@article {, title = {Past lives, present learners: Future directions for history education in virtual reality}, journal = {Computers \& Education: X Reality}, volume = {7}, year = {2025}, chapter = {100114}, abstract = {

This study investigates the relationship between presence and learning outcomes in Virtual Reality (VR) environments, with a focus on both cognitive and affective learning. Using the\ Anne Frank VR House, a virtual replica of a hiding place for a group of Jewish people during World War II, 74 university students explored how the feeling of presence affects knowledge acquisition and perspective-taking. The results showed a significant positive correlation between presence and perspective-taking, but no effect on knowledge acquisition, meaning that a higher sense of presence predicted higher perspective-taking, while knowledge scores did not. These findings highlight VR\&$\#$39;s potential to create a sense of presence and thus foster emotional engagement in history education, suggesting that empathy-driven learning may be an effective way to engage students with complex socio-political issues beyond factual knowledge.

}, keywords = {Anne Frank, head-mounted displays, Learning, presence, virtual reality}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cexr.2025.100114}, author = {Miriam Mulders and Kristian H. Tr{\"a}g and Lilly Kaninski and Lara Rahner} } @article {, title = {Virtual reality and affective learning in commemorative history teaching: Effects of immersive technology and generative learning activities}, journal = {Journal of Research on Technology in Education}, year = {2025}, chapter = {1-21}, abstract = {

Learning with virtual reality (VR) can be highly motivating and conducive for cognitive and affective learning outcomes. For commemorative history education, VR enables novel experiences of testimonies co-created by survivors, witnesses, and museums. VR technologies allow learners to feel immediacy and an emotional connection to digitally reconstructed spaces and events of the past. While VR has proven to enhance affective learning outcomes by provoking emotions, interest, or motivation, its perceptual richness may also lead to distraction and cognitive overload. Generative learning activities can alleviate some of the limitations of learning with VR by helping learners to focus on the learning material. This study examines a highly engaging and historical immersive VR application and thereby investigates the effectiveness of the generative learning activities of self-explaining and drawing. Seventy-four undergraduate students explored a three-dimensional representation of the room where Anne Frank, a Jewish girl, was hiding during World War II. For the two experimental conditions, students had to either create drawings of Anne Frank\’s room and their own room or verbally explain how Anne Frank\’s living conditions would feel for them. For the control condition, students did not engage in a subsequent activity. Based on generative learning theory, we predicted that students engaging in generative learning activities would display higher posttest scores in knowledge and perspective taking than the control group. No such effects were found. Although the VR experience itself increased the ability to empathize with Anne Frank across all groups, it did not contribute to knowledge building. The study results indicate that even without any additional activity, VR can convey highly emotionally engaging testimonies and enables role taking, which suggests that VR is in particular suitable for affective learning.

}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2025.2461524}, url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15391523.2025.2461524}, author = {Miriam Mulders and Kristian H. Tr{\"a}g and Lilly Kaninski and Lara Kirner and Michael Kerres} } @conference {, title = {Gestaltung immersiver Lernszenarien: Generative Aktivit{\"a}ten beim Lernen mit dem Anne Frank VR House}, booktitle = {Workshops der 22. Fachtagung Bildungstechnologien (DELFI)}, year = {2024}, pages = {13-20}, publisher = {Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Informatik}, organization = {Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Informatik}, address = {Fulda}, abstract = {

Das Lernen in immersiver virtueller Realit\ät (VR) kann motivierend und f\örderlich sein, aber es kann auch zu Ablenkung und kognitiver \Überlastung f\ühren. Generative Lernaktivit\äten k\önnen einige der Einschr\änkungen des Lernens mit immersiver VR abschw\ächen, indem sie den Lernenden helfen, sich auf das Lernmaterial zu konzentrieren. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht die Wirksamkeit von zwei generativen Lernstrategien: Selbst-Erkl\ären und Zeichnen. W\ährend bisherige Studien zu generativen Lernaktivit\äten eher kognitive Lernziele adressierten, wurden die Aufgaben in dieser Studie so formuliert, dass Bez\üge zum Selbst hergestellt und so affektive Ziele wie die Perspektiven\übernahme in den VR-Protagonisten eher erreicht werden k\önnen. Vierundsiebzig Bachelorstudierende erkundeten den Raum, in dem Anne Frank sich vor den Nationalsozialisten im zweiten Weltkrieg verstecken musste, in einer immersiven VR-Umgebung. F\ür die experimentellen Bedingungen wurden die Studierenden nach der VR-Erfahrung entweder aufgefordert, Zeichnungen von Anne Franks Zimmer und ihrem eigenen Zimmer zu erstellen oder zu erkl\ären, wie sich Anne Franks Lebensbedingungen f\ür sie anf\ühlen w\ürden. F\ür die Kontrollbedingung nahmen die Studierenden an keiner Lernaktivit\ät teil. In diesem Paper werden die Ergebnisse deskriptiver Analysen der generativen Lernaktivit\äten vorgestellt und diskutiert.

}, doi = {10.18420/delfi2024-ws-02}, author = {Miriam Mulders and Kristian H. Tr{\"a}g and Lara Kirner and Lilly Kaninski} }