#372 – Immersive Technologies in K–12 Education, with Gaspare Lipari

Gaspare Lipari, a teacher at Western Middle School in Greenwich, Connecticut, discusses his innovative use of immersive technologies in K–12 education. Lipari highlights the transformative impact of these technologies on student engagement, particularly in special education, where they enhance focus and social skills. He has also established and runs a summer camp and community programs to extend these educational experiences beyond the walls of the school. Lipari emphasizes the importance of fostering creativity and imagination in students through technology.

. . . I share my love of technology and innovation with my students, hoping to inspire, motivate, and prepare young minds for what comes next.

Gaspare Lipari, Instructional Facilitator at Unbound Innovations

Resources

The following resources are available from AVID and on AVID Open Access to explore related topics in more depth:

• Leverage Virtual Field Trips to Engage Students in Authentic Learning Experiences (article)
• Game-Based Learning and Immersive Game Development, with Heather Healy (podcast episode)
• Game-Based Learning and Assessment, with Rebecca Kantar (podcast episode)

Transformational Technology

With extended reality (XR), technology goes beyond being just a tool and becomes a catalyst for creativity, connection, and courage. Through immersive experiences—like virtual college visits, augmented reality projects, and mixed reality explorations—Gaspare Lipari has reshaped how students engage with both content and themselves.

With over $100,000 in grants and a deep commitment to innovation, Gaspare has brought a world of hands-on, immersive learning to his school and beyond. Tune in to hear how Gaspare’s journey from STEM labs to XR labs is creating new pathways for students to thrive in education and life. The following are a few highlights from this episode:

• About Our Guest: Gaspare Lipari is a teacher at Western Middle School in Greenwich, Connecticut. He is a lifelong learner with a passion for technology. He has brought the magic of XR technology to students and staff in his school and local community. In 2023, Gaspare was a recipient of the Distinguished Teacher Award for Greenwich Public Schools.
• Grants: Gaspare was awarded a series of grants by the Greenwich Alliance for Education totaling over $100,000. Gaspare says, “I thought it was a perfect opportunity to bring some of the ideas that I had in my head, bring them to life. In the education system that we live in now, it really doesn’t encourage creativity [and] imagination as much as it should or has in the past.” Through the grant, Gaspare has brought extended reality experiences to students that are “hands-on, immersive, interactive.”
• STEM Lab: Gaspare had some formative teaching experiences early in his career while in New York and was able to teach in a STEM lab when it was first created. He says, “I taught it from the beginning, and it was a hands-on approach to learning where we used wind tunnels, and earthquake simulators, and levitation tracks, and circuit boards. And the kids would go to each of these modules, and they would be instructed, step-by-step, on how to use them and how to manipulate them—how to build things and test them on these wind tunnels and earthquake simulators, and use their foundations in math and science in order to engage in those things and learn.” He adds, “It was my favorite teaching experience that I’ve ever had.”
• XR: Gaspare shares that XR stands for extended realities and includes virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality.
• Virtual Reality (VR): Gaspare says, “Virtual reality is where you wear a headset, and you are completely immersed into your environment—a digital environment, where you can interact with objects. You can create. You can experience events or witness history.” He has engaged students in unique VR experiences, such as taking a tour through Anne Frank’s house. He explains, “They go through these immersive experiences with a headset on, and all they see is that experience. With that, there’s no distractions. It’s like 100% focus on what you’re looking at.”
• Augmented Reality (AR): “Augmented reality is a digital layer in the real world,” says Gaspare. He shares that Pokémon Go was an example of AR that has been very popular. Gaspare shares some of his AR activities, saying, “I’ve had students bring books to life—and comic books and Merge Cubes—with augmented reality and create characters as well. So, it’s a good creative tool.”
• Mixed Reality (MR): Gaspare says, “Mixed reality is kind of like what you see now—the newer headsets that came out with Apple Vision Pro. . . . Those use a mixed-reality approach to devices, where you see both of those different realities mixed together at times or interacting with each other.”
• Game Changers: “These are game changers in education,” says Gaspare. “In my opinion, it helps students by removing distractions. . . . It makes learning more immersive.” In math class, students can solve real-world scenarios using math skills in a virtual environment. For instance, they may need to use geometry, algebra, and trigonometry to evaluate the structural integrity of a bridge or to optimize the flight path of a drone.
• Making Learning Real: Gaspare points out, “They’re learning that, yes, it does apply to life, and they’re actually using it, and it’s also memorable. They’re not going to forget what they’re learning. It’s transformative.
• A Place of Confidence: “They lose all the elements of fear, of hesitation, of timidity. They’re risk-takers and engineers now; like they aren’t afraid in VR.” He adds, “When they’re alone in that world and they don’t see the other students, they don’t see the things that kind of hold them back sometimes. And I think that’s probably one of the biggest obstacles, especially in middle school for kids. They just kind of fear making a mistake or doing something wrong. But in VR, they’re taking risks and doing things that they never could otherwise—mixing chemicals together that they can’t do in real life. That’s amazing.”
• Setting the Stage: Gaspare’s passion for XR didn’t begin with the grant. He explains how he was doing his homework and research long before that. He says, “I reached out to anyone I could in the industry, like I looked up all companies that were out there that did anything with virtual augmented reality.” He adds, “I looked into all the colleges that were doing stuff, and I reached out to them. And I got some feedback, and I spoke to these people because I was on an island by myself. There was nobody else that I knew that was doing anything like this.”
• Virtual College Visits: One of the experiences that Gaspare has facilitated is virtual college visits. These began during COVID when AVID students were not able to take part in college visits, which are an integral part of their learning experience. Gaspare set it up and invited students to join the experience. He explains, “They would come to my room. I would set it up for their classes, and they would visit. Seventh and eighth graders would go to whatever colleges they wanted to, so it wasn’t just limited to our geography. It was whatever schools that they dreamed of going to. They could see in virtual reality and see what it was like—the different facilities and programs that they had.”
• Special Education: Gaspare says, “I think it was probably the most transformative for special education students. . . . Those students have been probably the most engaged. They’ll actually come during their off periods, or lunch, or after school to do extra.” He adds, “I think it just changed the world for them.” It provided students with alternate ways to engage and express themselves, and through an XR program, the students learned and practiced applying social skills that were previously a struggle for them. Gaspare says, “After doing the greeting skill, [students] would shake hands with all the teachers, and say goodbye, and make eye contact. And it was just kind of magical to see that happen and to have our students actually do that.”
• Curricular Integrations: XR experiences have been integrated across the curriculum at Western Middle School. Gaspare began in his English classroom, and the impact extended from there to other teachers and classrooms. He would take any opportunity offered to him to partner with other teachers to find connections for XR experiences that could enhance student learning. Integrations included experiences like 360-degree videos, Merge Cubes, virtual labs, and creative virtual spaces.
• Summer Camps: During remote learning in 2020, Gaspare set up virtual summer camps where students could connect virtually using VR goggles in a virtual world. In fact, the nature of the VR world helped break down social and age barriers for students participating. Gaspare shares that one ninth grader had reflected, “At first, I was very intimidated, and I just kind of like didn’t know what it was going to be like, but when I was in virtual reality, and we were all avatars and just having discussions, I just felt like everyone was the same. There were no differences. Everyone was just kind of there, and there was no intimidation at all.” Gaspare recalls, “It was a really cool experience.” They’ve been running summer camps for the past several years now.
• Community Programs: Word of Gaspare’s success continues to travel, and his programs have now extended beyond school into community libraries around the state. He has worked with those entities to facilitate projects with coding drones, Merge Cubes, snow globes, and other augmented reality experiences. He says, “I want to expose the world to what we’re doing because I think it’s so fantastic.”
• Hopes for the Future: Gaspare says, “I want my students to be pioneers and creators. I think that’s something that this technology has a way of encouraging and facilitating. . . . I think that if we can take this technology in education and build it into what we do in education systems, to help foster creativity and imagination . . . I think those are some missing elements that would really help students to thrive . . . to become engineers and coders; build new, innovative ideas; just to become the geniuses that are within them. I think every kid has some genius inside of them.”
• Empathy in Gaspare’s Toolkit: “Virtual reality is one of the most powerful empathy tools in the world,” says Gaspare. To illustrate his point, he recounts a VR interaction where students could experience what it was like to lose vision and go blind.