Learning History Using Virtual and Augmented Reality

Abstract

Master lectures of history are usually quite boring for the students, and to keep their attention requires a great effort from teachers. Virtual and Augmented Reality have a clear potential in education and can solve this problem. Serious games that use immersive technologies allow students to visit and interact with environments dated in different ages. Taking this in mind, this article presents a playful virtual reality experience set in Ancient Rome that allows the user to learn concepts from that age. The virtual experience reproduces as accurately as possible the different buildings and civil constructions of the time, making it possible for the player to create Roman cities in a simple way. Once built, the user can visit them, accessing the buildings and being able to interact with the objects and characters that appear. Moreover, in order to learn more information about every building, users can visualize them using Augmented Reality using marker-based techniques. Different information has been included related to every building, such as their main uses, characteristics, or even some images that represent them. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the developed experience, several experiments have been carried out, taking as sample Secondary School students. Initially, the game’s quality and playability has been evaluated and, subsequently, the motivation of the virtual learning experience in history. The results obtained support on the one hand its gameplay and attractiveness, and on the other, the student’s increased interest in studying history, as well as the greater fixation of different concepts treated in a playful experience.