Arthur Santos and Kristi Grout, the technology integration specialists for the elementary schools in Chelmsford, offer training sessions for educators at South Row Elementary School.

by Jen Oemig

CHELMSFORD – Elementary students in Chelmsford have been spending more time in the sand these days with the addition of some new augmented reality (AR) learning tools that have been added to their schools.

The AR sandboxes that have been installed at South Row, Harrington, Center and Byam Elementary Schools are coming in helpful for educators teaching lessons about everything from landforms to archeology.

The software allows students to dig into the sand, uncovering virtual dinosaur bones and artifacts, and shape the sand into piles, forming virtual volcanoes that “erupt.”

Arthur Santos and Kristi Grout, the technology integration specialists for Chelmsford’s elementary schools, recently conducted training sessions for teachers who are interested in utilizing this new technology with their students.

“We spent two weeks, two full days at each school, training,” Santos said.

Jessica LaCava, a fourth-grade teacher at Byam Elementary School, participated in one of those training sessions and said she is excited to get to use this new technology with her students.

“I loved the training, and I know my students will have so much fun,” she said.

Since they were installed, the AR sandboxes have been in high demand for many educators and their students, some of whom were able to gain early access to them.

“Early in the fall, some teachers were super interested and they wanted us to bring their groups down and get them going,” Grout said, adding that the new technology has been a big hit so far. “The kids, when they come to use it, they love it. It’s so amazing to see.”

Grout explained that the AR sandboxes also provide a calming experience for many students.

“It’s a very sensory experience,” she said. “A lot of teachers have been interested in using it for an incentive for their classes.”

AR sandboxes have often been used in museums, but didn’t originally feature a great deal of curriculum-based programs. However, Santos and Grout have been pushing for more educational programming to be incorporated.

“We spoke with representatives from the company that makes these sandboxes when they flew out here to train us,” Santos said. “And we gave them ideas for each one of the games as to how curriculum could be added to it.”

Marilyn Sweeney, the department coordinator for business and technology at Chelmsford Public Schools, said the sandboxes were acquired after being showcased at a conference last year.

“We’re thrilled to have this technology,” she said, adding that the company that makes them has been very open to hearing ideas from educators in Chelmsford.  “We’re hopeful that additional learning features can be added. There’s a spelling game, so we’re hoping that the teachers can add their own spelling lists.”

In total, there are about 100 games included in the software for the AR sandboxes.

“But, we’re not looking at them as games; we’re looking at them as learning opportunities,” Sweeney said, acknowledging that some of the games encourage teamwork and help develop hand-eye coordination. “In Chelmsford, we look at all new technologies all of the time. … Whenever we find a new technology out there, we evaluate it for how well it fits with our content, what the hands-on time with that piece of equipment would be for the students and what they would learn from it.”