Wisconsin Lawmakers Hope Virtual Reality Can Help Improve 8th Grade Math Scores

Friday, June 13th, 2025 -- 9:01 AM

(Corrinne Hess, Wisconsin Public Radio) Wisconsin lawmakers are hoping virtual reality headsets can improve the state’s dismal eighth grade math scores.

According to Corrinne Hess with Wisconsin Public Radio, a Republican-sponsored bill would require the state Department of Public Instruction to pilot a virtual reality technology program.

Under the plan, DPI would select one urban, one suburban and one rural school district totaling 16,000 students and provide at least 3,200 VR headsets.

According to the proposal, the use of virtual reality headsets would help engage students by giving them real life experiences so they understand why they need to learn math.

“Instead of reading and memorizing, students will solve problems using rich contextual experiences and kinesthetic sense-making tools,” the proposal says.

Students in Ohio saw an 11 percent improvement in their Algebra 1 assessments after using virtual reality for one year, according to the first randomized-control trial conducted from September 2022 to April 2023.

Shannon Cox is the superintendent who brought virtual reality to 16 school districts in southwestern Ohio. Cox heads the Montgomery County Educational Service Center.

In Ohio, there are more than 50 educational service centers that provide administrative, academic, fiscal and operational support services to schools and districts.

According to Cox, bringing virtual reality into the classroom gave students a kinesthetic connection, a real world connection and a career connection to math.

“We knew that we needed to teach differently, because students learn differently,” Cox said. “It’s a different world, and we needed to give teachers different resources to help them do that.”

Seventy-eight percent of students surveyed in Ohio said the technology helped them understand math, 83 percent said it made learning math more interesting and 84 percent said it helped them see how math is used in the real world.

Cox said the feedback from teachers, even veteran teachers, was also positive.

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