Vari House Greece |
Paving the Way
In the mid-1990s, Learning Sites, Inc., began to pursue the then-new concept of using online virtual reality environments to change the way history is taught in schools. There clearly were exciting possibilities of presenting students with immersive visualizations of places, peoples, and events of the past, along with linked information, lessons, and problem-solving tasks.
Screen capture from the first Vari House virtual world, c.1997. |
Students could be given information about the site as if they were an archaeologist accumulating data and questions for them to answer using evidence they had found. Some of the information could be in the virtual world to be discovered as the student navigated through it. Other information could be in linked text, where the student would learn information about relevant history, culture, geography, etc., that helped them interpret the significance of their discoveries.
In 1998, it was decided to further develop the teaching package by adding another building to it, a complementary urban dwelling of the same period as the Vari House (the Greek Hellenistic period). The so-called House of Many Colors, at the city of Olynthus in northern Greece, was chosen, and a package called Ancient Greece: Town & Country was released.
Reference
Page Created: December 12, 2004
Page Updated: January 5, 2012
URL:
Page Author: The Institute for the Visualization of History