It was a February afternoon in a Brooklyn classroom. Sixteen-year-old Taylor Engler came face to face with a   cow. But it was all in her head. She was transported by   a virtual (TE拟的）reality (VIO headset-it took Taylor   and her classmates to a farm 250 miles away. For   students，the technology means field trips are no longer   limited by the length of a bus ride.“I was not expecting it to be right in my   face！”That's what Taylor said after taking off the headset and finding herself   back in the classroom.

On any school day, students can take virtual reality “trips". They are deep-sea diving. They are observing medical operations. They are visiting the Science Museum in London. Teachers say it's another way to involve the iPhone generation（一代人）into classroom learning and it can help with their understanding and improve their grades. Calm Jones, a science teacher, has walked students through the northern forest with a Google app called Expeditions. “It can be done in a period or two with the help of the new technology, he said. "But it could take even a week sometimes to take a real expedition.’, "It's different from watching videos. You can actually move"，Taylor said during the lesson on farm animals. "Not only move, but also feel, said Richard Lamb. He studies how brains deal with information.“Your physiological responses（生理反应）in virtual reality are similar to what you get in doing the actual activity.”Lamb said.“Heart rate, breathing...everything.”

It is unknown how many classrooms will use the technology. But experts say it's still rare. Each headset can cost as little as＄20 or＄30，but systems and software for classes run into thousands of dollars. And good software is in great need. Another problem we face is how to make sure the VR technology mimics（模仿）the real world closely. "But we have to say VR technology provides students with a huge learning opportunity,”said David Evans, director of the National Science Teachers Association.

John Miller, a chemistry teacher，agreed. "Too often in schools, students did something wrong in their chemistry experiments. But we don't have enough materials for them to redo the experiments. In virtual reality, all they do is hitreset on the computer. We don't have to actually use chemicals.”Both Miller and Evans stressed the technology could enrich-not replace-real-world experiences. "We have to remain anchored（立足）in the real world,”Evans warned, "because that's the one that we really need to study and explain.”

Teens will finally grow up some day, leaving their parents and facing the challenges in life alone, so they should learn basic life skills and form good working habits.

The government has been trying to pay attention to the importance of hardworking spirit education（劳动教育）. But this has been overlooked in recent years. Many teens do not value（重视）the importance of working hard. There is a teenager girl named Nancy, she never helps out around the house. Once her mother was on vacation for a week, leaving her alone at home. When her mother came home from vacation, she could not find a clean dish or a clean shirt.

Schools play an important role in teaching students about the value of working hard. Primary and middle schools should provide students with hardworking spirit courses every week. To our joy, some schools have provided each class with a piece of field to plant their favorite vegetables. For example, No. 38 Middle School in Hefei, set up a 500-square-meter farm on an open platform（露天平台）of their teaching building. Each class are asked to grow and pick vegetables there.

Parents should also encourage children to learn how to do chores at home. Teens should master one or two life skills every year. These skills can include cooking, washing their own clothes and tiding their rooms. The basic skills may help teens to solve the problems they will meet in the future.