Primary Reality: Exploring the Virtual Frontier in Elementary Education

The PREVEE project is a partnership between primary, secondary, and higher education institutions with the aim of integrating good practices in the teaching of history through augmented and virtua...

The PREVEE project is a partnership between primary, secondary, and higher education institutions with the aim of integrating good practices in the teaching of history through augmented and virtual reality digital tools . Through the collaboration of the teachers of the 2nd Elementary School of Zografou with the teachers of the Centro Educativo La Merced y San Francisco Javier (Burgos) and the researchers of the University of Umea, we wanted to investigate how the use of virtual reality tools can be an organic element for the learning of history and not just an impressive isolated activity. At the core of the plan was the Digital Dimension. Our main goal was to develop accessible and high-quality inclusive digital education. To succeed in this project, we wished to expand the digital competence of teachers in the 2nd Zografou Primary School by enabling them to use simple and accessible augmented and virtual reality tools.

The activities implemented were as follows: 1)Initial Management Meeting2)Meeting for Teachers' Education in Sweden3)Meetings between teachers and researchers4)Website creation5)Implementation of an educational activity in the 2nd Zografou Primary School 6)Meetings between teachers and management team7)Hybrid Seminar for the dissemination of the project results.There was one modification in the project activities: the results were presented at the CICTE2024 conference in Greece instead of the Histolab Conference. As the deadline for the Histolab approached we realised that we were not ready to present any results. We aimed for a highly acclaimed conference, with international standards that was followed by top experts in the field.

a)The teachers gained valuable knowledge on how to use VR and in the class b)Cooperation with partners from different European countries and different educational sectors provided a wealth of knowledge that translated into the adoption of good practices in our school. Through a set of semi-structured interviews conducted by researchers from the University of Umea, it became clear that the four teachers (including the headmaster) who participated in the program felt they had gained confidence in using VR and AR tools. c)Students, especially those with learning difficulties, have met the implementation of the activities and the new ways in which the lesson of history was taught with enthusiasm. d)The 2nd Z.P. School has acquired the material needed to expand the use of VR as an educational tool in the teaching not only of History, but of other subjects too. e)The Hybrid Seminar was attended by teachers in other schools in the area and students of teaching schools. We believe that the 2nd Zografou Primary School will become a hub of knowledge for colleagues interested to follow f) A site was created in order to describe and disseminate the knowledge we acquired through the project.