Exploring virtual reality as a means to enhance historical understanding: the cases of "Anne Frank House VR" and "Home After War"

Virtual Reality is an increasingly widespread technology in the world of entertainment and education. The existing scientific literature indicates that more educational proposals and research are needed to measure the effectiveness of using this technology, as there are studies that demonstrate its effectiveness, but there are also investigations that show that its use does not constitute a significant advancement in the teaching-learning process. Therefore, this chapter presents a model of a didactic proposal carried out in the Primary Education Degree program, specifically in the Virtual Reality Laboratory of the Public University of Navarra, using the free applications “Anne Frank House VR” and “Home After War”. Through the use of Meta Quest VR glasses, students are guided in the use of VR with a double objective: to introduce students to this technology and make them reflect on its didactic possibilities; and to use these applications to help students develop historical thinking.