguly, Founder and CEO of Prisms Of Reality, spoke to XR Today about the recent deployment.

XR Today: How do you feel about Prisms of Reality becoming adopted by Oklahoma district teachers and students?

Anurupa Ganguly: We are overjoyed to be part of the innovative work happening in Oklahoma school districts!

Since our founding, it has been important that people do not see our product as a purely coastal or high tax state solution. That’s not what we’re about. [At Prisms], our goal is to make math exciting and accessible to all students, and we are honoured to be in districts in the Sooner State.

XR Today: What challenges did you face onboarding staff and students, and what feedback did your team receive?

Anurupa Ganguly: It was definitely challenging deploying new hardware remotely and making sure teachers, students, and technology teams were comfortable with the equipment, although, at the same time, we were figuring everything out ourselves.

With six full months in schools under our belts, though, we’ve worked things out to a science and our school implementations run much more smoothly.From the start, we’ve emphasized this whole year as a “co-design” year, and our pilot district partners have taken their roles in that seriously. We’ve received tons of feedback on our implementation processes and our product itself, and we’ve responded to these ideas as quickly as possible.

XR Today: Does Prisms of Reality plan to introduce its immersive teaching tools to other US states or even abroad?

Anurupa: Yes! We are already in 47 school districts across 13 states, and we did a pilot with Paradis International College in Romania, too. While our primary focus remains the US market at this junction, we look forward to opportunities to grow our footprint beyond our borders and serve students from around the world.Learn more about how Prisms innovates and redefines STEM learning by watching our interview with Anurupa.

Quelle:

Prisms of Reality Debuts at Oklahoma District Schools

21. März 2022 0 comment

Examples

DPVR announces collaboration with Veative to provide Virtual Reality educational solutions to STEM students

DPVR, a Shanghai based company that specialises in virtual reality (VR) device design and manufacturing, has this week announced that it is collaborating with Veative, a provider of immersive learning solutions, to provide professional VR solutions for education that will aid students studying STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

Veative provides a device-agnostic online VR educational platform consisting of a library of interactive, curriculum-aligned augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) modules for STEM, english language learning and virtual tours. The company is also able to offer different lessons for students of different ages, allowing for varying levels of study difficulty. The platform offers over 600 online STEM lessons to its customers in more than 20 countries around the world, according to DPVR.

As part of their collaboration, the two companies have jointly launched a branded DPVR headset, labelled the ‘EduPro’, which is essentially a modified version of DPVR’s P1 Pro device.

Commenting on the EduPro, Dave Dolan, Chief Product Officer at Veative said: “DPVR’s P1 Pro headset was 90% ready for the education market, but the company was willing to work with us on the last 10% in order to make the device more suitable for our needs. Based on feedback we provided, DPVR made revisions to the head strap, liner, OS, and more, and the finished device became the EduPro.”

The EduPro VR headset for Veative comes pre-installed with a professional education OS and 100+ hours of offline courses, allowing students to learn using VR even in areas with poor network connectivity. Students are able to interact with course content using either a touchpad or controller for the headset, and customers are also given the option of either 32/64/128 GB memory for increased on-device content storage.

*Students using Veative’s immersive learning platform.*

As far as educational content goes, Veative divides each lesson into three stages. The first stage is the learning stage, wherein students can view multimedia educational content. The second stage is the practice stage where students are able to interact with content in VR. Finally, the third stage is a test stage, which then enables teachers to view students’ test results for each class on a computer in order to better understand the level at which students are learning and retaining information.

Derek Liu, Vice President at DPVR, said: “I am continually amazed at the new ideas Veative comes up with to apply virtual reality technology to a range of different applications.” Liu added that DPVR helps to brand its hardware with the Veative logo (or any company logo for that matter), allowing businesses to present a completely branded solution to their clients.

For more information on DPVR and its virtual reality devices, click here. For more information on Veative and its immersive educational solutions, click here.

Quelle:

https://www.auganix.org/dpvr-announces-collaboration-with-veative-to-provide-virtual-reality-educational-solutions-to-stem-students/

Image credit: DPVR

14. Oktober 2021 0 comment

Examples

How is Virtual Reality Changing STEM Education?

In recent times, virtual reality technology has assisted in the transformation of the world that we live in. From online shopping and virtual working to medical operations, Virtual Reality (VR) is fast becoming an increasingly valuable tool for a multitude of industries.

One particular sector where this technology is taking off is in STEM education. This pioneering technology is boosting student engagement, while VR labs are helping to unlock innovative new solutions.

The Rise of VR Labs

These state-of-the-art VR laboratories are now utilized across a broad spectrum of areas, and experts are conducting experiments with how VR could one day be used to replace conventional labs.

A first-person immersive VR experience is both engaging and realistic; the results from experiments performed within an instrumentation-based organic chemistry lab and using a VR lab show no noticeable difference in learning outcomes.

Around the world, VR and Augmented Reality (AR) are becoming a key component of STEM education. Leading companies and organizations are using the technology to exhibit how their learning skills correspond to real-life situations.

How VR is Benefiting Stensborg

At Stensborg, STEM education is of vital importance to the progress of the company. The capabilities VR and AR on offer generate key insights into the world of nanomaterials and spectrometers; “A VR laboratory experience was designed to teach students how to use an infrared spectrometer and elucidate an unknown structure from the resulting infrared spectrum.”

Using nanoimprint technology is crucial within photonic components; Stensborg strives to lower production costs and raise efficiency with technology that enhances the experience and produces a better quality result.

For more than 20 years, Stensborg has been using state-of-the-art technologies to design and develop pioneering nanoimprint lithography equipment.

STEM education is crucial in today’s world, and Stensborg is delighted to see how integrating Virtual Reality into the curriculum can help the next generation of innovators when entering the field.

Want to find out how Stensborg can help you? Get in touch with the Stensborg team today: www.stensborg.com

This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by Stensborg.

For more information on this source, please visit Stensborg.

Quelle:

Foto: Stensborg

https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=20494

5. Juli 2021 0 comment

Examples

Middle School Students Can Now Learn About Microgravity Through VR

A new Microsoft Garage project, Microgravity Lab, presents teachers with a new and interactive way to teach middle school students about complex physics concepts in microgravity.

The experience will allow students to explore physics principles, including conservation of momentum and Newton’s 3nd and 3rd law, through the context of microgravity on the moon. Microgravity is a concept that is hard to explain and simulate on earth, and therefore easier to teach through a platform like VR.

The Microgravity Lab was developed by a Microsoft intern team in Vancouver, in collaboration with NASA. It simulates the conditions experienced by astronauts while in space, making it easier for students to understand these complex physics concepts.

“The concept of microgravity is often misunderstood by students who learn about astronauts on the International Space Station,” said Matthew E. Wallace, an education specialist for NASA. “Providing a virtual reality world for them to explore the phenomena of life on orbit is an excellent way to engage students and solidify their comprehension of concepts related to force, mass and gravitational acceleration.”

The experience is part of a wider collaboration between NASA and Microsoft that features to a collection of middle school lesson plans.

Teachers that are interested in using the Microgravity Lab in their classroom can request an invite through Microsoft. There’s also an extensive lesson plan that goes along with the experience, which takes place across four, 50-minute classes.

You can read more about the development of the experience in this Microsoft Garage blog post.

Quelle:

Middle School Students Can Now Learn About Microgravity Through VR

30. September 2019 0 comment

Examples

MEL Science Raises $6 Million to Bring STEM to Life with Kits and VR

While growing up in St. Petersburg, Russia, a young Vassili Philippov watched his father dip a nail into a container of blue copper sulfate solution. The metal turned into a red color, and the 7-year-old turned into a lifelong love of science. “It was like magic,” recalls Philippov, now 42.

Now a father himself, Philippov saw home experiments as a way to teach his four children as well as a way to spend time together. The entrepreneur has made his passion into his latest venture and now wants to bring that experience to homes and classrooms around the world.

His startup, MEL Science, has closed a new round of fundraising with $6 million. TMT Investments led the round. Sistema Venture Capital and Moscow internet services company Yandex participated.

Founded in 2015, MEL Science has raised a total of $12 million to date. The Amersham, England-based company’s name stands for “more efficient learning,” and through a subscription-based mix of physical chemistry lab sets and virtual reality programs, Philippov hopes to make his name come true for students worldwide.

Each month, MEL sends subscribers one of 36 lab kits that cover topics from crystals to corrosion. The first kit is currently free and comes with a VR headset. After that, the company charges $34.90 a month. Philippov’s products are aimed at children who are around 9 to 13 years old.

Through the VR headsets, students see how the world looks on an atomic level. Lessons include the properties of atoms, ionization and fusion. MEL offers 28 VR lessons lasting up to seven minutes each. Those lessons mostly cover chemistry today, but the company is building more content for physics and biology students, Philippov says.

His hope is that by making microscopic concepts more dynamic for students, they develop the same passion for science he did. “Humans are bad about understanding what’s bigger and smaller than us,” he says. “If we make the children smaller than an atom, then they can understand.”

With the new investment, MEL wants to expand to 5,000 schools worldwide, Philippov says. He declined to say how many schools he’s sold to so far. Educational customers listed on the company website include Mercury Mine Elementary School in Phoenix, Oakland Academy in Portage, Mich., and Eisenhower High School in Lawton, Okla.

When the company last raised money in 2016, Phillippov had a staff of 12. Since then, MEL has grown to over 100 full-time workers today, most of them involved in manufacturing the lab sets.

A year ago, the U.S. made up the vast majority—95 percent—of the company’s individual consumer customers, Philippov shared. But today America makes up closer to 75 percent as MEL has grown its footprint abroad. Philippov has his eyes on growth in Europe, Australia and East Asia.

He credits the growing interest in VR for learning and the growing affordability of headsets as part of his company’s growth. According to a report from Common Sense Media, an education nonprofit, headset prices have dropped significantly over the years. Google Cardboard now sells for about $15. On the higher end, HTC Vive sells for about $500. Common Sense predicts the price to drop about 15 percent in the coming years.

Companies like MEL may still have parent perception to overcome. The Common Sense report found that while one in five U.S. parents live with a VR-enabled device, 60 percent say they’re somewhat concerned about negative health effects from the technology on their children. About 60 percent of parents also said thy believe VR can enhance children’s education.

Still, adults aren’t the sole target audience when it comes to educational VR. “It’s easy to forget you have to make students happy,” Philippov says. “They have a high bar for what’s interesting.”

Educational VR appears to be meeting investors’ high bar as well. Earlier this year, Interplay Learning and Labster saw successful fundraising rounds.

MEL was not an easy sell at first for TMT Investments, which supports mostly software companies, says partner Igor Shoifot. When Shoifot first met Philippov over lunch by the San Francisco Bay last summer, the company was still too early for an investment and the resources dedicated to manufacturing gave Shoifot pause.

Six months later, Philippov reported that his company had become profitable. Revenue had grown threefold, his products were in homes across the U.S. and he’d gained traction with schools. Shoifot was convinced. His firm invested $2 million for this round, he says.

Philippov’s past business success also helped win over investors. He co-founded SPB Software, a Russian mobile app developer that sold to Yandex, another of his investors, in 2011 for reportedly about $38 million.

The MEL founder says he feels a closer emotional connection to his current startup because of his family’s history with science experiments. He acknowledges that online tools may make his physical chemistry sets seem like an anomaly in an increasingly digital education market. But he believes that’s part of his company’s appeal.

“Kids need to be touching things,” Philippov says. “And you have to see it in kids’ eyes that they’re learning.”

Quelle:

Foto: MEL Chemistry has raised a $6 million round to help bring its VR lessons and chemistry set kits to schools worldwide.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-08-05-mel-science-raises-6-million-to-bring-stem-to-life-with-kits-and-vr

16. August 2019 0 comment