4.1. VIRTUAL REALITY IN SCHOOLS Teachers report how their role in the classroom is changing every year, instead of being a teacher who gives the answers, teachers have found themselves as a support for students who help them construct ideas and get information from various sources (Youngbut, 1998). The advantage of virtual reality in the education system is that it allows large groups of students to interact with each other and within the virtual environment. Can present complicated topics in a way that is accessible to students, rewarding, fun, and easy to access. An example would be for an astronomy student to learn about the solar system. How it works touching planets, seeing stars and moving through space, tracking the progress of a comet and more. This also allows them to see how the concept works in the virtual environment. This is useful for students who have particular, creative ways of learning or for those who find it easier to learn using colours, textures and symbols (Virtual Reality, 2009). There are two ways to use virtual reality in the classroom, the first involves a personal computer (desktop) with a keyboard and mouse or a controller. The other configuration requires the student to wear a head-mounted display. Teachers are starting to test the Oculus Rift in lessons, but it's all experimental. A teacher uses it to calm children when there are conflicts or arguments. The teacher had a student who walked away from a sports activity because he knew he was angry and might hurt someone. She could see he was in a heightened state of anger and, having used the rift on him before, I was eager to see if it could help him. The program that the teacher used with him... in the middle of a sheet of paper... simply taken from a book.• Being completely inside a virtual reality means that there are very few distractions while you study. What you see in classrooms today are kids with phones, something happening outside the window, Facebook etc. • Immediate engagement, which means in the world we live in today with short attention spans it is useful. • Exploration and hands-on approach helps with learning and retention. The student experiences his subject first hand and there he could better understand what it looks like. • Helps understand complex topics, theories or concepts. Probably also the biggest factor in favor of introducing virtual reality into the classroom is that today's generation is the “digital generation”. Students are much more knowledgeable about technology than their parents and use it constantly.