In the past, when physics teacher Matt Sly needed to show his classes simulations, charts, and videos, he’d say, “What this is supposed to look like is….” Now, however, his physics students at Urbana High School, in Urbana, Illinois, have help in understanding complex concepts since Mr. Sly replaced his old projector with a Canon REALiS X600 Multimedia LCOS Projector. This projector provides images with exceptional color reproduction, high contrast, and high brightness – eliminating the need to dim the lights during class.
“I was interested in the potential of a high-quality projector that could communicate my physics teaching to the students in a clearer manner,” explained Mr. Sly. “I use PowerPoint on a regular basis, with links to many Java applets on the web. I often use these simulations to bring difficult-to-visualize events into a reality I could never do with just a whiteboard. The ultimate goal was to have a high-quality projector to use in my classroom every day that students would perceive as an investment in them as learners. The Canon REALiS X600 LCOS Projector was exactly what we needed.”
“The best features of the projector have to be the brightness and the clarity of the images,” Mr. Sly continued. “From time to time, students comment about how they now take for granted the amazing picture quality of the Canon REALiS X600 LCOS Projector, especially when one of their other teachers uses a different projector.”
The clarity and color accuracy of the Canon REALiS X600 recently came in handy for Mr. Sly when teaching the students about light. “All of the colors for color mixing were presented very true to the descriptions,” he noted. “In the past, I’ve had to say to students ‘Pretend that the color is actually yellow when we mix red and green light.’ The Canon REALiS X600 LCOS Projector, however, delivers colors very accurately.”
The intricate detail of the images projected by the Canon REALiS X600 are made possible by Canon’s proprietary AISYS (Aspectual Illumination System) Optical Engine, which efficiently manages and optimizes light from the projection lamp, and maximizes the performance of LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) technology – to produce lattice-free, intricately detailed, color-rich images.
Previous negative experiences with projectors had made Mr. Sly question the wisdom of using them in his lessons. With true-to-life images being mission-critical for certain simulations, he thought that he would never be able to find an affordable projector that could deliver the quality he needed – until he saw the REALiS X600 LCOS Projector.
“Whenever I use my projector for teaching, I want the information displayed to be as clear and sharp to the students in the back row of the room as it is for the students in the front row,” he declared. “I want students to see the picture how I see it on my monitor. My experience with projectors in the past was that this was not the case. When teaching physics, detail-oriented images occur often in simulations, spreadsheet work, and in the computer based labs (CBLs). I feel very fortunate to have such a useful tool as the Canon REALiS X600 in my classroom, and I think my students appreciate the quality as well.”
The REALiS X600 Multimedia LCOS Projector gets a great deal of use in Mr. Sly’s classroom. “I use it for PowerPoint presentations in lecture situations and presenting movies on topics we are covering,” he remarked. “I also use it when showing simulations from web sites and videos, which are designed to capture events difficult to reproduce in a lab setting. The REALiS X600 LCOS Projector makes them more understandable for the students. I have also used it for review games and to teach students how to use web functions. Just recently, I utilized the projector to show the students how to use Microsoft Excel for a project. The image quality for that was really key as in the past I had to zoom in, limiting what I could show at the same time, to make sure they could see the cell lines in the Excel sheet.”
“In addition, my classroom made use of CBLs, in which students collected data using equipment connected directly to the computer with motion detectors, force sensors, light sensors, and much more,” Mr. Sly elaborated. “When demonstrating procedures to the class, I noticed how much quicker it was for them to get into the lab, as they could actually read the screen as I showed them how to navigate through windows, select sections of the data on their graphs, and other parts of the labs. This saved class time, allowing for more time to focus on doing the science.”
Additional features of the Canon REALiS X600 Multimedia LCOS Projector that have made it an indispensable part of Mr. Sly’s classroom are its Auto Set-Up function, which instantly identifies and selects the input source, corrects keystone distortion, sharpens focus, and adjusts for wall color. It was the sharpness of the image, however, that won him over.
“No comparison,” he affirmed. “This projector is so much better than any I have used before. The picture is just so much better than I imagined I would ever have in my classroom. Students were amazed at the beginning of the year! Another teacher using the projector even said there were some visualizations that he chose not to show in the past, but with the Canon REALiS X600 LCOS Projector he was able to show them to his students.”
“I wish every teacher using visual technology in their classroom had access to such an amazing projector,” he concluded. “Students respond so much more to visual representations, particularly to concepts that are difficult to conceptualize. Using a projector like the Canon REALiS X600 LCOS Projector, students can really see the actual phenomenon from any seat in the classroom. I am very grateful to this projector for allowing me the opportunity to see how a truly impressive projection system can transform normal technology use into visual inspiration.”
For more information about Canon REALiS Multimedia LCOS Projectors, please visit www.usa.canon.com/projectors.
About Canon U.S.A., Inc.
Canon U.S.A., Inc. delivers consumer, business-to-business, and industrial imaging solutions. Its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), a top patent holder of technology, ranked third overall in the U.S. in 2007†, with global revenues of $39.3 billion, is listed as one of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies in America and is on the 2007 BusinessWeek list of “Top 100 Brands.” To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/pressroom.
†IFI Patent Intelligence Press Release, January 2008
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