Science and Math students spent time today taking photos of each other....hold on, let us explain.
MHS Alumna Dr. Jodi Hadden-Perilla is a University of Delaware Chemistry Professor and is on campus this week teaching students the complex world of viruses in a project named VirusGo. In one of the models that Dr. Hadden-Perilla developed, students scan a QR code with the phone, which creates a augmented reality (AR) model of a sphere covered with spikes — a rotavirus particle. (See group photo below).
Students began by filling out a "pre-test" created to assess their existing knowledge of viruses. Then Dr. Hadden-Perilla gave a short lecture of the structure and function of viruses. The students then broke into teams of five, and each chose a role: physician, pharmacist, public health official, structural biologist and virologist.
The student “professionals” then visited six different stations containing a poster with facts about a particular virus and a QR code to load the AR model of it on their phone. The students worked together to answer questions about the viruses based on their role, learning the different perspectives each profession brings to the field.
Students then returned to take a "post-test" to again assess their knowledge of viruses in confirmation that these types of activities work when teaching high schoolers.
Dr. Hadden-Parilla received a CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation to support her work and expand the reach and impact of that work through this Virus Go outreach project.