West Baton Rouge Parish Schools Immerses Students in Academics and Physical Education with Epson Projectors and Lü

West Baton Rouge Parish Schools (WBR Schools), a 4,150-student public school system in Louisiana, is known throughout the region for its innovative technology use to support instruction. When administrators began looking for new ways to extend academics into physical education classes, they found the perfect solution with Epson and Lü.

The Lü systems use Epson laser projectors in combination with a motion-detecting camera, a powerful sound system, a fully automated multi-color lighting system, and Lü’s library of educational content and games, to transform school gyms into immersive learning environments.

Using Epson projectors allows the system to create big, bright images that can be easily seen by students in a large gymnasium space.

“When manufacturing Lü products, we always meticulously select high-quality and reliable components,” said Lü founder and CEO Vincent Routhier about the company’s decision to use Epson projectors. “Epson's projectors meet these criteria perfectly, forging a successful partnership from the very beginning.”

To use the Lü system, teachers select from Lü’s library of fun, educational games which are then projected onto the gymnasium wall so students can physically interact with the content. For instance, students can bounce balls off of the wall or can jump and move around to touch or tap different spots on the wall during a game to trigger responses from the system. Games incorporate math problems, vocabulary or other lessons, creating experiences that blend physical activity and learning in a fun and engaging way.

“It’s the idea of using tech as a tool,” said WBR Schools’ Dr. Tammy Seneca, supervisor of information systems and educational technology, describing what attracted the district to the Lü system. “We liked the idea of being able to bring academics into physical activity. It allows for problem-solving too. Kids love gaming and you can kind of trick them into doing math problems! The kids are still playing and having fun while they’re practicing multiplication tables.”

For one activity, teachers created a multi-week competition during which students were divided into two teams during PE class and played an interactive basketball game with the Lü system. A basketball hoop was projected onto the wall and each team had five minutes during which students took turns throwing basketballs at the image trying to “make a basket.” Leveraging the interactivity of the Lü system, which senses where the basketballs hit the wall and gives students points based on how close they are to the basket, teams scored as many points as possible during the five minutes and the scores were tallied and tracked. At the end of the several-week challenge, the team with the most points earned a pizza party.

“The lesson is set up so students are learning teamwork and what they need to do to get to a certain number of points,” said Seneca.

WBR Schools partnered with reseller Trafera to purchase the Lü systems and now has a total of eight Lü systems – one in each elementary and middle school gymnasium. The team loved the system so much that in one school that didn’t have a flat wall large enough to accommodate the games (Lü recommends walls be at least 19 feet by 11 feet with a ceiling height of 10 feet), they – with the support of Trafera – created a work-around just so they could use the technology. Staff built a “temporary wall” that connects on a hinge that they can unfold and use for the Lü, then fold back up when it is not in use.

Seneca says teachers are excited about the possibilities of the system. One teacher even asked how to use YouTube videos to access “Just Dance” videos or other content.

“Teachers love it,” said Seneca of the system. “It shows them that we can blend academics with PE in a fun way.”