Pendergast Elementary School District Launches Arizona’s First K–8 Immersive VR Mobile Classroom

Pendergast Elementary School District, Arizona State University, Dreamscape Learn and community partners will gather to celebrate the launch of a new mobile classroom bringing cutting-edge virtual reality (VR) learning to district middle school students. The VR-enabled Dreamscape Learn Mobile Classroom, provided by ASU, builds on a year of successful use in Pendergast’s on-campus Dreamscape Classroom and marks the next step in the district’s multi-year partnership with Dreamscape Learn.

Media are invited to join Arizona State University President Michael Crow and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego for a ribbon cutting celebration on Wednesday, Nov. 19, from 10 a.m. to noon, at WestVentures, 10400 W. Mariposa St., in Phoenix. 

Media are welcome to see the technology and talk to teachers, students and ASU, Dreamscape Learn and district officials. The mobile classroom will be open from 9:15-9:45 a.m. and again after the 10 a.m. ribbon cutting ceremony. Email [email protected] for questions.

Pendergast is the first K–8 public school district in the nation to deploy a Dreamscape Learn Mobile Classroom and the first to bring the experience districtwide. The launch expands access to Dreamscape Learn’s immersive STEM curriculum, co-developed to great success with ASU, which combines cinematic storytelling with proven active-learning techniques to deepen engagement and improve outcomes.

The mobile classroom, custom-fitted inside a 46-foot towable trailer, will rotate around the district, reaching middle schoolers at all Pendergast schools. Inside, students don VR headsets and are cast as field biologists on cinematic “missions” to a virtual alien ecosystem, where they analyze data, draw conclusions and collaborate to solve complex biological challenges.

The experience is adapted from Dreamscape Learn’s acclaimed college-level biology curriculum, co-developed with ASU. That curriculum has been shown to significantly increase student achievement in introductory biology.

The mobile classroom also will visit other locations such as community events. Later this year, ASU will launch a second mobile classroom for use at additional schools and events.