STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Madison Piggins and Malena Balcos giggled as biology teacher Dan Vanden Heuvel zoomed in on a human skull, then expanded it allowing it to come apart so they could see all the 22 bones that make up the skull.

He then set the skull on the shoulders of one of the girls.

Not physically, but through augmented reality images the students were looking at on android phones.

“See the u-shaped hyoid bone?” Vanden Heuvel asked. “That’s the one they talk about on crime shows when someone gets strangled.”

Classrooms throughout the Wood River Valley are turning into an augmented reality playground this week as representatives from Google Expeditions test Google Expedition’s Pioneer Program in Blaine County schools.

Augmented Reality, believed to be the next evolution of virtual reality in schools, pairs Android phones with augmented reality technology developed by Google to bring digital objects into the classroom.

While virtual reality takes students out of classroom to another location, allowing them to get a feel for what it’s like to ride a roller coaster, augmented reality brings computer-generated images such as microorganisms into the classroom.

Students can examine the exterior of the object and even go inside it, in some cases.

“It could be useful way to help students visualize concepts like DNA molecules or look at human body cells,” said Vanden Heuvel. “Virtual reality goggles are great, but this allows the students to interact with one another, which is always great.”

Students held the phones over QR codes, then watched as their teacher fed images into the phones.

Vanden Heuvel called up a coral reef and a sea anemone.

“Make sure you get on top and look at it from that perspective,” he said.

“I’m in his body!” exclaimed one student.

They examined a mantis shrimp, which uses its powerful claws to spear, stun and dismember prey.

“How many colors do humans see?” he said, fishing for an answer of red, blue and green cones.  “Mantis shrimp can see 16.”

Vanden Heuvel took them around all sides of a blue-colored sunfish, showing how the fish’s belly puffs  out when it opens its mouth.

He dialed up a Tyrannosaurus Rex, allowing a classroom assistant to photograph him as if he were feeding it. Then he followed it up with a Velociraptor and Stegosaurus.

Vanden then showed the students how viruses multiply inside a cell before taking them inside an HIV-AIDS virus showing it purple protein coating around its round shape.

He then made a Zika virus come to life, pulsating with bright blues, purple and green streaks.

Augmented reality can be used in video games, during surgery and other health care procedures, by Realtors to show off homes and even by consumers who want to “try on” on outfit before purchasing it online.

Someone trying to imagine what a new piece of furniture would look like in his home could use augmented reality to place the furniture in his home before purchasing it.

“It’s really cool,” said Piggins.

“I liked circling around the animals,” said Luis Manrique.

Google Expeditions will take augmented reality into Wood River Middle Wednesday and Thursday, Bellevue Elementary on Friday, Hemingway STEAM School on May 1, Hailey Elementary on May 2 and Carey School on May 3.