Discovery Education—the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place—recently earned the Spaces4Learning New Product Award in the K-12 Remote Learning Technology category for its Sandbox AR app. The Spaces4Learning New Product Award programme honours the outstanding product development achievements of companies whose products or services are particularly noteworthy for their ability to enhance the learning environment. Spaces4Learning is a leading publication for companies and organizations interested in creating high-quality facilities in both K-12 and higher education.
Discovery Education’s Sandbox AR app empowers students and teachers to create, share, and even inhabit virtual environments. Within Sandbox AR, users can create virtual worlds and populate them with some of the hundreds of unique objects from history, the built world, science and nature, and more. Sandbox AR also gives students new ways to express themselves and demonstrate their learning through a feature that lets learners take photos or record a video walkthrough with their own voice over. Sandbox AR even offers a mode that allows users to scale up and inhabit their own life size virtual environments.
For those new to AR, Sandbox AR includes many pre-built sandboxes exploring diverse subjects such as ancient Egypt, space exploration, Mayan civilization, road construction, and more, with additional sandboxes coming soon. Discovery Education is also making available several free, pre-built lessons educators can use with the app to familiarize themselves with integrating AR into classroom instruction. Sandbox AR is available for download here.
The development of Sandbox AR was led by Discovery Education’s UK-based Immersive Learning team who have been pioneers in creating Virtual and Augmented Reality experiences for schools for over 30 years.
Sandbox AR received its world premiere at the BETT Show in March, where it was launched on the Main Stage with London-based educator Simon Pile sharing how he has used the app in his school.
“Since its inception, Discovery Education has been an early mover in bringing innovative technologies—such as streaming video and digital textbooks—into the classroom, and we are now excited to put the power of augmented reality into the hands of educators with the Sandbox AR app,” said Howard Lewis, Managing Director, UK and International, at Discovery Education. “We are honoured by this recognition as it validates our work to provide all educators state-of-the-art resources that connect students to the world around them. Thank you to the Spaces4Learning team for this recognition.”
The winners are determined by a panel of judges. Learn more about the New Product Awards and the 2022 winners here.
About Discovery Education
Discovery Education is the global leader in curriculum-aligned digital resources, engaging content, and professional learning for primary and secondary classrooms. Through its award-winning digital textbooks, multimedia resources, and the largest professional learning network of its kind, Discovery Education is transforming teaching and learning, creating immersive STEM experiences,and improving academic achievement around the globe. Discovery Education currently serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources areaccessed in over 140 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Discovery, Inc., Discovery Education partners with local authorities, academy trusts, schools and like-minded organisations to empower teachers with customised solutions that support the success of all learners.
Contact
Angie Shatford, Press Officer
Email: ashatford@discoveryed.com
