Getting kids interested in learning can be difficult, but try to throw some current events at them and they melt down, and anyone who has ever grilled a five year old on why their dad voted for Brexit will attest to this. But now we might have a way to get the kids up to speed on the latest happenings in the world, thanks to NUSHU, news for children.
NUSHU is essentially a news service for schools which hopes to get kids interested in it through the power of augmented reality (AR). NUSHU is an alien character featured in the new NUSHU magazine, which comes with educational articles, current events and comic strips. Using the NUSHU app users can view the NUSHU alien robot talking about the articles, and asking children questions about them, which prompts them to read and learn more.
NUSHU is aimed at students between the ages of 8 and 12, and hopes to help them develop their critical thinking skills and connecting international news with the school curriculum.
You can watch the new trailer for NUSHU below, where you get to see the NUSHU character itself come to life on the pages of the NUSHU magazine as it asks children questions.
It’s helpfulness has already been recognised by both Google and has been certified by the Finnish educational system.
News isn’t where NUSHU stops though, there will also be AR games to play in the pages of the magazine, and using devices like Google Cardboard, children will even be able to enjoy virtual reality (VR) content with NUSHU.
There will even be teaching guides to go with NUSHU, so unfamiliar educators can get straight into using NUSHU to educate the classroom.
VR and AR in education is only becoming more and more important, as we recently saw from the Panopto educational video platform. More interesting applications for VR and AR are arriving and being developed every single day, increasing the number of users of VR and AR tech, as well as educating the masses to the potential the technology has for the future.
NUSHU looks like an interesting way to get kids learning, and if you have thoughts on it you should leave them in the comments below. Meanwhile, for all of the latest news on NUSHU and educational AR and VR content, make sure to keep reading VRFocus.