Ideas Les's Explored

What If in Education - Immersion Classrooms: Turning Any Room Into a Living Lesson

By Les Huysmans

Classrooms are usually designed for efficiency β€” not experience. Rows of desks, white walls with the odd poster or other subject related items put up, a projector in the front. But what if instead of teaching about a rainforest, you could turn a whole classroom into one?

Instead of relying on imagination or a PowerPoint, students could walk into a fully immersive space: visuals projected across the walls, forest sounds surrounding them, humidity in the air, and hands-on activities woven into the lesson. The topic wouldn't be explained β€” it would be experienced.

Why Immersion Classrooms Work

Immersion classrooms use multiple ceiling-mounted projectors to surround students with a full 360Β° visual environment, complemented by soundscapes, controlled lighting, and props that fit the theme. Unlike individual VR headsets, this setup creates a shared, whole-class experience.

Research has shown that multisensory input enhances learning outcomes significantly. According to Shams and Seitz (2008), multisensory environments help students better understand and retain information because the brain integrates information more deeply when more than one sense is involved. This kind of learning doesn’t just teach facts β€” it shapes memory.

Immersion classrooms also reduce the dependency on out-of-school experiences, which can be limited by budget, logistics, or access. In a 2009 study published in Science, Chris Dede from Harvard described immersive environments as powerful tools to increase engagement and support deep learning β€” especially when they combine narrative, interaction, and context.

What You Need to Set One Up

Setting up an immersive classroom doesn't require a major overhaul. It can be done with:

This setup allows you to transform the room for each unit or topic. One month it's a rainforest; the next, a courtroom or a coral reef. The flexibility is what makes this model sustainable.

What It Looks Like in Practice

In a rainforest unit, for example, the walls might display moving jungle scenes while animal calls play softly in the background. The room feels damp and alive. One area might be set up for writing persuasive letters about deforestation; another, for inspecting real leaves or soil samples.

For a history unit, the room might become a dimly lit Egyptian tomb, with projected hieroglyphs, ambient desert wind, and artefact replicas for students to examine and document. Each setup becomes part of the story the class is studying.

This is more than decoration β€” it’s a redefinition of environment as teacher. The walls, sounds, and objects do part of the instructional work, helping students inhabit what they’re learning.

What Ifs in Education Today

What if the classroom changed to match what students were learning β€” instead of the other way around?
What if engagement didn’t require gamification, but just better physical storytelling?
What if students could walk through their learning β€” not just sit through it?

If this interests you, you might also enjoy Visualising a Story – A Student-Centred Creative Activity, which explores how students translate narrative into visual thinking. For parents curious about how tailored learning environments help their child, Why Your Child Needs a Qualified & Experienced Academic Coach offers a practical lens on personalisation.

If this sparked anything β€” questions, rants, good old curiosity β€” come say hi via the About Les page.

References

#creativity #what if