Catalyst: Imagined Excursions, Real World Recoveries
Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC)’s Science program, Catalyst visits a fitness center where Virtual Reality (VR) headsets and joysticks are every bit as impactful as the free weights and treadmills. Dr Jordan Nguyen profiles Angus, a cyclist who has used virtual training to regain movement in his upper body and feet following a catastrophic accident with a motor vehicle.
Meanwhile, in the US, University of Maryland and Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) have teamed up to design tailored games for VR-based spinal cord rehabilitation therapies. The Baltimore Sun covers this cross-discipline project between Shock Trauma and Game Lab.
Assignment Idea: Improving Lives from a Health Perspective
Description
Think about the various career fields related to physical therapy and kinesiology that could benefit from the utilization of virtual reality. What area within the particular field could VR improve? How might that improvement present itself – external motivation for clients, increased accuracy of movement, tailored difficulty level for the client or some combination of these or others? Imagine what these changes might bring about with the way practitioners of this career go about their tasks.
Subject Areas
Biology, Kinesiology, Physical Therapy
Deliverables
- executive summary of projected benefits of virtual reality in a given field
- narrative of a day in the life of a practitioner in a world post-VR incorporation
- storyboard of this narrative as a visual interpretation
- short video pitching a company in the field to purchase and integrate VR as an offering to their clients
- research the effects VR has on the career fields related to physical therapy and kinesiology
- write an essay or short paper explaining the information uncovered (optional)