A Virtual Reality Kit: An Innovation for Learning About History

Virtual historical models allow school students to explore otherwise inaccessible places. Students may, however, gain greater educational benefit from constructing their own models, than from exploring ready-made models. Nevertheless, sophisticated models are complex and could be frustrating for students to build. A virtual kit may permit students without VR experience to build a more sophisticated model, in a shorter time, without frustration, but still require more attention to detail and give more sense of achievement than a supplied model. Two grade 7 students, without VR experience, assembled an Ancient Egyptian villa from prefabricated virtual sections. In contrast to conventional manipulation of objects on a two-dimensional computer screen, the students had to learn to think in three dimensions, and to be more accurate than in normal art work. A video record of the students' assembly of the virtual kit revealed that they improved in their ability to read plans, to visualize the layout of the buildi...