Starting this fall, students at four mid-Michigan high schools will be able to step inside the human body using mixed reality technology while earning college credit.
The pilot program is a partnership between Central Michigan University and high schools in Beal City, Bullock Creek, Essexville-Hampton and Freeland.
Instead of reading about organs in a textbook or dissecting a preserved cow eye, students will explore 3D anatomical models, conduct 360-degree virtual dissections and manipulate body systems from the classroom.
Bill Hartzel, principal at Freeland High School, said he had never used mixed reality before the training and was surprised by its potential.
“You're in the body, you can stick your head inside the heart and see it work, and it just blows me away at the type of technology that’s out there to help somebody learn something like this,” he said.
Backed by a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, the dual enrollment course allows students to take CMU’s HSC 211: Anatomy and Physiology using Meta Quest 3 headsets and immersive learning software from AlensiaXR. Teachers from all four schools gathered for training at CMU’s Health Professions Building on June 19.
Hartzel said without grant funding, smaller schools like Freeland wouldn’t be able to offer this kind of opportunity. He called the support essential to helping students grow both academically and emotionally.
Chad Kopkas is the director of customer success at AlensiaXR, the company providing the platform. Kopkas said students will be able to explore a life-size heart, view the lungs from the inside and isolate systems like the nerves or blood vessels, something even cadavers can't fully offer.
“Mixed reality is an opportunity to bring collaboration where everybody that has the quest device on is seeing the same image at the same time, which allows for that collaborative environment,” Kopkas said. “Versus virtual reality is where you have a device and you're in an environment all by yourself.”
The headsets connect to a digital hub where teachers can build custom lessons from a library of more than 5,000 3D anatomical structures covering all 15 systems of the human body.
Lynnsey Polish, a science teacher at Beal City Public Schools, said the class will offer a clearer, more engaging way to study systems.
“A lot of times in science we’re talking about things that we can’t see,” Polish said. “Being able to actually see real life-size models of these organ systems... and even animated diagrams... it'll just really draw connections that will be long lasting.”
Emily Crambell, who teaches biology and AP science at Bullock Creek High School, said she’s excited to bring that kind of experience to students who might not thrive with lectures alone.
That same excitement was expressed across all four districts during the June training, which many teachers described as eye-opening.
At Essexville-Hampton's Garber High School, teacher Steven Stein said the program aligns with district efforts to strengthen STEM education.
He said students are eager to see the technology in action.
“It’s going to make it more collaborative, give students more of an opportunity to talk more about their ideas,” he said. “It will give students an opportunity to actually feel like they're more part of the scientific community.”
Freeland science teacher Steven Schmidt said that the visuals offered by the headsets go far beyond what most students are used to.
“Typically they’re looking at 2D images of 3D structures and trying to learn them that way,” Schmidt said. “We're now able to look at 3D structures of those 3D structures to help with actually understanding how those things work.”
Schmidt said some of his AP biology students were so intrigued by the course that they’ve already signed up for the fall.
At the university level, Gregory Zimmerman, interim dean of CMU’s College of Health Professions, said the program is part of a broader push to expand rural access to technology.
“We feel we're meeting the students where they live, which is a lot of the virtual reality, augmented reality,” Zimmerman said. “The whole focus here is to capitalize on exposing students to this area of health occupations."
He said that health occupations are projected to grow by 14 percent in the coming years, the fastest of any job sector.
The class is designed to mirror a college-level experience. Teachers are aligning lesson plans with CMU’s assessments and lab activities. If students pass the course, they’ll receive college credit that can be transferred to CMU or another university.
Polish said those innovations are key to keeping students engaged and showing the value of public education.
“One of the biggest challenges right now is seeing the disengagement and the not wanting to learn," she said. "We need to create these creative opportunities so that we can foster that engagement.”
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