Jason Van Hierden on VCORE Education

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/02/10

Jason Van Hierden is the President of VRCORE Education, which has partnered with the International Space Station National Laboratory (ISSNL) to launch “ISS: Curiosity in Orbit,” a VR program transforming school gymnasiums into immersive space labs. Funded by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and debuting in September 2025, the program targets underserved schools in Alberta and Texas. Students explore physics, biology, and chemistry through hands-on experiments, eliminating logistical barriers and fostering STEM learning—Hierden talks about leveraging VR for education. Initially focused on VR arcades, Vcore pivoted to educational VR post-COVID, introducing Magic School Bus-style experiences to schools. These immersive sessions aim to inspire interest in STEM and history, offering collaborative and independent activities. Hierden discussed plans to expand VR content for full-time school labs, address workforce skill gaps, and partner with NASA to explore space logistics and experiments like crystallization and 3D printing in zero gravity. He emphasized the cultural and systemic challenges in education, particularly in the U.S., compared to Canada.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Let’s make sure we have the facts correct. Today, we’re here with Jason Van Hierden, the president of Vcore Education. Vcore Education is focused on transforming classrooms and engaging students, particularly in STEM and other areas. How did you get into VR, and how did you transition into the educational field?

Jason Van Hierden: It all started with virtual reality arcades in 2016 when VR was brand new, and everyone wanted to experience it. A friend of mine thought an arcade would be a great idea. So, we set up one location, which was a massive success—it became incredibly busy. We achieved a full return on investment in just four or five months. After that, we began expanding to additional locations. Eventually, we grew to six locations across Western Canada before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. We didn’t close any stores during COVID-19, but we realized there were flaws in the business model. That’s when we decided to pivot to VR education. Since COVID, we’ve closed four of our six locations, leaving just two. About three years ago, we launched the education initiative. Now, we bring VR headsets into schools and transform their gymnasiums into Magic School Bus-style educational experiences.

These experiences are designed to engage entire classes simultaneously. It’s been a fun and rewarding transition. 

Jacobsen: Regarding this Magic School Bus model, are makeshift stations set up in different parts of the gymnasium, or is the process more fluid, with students moving through and completing each segment in sequence?

Hierden: It depends on the teacher’s plans. When the experience begins, all the students are in a general world experience. In this setting, they can interact with both the environment and each other. Then, we move on to what we call activity bubbles. In these, three to five students work together in their gymnasium section, collaborating on activities and manipulating assets. For example, they might be tasked with arranging the planets in the correct order, physically picking them up and placing them.

Another example is creating ecosystems. We could ask students to create a rainforest on one side of a mountain range and a desert on the other. They manipulate weather patterns and other factors to achieve these environments. This kind of activity fosters teamwork and collaboration.

Finally, we have individual stations. Here, each student works independently in their virtual world. They cannot see other students and must independently complete an activity or objective. Meanwhile, the teacher—who is also in VR—monitors and controls the activities for the entire class.

Jacobsen: Bill Nye discussed the concept of the reverse classroom, where students would attend school briefly for an overview and then complete their coursework independently at home, at their own pace. Would this model serve as a middle ground for that?

Hierden: That’s an interesting idea. I’ll have to look up the concept of the reverse classroom—it sounds like a lot of fun! 

Jacobsen: My phrasing might be more of a colloquial interpretation.

Hierden: I’m intrigued by the concept. Now, the way that we see it, right now, we’re just a VR field trip. We come into a school and do a 60- to 75-minute experience with students, but that’s only because we don’t have enough content to support a full-time VR lab in schools. We’ve got about five or six hours of content for each grade. For a school to spend $100,000 for six hours of content in a year—that’s too much.

Once we’ve developed four to five hundred hours of high-quality content for each grade, we anticipate schools will start setting up VR labs. This will allow students to learn much more extensively using VR.

Jacobsen: And why focus on STEM? Why should we focus on underserved communities in Alberta and Texas?

Hierden: Fair question. Focusing on underserved communities is largely because many grants are available for that. We can partner with the government to help schools afford this and provide these field trips.

STEM is low-hanging fruit. These are the easiest experiences to develop. From a business perspective, the development cost is lower, and the returns are higher. That said, we want to expand into areas like history. For older grades, we’d love to recreate experiences like storming Normandy Beach.

Imagine students all starting on one side of the gymnasium, storming Normandy Beach together, and then moving through the gymnasium, experiencing the trenches. VR can provide an emotional connection to history, which you just don’t get from watching a YouTube video or reading a book, especially because it’s a shared experience with the entire class.

Jacobsen: There’s also a program involving the ISS. How do you give students a sense of zero gravity—or convey the wonder of being in space—while they’re participating in that experience?

Hierden: In some VR experiences, participants can simulate zero gravity by holding onto the side of the ISS and throwing themselves off, making it feel like the ISS is floating away from them—or vice versa. However, we can’t replicate that because our students need to remain in the same physical location, both in the real world and virtually, at all times.

They can’t move virtually without physically moving, so we don’t focus on simulating zero gravity. Instead, we focus on allowing students to perform experiments similar to what astronauts do on the ISS, but in virtual reality. For example, they can pull cabinets out of the walls and conduct experiments in those cabinets—whether it’s biology, physics, chemistry, or something else. That’s more of our focus than the sensation of zero gravity because it’s simply not feasible in our setup. The students are firmly planted in a gymnasium.

Jacobsen: And there’s a skills gap in the job market between what students learn in high school and what’s required. How does VR address this gap? There is a disconnect between what students choose to learn in universities, what the market needs regarding jobs, and the skills people graduate with. How are you addressing these deficits or, more accurately, this mismatch between worker skills and job market demands?

Hierden: Our relationship with industries like NASA and the ISS is still somewhat distant. For example, NASA is interested in increasing its space-related workforce. At this stage, we’re offering students immersive experiences that, hopefully—and we can’t track this too well yet—will inspire them to pursue space-related careers.

As we continue to build out this platform, we’ll be able to do much more. For example, we’ll analyze how quickly students pick up certain skills and their personalities, proclivities, and interests. We aim to provide personalized career recommendations by the time they finish school. Out of 250 potential jobs, we could identify the top 10 roles that best align with a student’s abilities and interests.

We could even act as a liaison between students who show exceptional aptitude in certain areas and organizations like NASA. We could say, “Hey, NASA, this student is highly skilled. You should consider hiring them for an internship or sponsoring their university degree.” However, our platform needs to grow and mature significantly before we can conduct this kind of student analytics.

Jacobsen: What types of jobs are NASA and other organizations projecting as the most in-demand roles in the late 2020s and early 2030s? What are they most hungry for?

Hierden: The biggest area NASA is focused on is space logistics. This involves figuring out how to transport an object—let’s say, a widget—from a small town in Wisconsin to the International Space Station. Or, looking ahead, how to move that widget into a space manufacturing plant, which NASA plans to have operational in the 2030s and 2040s.

While there’s no shortage of people applying to become astronauts—since it’s such an attractive job—space logistics doesn’t have the same appeal. NASA is asking us to help illustrate what’s involved in this field. For instance, what does it take to move a widget from Earth to space? What factors need to be considered, such as G-forces, packaging, placement in the rocket, delivery methods, and more? These logistics are critical, but they’re not roles many people are currently pursuing.

Jacobsen: Do we know the average number of people served by their local educational system? Those served significantly more than average, and those were underserved. Do we have data on how these groups transition into higher education and STEM fields or choose not to pursue them? Is there a significantly different gap between these categories?

Hierden: The gap isn’t as stark in Canada. However, in the United States, it’s extremely pronounced. Many parents will move to specific school districts to give their children a better chance of getting into certain colleges or universities. For example, in New Jersey, statistics show that over 60% of students graduating from high school don’t possess reading and writing skills at a proper grade-four level. It’s a significant problem.

Jacobsen: Have reading, writing, and arithmetic scores in the United States been declining for a long time?

Hierden: From what I understand, yes. The United States used to rank extraordinarily high in global education rankings, but they’ve slipped significantly. Countries like Singapore and China are now outperforming the U.S., which is somewhat embarrassing for a country with such resources.

Jacobsen: How are Americans addressing this gap?

Hierden: Honestly, from what I see, they’re spending money on it, but it’s not resolving the issue. They’re paying teachers more, building nicer schools, and so on, but the outcomes aren’t improving. It’s more of a cultural issue, though that’s more of a personal perspective than something I’ve deeply researched.

Jacobsen: What kinds of experiments can people conduct on the ISS, curiosity in orbit?

Hierden: These are still under development, so we haven’t finalized what they’ll include. However, one idea involves creating crystallization in space, which differs from how crystals form on Earth. Here on Earth, gravity compresses crystals as they form, which can impact their structure. You can achieve perfect crystal formation in zero gravity because there’s no need to support the structures against gravity.

Another concept explored is space manufacturing, specifically 3D printing organs in zero gravity. Without support, you can 3D print organs like hearts much more efficiently. These organs could then be sent back to Earth for medical use. Within 10 to 15 years, you could receive a 3D-printed heart manufactured in space.

Jacobsen: Any further thoughts based on today’s conversation?

Hierden: Nope.

Jacobsen: OK, this is the part where we part ways now.

Hierden: Awesome. Thanks a ton, Scott.

Jacobsen: You’re welcome. Take care.

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