You learn best when you are happy! You learn best when you have fun!

These are the concepts behind Warm Cognition, a new teaching method born from the research of Dr. Daniela Lucangeli of the Padua Univerisity and her team of researchers.

What the doctor has shown during her studies is that learning and emotions travel together, influencing each other.

In particular, if as we learn we experience fear rather than serenity, or a sense of guilt for not being able to complete an assigned task, we risk that these negative emotions, instead of stimulating us to do better, create a short circuit that generates a block of learning. 

On the contrary, by replacing joy with boredom, the pleasure of feeling with fear of making mistakes, proactivity with static, encouraging with discouragement, a positive atmosphere is obtained which helps the learning process.

Digital changes in the learning process

In this new emotional and interactive didactic panorama, digital tools play a fundamental role.

The expansion of digital technologies, on the other hand, has radically changed the student’s approach and behavior.

A series of changes has totally affected the cognitive processes of the children, with both positive and negative consequences.

Negative developments concern:

• listening, imagining and managing emotions difficulty. In the school environment such evidence is reflected in a lack of continuous attention to the teacher’s words. The mental configuration of the children is greedy for temporary content that can be easily scrolled, consequently not being able to “scroll” on the classroom lesson is for them almost “not natural”;
• arduous development of a critical sense and a tendency towards deepening. The digital information is there, a section of everyone at all times. Copying and pasting is as simple as drinking a glass of water, and the boy is not encouraged to carry out a creative personal research; 
• oral and direct communication almost non-existent. Children now tend to communicate only in written form through the use of social networks. Written production, made of emoticons and short sentences, produces a great difficulty in the logical structuring of the sentences and in the ability to argue. 

The use of digital tools has also important positive aspects:

• development of memory and face-spatial research skills;
• multi-tasking and learning speed.

The solution is learning with virtual reality

Changes to the teaching approach of young children require a rethinking of the ways of learning so that they are conceptually similar to what they are used to in everyday life. 

With this in mind, Sautech Group is carrying out a project that goes well with a new vision of teaching. A vision anchored to the use of interactive and extremely engaging digital tools. We talk about applications based on virtual reality and augmented reality.

The project consists in realizing virtual lessons that do not replace but complement traditional ones. 

Lessons take the form of immersive video games, accessible through virtual reality viewers. In this context, the student is called to put into practice the notions learned during traditional lessons and to develop new skills thanks to the interface with a unique spatial environment capable of stimulating creativity.

Immersive learning benefits

Using virtual reality and its potential in the learning process has numerous advantages for children’s education. Advantages that make it the ideal solution to create teaching in line with their digital and cultural background.

In particular, VR applications use determines:

• a fun and performative context that stimulates the student’s desire and learning skills;
• an active learning environment that makes the subject protagonist at the same time user and producer of the lesson;
• high storage capacity. The interactive nature of the virtual lessons allows the student to remember over 90% of what has been done and what has been learned; 
• development of creative language which leads to greater literacy.

VR experiences and 360 videos have the ability to improve understanding of the historical context, geographic settings, scientific discovery and empathy.

Cooking virtually: a whole different taste!

Sautech Group, following its intent to change the classic static and passive teaching methods, has also met the needs of chefs and potential cooks. Thus the world of virtual gastronomic training came to life!

Virtual lessons for learning the art of cooking work in this way: in a totally virtual kitchen, learners can experiment with basic techniques of gastronomy, learn the nomenclature and dosage of ingredients and shape their own personal creations.

Locations are the most varied: from the exact reproduction of the real kitchen to outdoor kitchens, accompanied by the sounds of nature to allow anyone to perceive a “real” space where they can express themselves better.

Aspiring chefs are brought from the virtual world to the real world through augmented reality apps. The latter play the role of “cicerone”; they support apprentices in interfacing with the virtual environment until they are able to act independently. For example, they indicate the correct location of the various foods and cooking tools in the mis en place, how they are used, etc.

The use of VR viewers such as the Oculus Rift is obviously fundamental, capable of fully rendering potential and interactivity of the virtual spaces created.

The virtual lessons in the gastronomic environment add to the above-mentioned benefits of immersive learning an additional plus: it is possible to practice in the kitchen by limiting food waste. Furthermore, aspiring cooks can learn independently even without having a professional kitchen available.

Virtual reality’s other applications 

Virtual reality is a world still partially unexplored in all its potential applications.

Virtual lessons are only a part of the immense immersive universe.

Another important sector where this technology is able to greatly enrich the exploration experience is that of art and tourism. 

3D worlds that drop the visitor into otherwise unexplored environments (for example versions of the past of a certain place), 360 videos that reproduce a real space, returning all possible corners in the same instant, 3D holograms for an innovative and engaging use of the art works. 

All this is the Art & Tourism division of Sautech Group! Find out more!

But the VR applications that we have in mind to make are many..much more!

To do this we need talented and extremely motivated people. If developing VR solutions has always been your dream … how about joining our team?

Send your curriculum. We’re waiting for you!

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