Watch: Could VR And Augmented Hurt The Development Of Your Child?

According to a 2016 survey of 38,000 U. S. educators used virtual or augmented reality programs in class.

The number of teachers using VR tools in U. S. classrooms could jump to more than 15 percent by 2021 A recent study was done by Children and Virtual Reality, a collaboration between researchers, VR companies, universities and health organizations, found that using VR tools could have significant health impacts on children.

Researchers worked with a group of about 20 children, aged 8 to 12, to observe health and safety issues posed by the use of VR tools. what researchers found was that usage of VR headsets could impact a child’s vision, balance and spatial awareness. University of Leeds conducted pre- and post- eye examinations for 20 children, testing their depth of perception and sense of balance.

For children who displayed issues with balance, spatial awareness, vision and depth of perception in the pre-test, those problems may have intensified after using virtual reality tools. For teachers adopting VR, Yamada-Rice recommends that they make sure the tools used in classrooms are calibrated for young people.