3 December 2021
Academic scholars in Years 7 to 10 on the Kritikos* programme were immersed in the world of virtual reality (VR), the theme of their curiosity project for this year, on Thursday 25 November. The curiosity project is a significant piece of independent research that the students will present to parents and peers next year. The session was great inspiration, as Jessica and Emilia describe below.
Jessica, Year 10
We were honoured to be joined by Mr Chris Scattergood, one of our school governors and the CEO and Founder of FundamentalVR and Fundamental Surgery. We were captivated by his talk about VR and how it can be used more in the future to solve real world-problems, such as being able to train surgeons ‘from their kitchens’ in a world where COVID-19 has resulted in fewer opportunities for in-person training.
Our curiosity project is a great opportunity to consider future possibilities for VR, which is becoming more advanced every day. I’ve chosen to look at, ‘What other challenges does the NHS face in a post-COVID world?’ I have a great interest in science and technology and this question makes me keen to find out more about how VR could be used to help in our healthcare system, such as whether it would really be as efficient as in-person training for surgeons and also the cost of it.
This was a very exciting launch event and left Kritikos students burning with curiosity about where the world could take the idea of virtual reality.
Emilia, Year 9
It was so interesting to learn from Mr Scattergood how virtual reality is affecting the world around us and how people can be trained to do jobs, such as being a surgeon, from their own home. We were able to experience a snippet of this, talking to Mr Scattergood’s colleague, Aryth - who was in London at the time - through a VR headset and picking up surgical tools using virtual reality. This was incredible and gave us an insight into what the future could be like. My peers and I are now going to create projects on this topic where we look deeper into virtual reality. I'm particularly interested in how virtual reality can be used in prisons and I'm very much looking forward to researching this topic and finding out more about it.
*Kritikos is the name for Woldingham’s programme for academic scholars in Years 7-11. Kritikos aims to encourage critical flexibility and nurture independent and enquiring minds.