Heart of the matter

05.02.02: A TEACHER in Wales took her class on a tour of a human heart as Britain's first virtual classroom went live yesterday.

The classroom, which is in the Sony-sponsored FutureSchool in Cardiff, is a fully immersive 3D environment. In layman's terms, this means it can transport pupils anywhere on the globe, or even inside their own bodies.

'This is not about a single child with a virtual reality headset ­ the class goes into the virtual world together,' said the head, Colin Lewis. 'We have already recreated Paris for French lessons.'

Projectors place a moving image on every surface, including the floor and the ceiling.

'Cameras track users' movements. If they "pick up" an object on the wall in front of them, it will move,' said Dr Jun Hiromashina, the head of the school's engineering team. MP