Coming Soon To Schools: Dissecting Frogs in 3-D
In one of the industry-funded studies, the Rock Island-Milan school district in Illinois exposed two groups of sixth-grade students to a ninth-grade-level earth-science lesson. One used 2-D projection, while the other used 3-D. The students were tested before and after the lesson. Test scores for the 2-D group increased 9.7%, on average, while the scores of the students who saw the lesson in 3-D increased an average of 35%.
Financial concerns can be an obstacle for some schools. Cyber-Science 3D, an educational software line, costs $10,000 for a package that includes software, a computer, a projector and about 30 pairs of 3-D glasses. The company's 3-D materials include a periodic table, dissectible fetal pigs and a deconstructable V-8 engine. A single, "stereo" copy of the software retails for $1,500. A single pair of active glasses from pilot participant XpanD, which differs from passive 3-D movie glasses, can cost $129.
Roughly 650 elementary schools and 100 colleges have purchased the company's products, says Rich Lineback, president of Cyber-Science 3D parent Cyber-Anatomy Corp.
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