[Wall Street Journal]

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Proponents of 3-D education argue that it helps students grasp concepts that are difficult to visualize. The format also engages spatial reasoning skills, leading to higher retention rates and test scores, according to pilot programs performed with donated equipment from Digital Light Processing, Texas Instruments‘ projection-technology unit, and its business partners.

In one of the industry-funded studies, the Rock Island-Milan school district in Illinois exposed two groups of sixth-grade students to a ninth-grade-level earth-science lesson. One used 2-D projection, while the other used 3-D. The students were tested before and after the lesson. Test scores for the 2-D group increased 9.7%, on average, while the scores of the students who saw the lesson in 3-D increased an average of 35%.

Financial concerns can be an obstacle for some schools. Cyber-Science 3D, an educational software line, costs $10,000 for a package that includes software, a computer, a projector and about 30 pairs of 3-D glasses. The company’s 3-D materials include a periodic table, dissectible fetal pigs and a deconstructable V-8 engine. A single, “stereo” copy of the software retails for $1,500. A single pair of active glasses from pilot participant XpanD, which differs from passive 3-D movie glasses, can cost $129.

Roughly 650 elementary schools and 100 colleges have purchased the company’s products, says Rich Lineback, president of Cyber-Science 3D parent Cyber-Anatomy Corp.

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