In the early 1900s, two of the most destructive wars in history shook the world. Between 1914-18, the First World War took place, followed only a few decades later by the Second World War in 1939-1945. The World Wars are two hugely important historical events and key teaching topics across many age levels.
The World Wars offer not only an opportunity to teach students what caused these events, what actually happened and their eventual outcome, but also to help students learn and build new skills such as empathy and emotional intelligence.
Using Virtual Reality to Experience the World Wars
What was daily life like for the soldiers in the World War One trenches? What did it feel like to sit inside an air raid shelter during the Blitz in World War Two? These are just a few of the questions that children may usually struggle to get to grips with and imagine… but with virtual reality, they can truly immerse themselves in the topic.
ClassVR lets your students safely explore, understand and empathise with the World Wars in ways you never thought possible. Using our engaging resources in the ClassVR library and Avanti’s World, they can venture back to the 20th Century and experience a small portion of what war is like without leaving the classroom.
World War One VR Content
When learning about World War One, students can use the ClassVR portal to explore a range of immersive educational resources. They can experience what life was like for soldiers who fought in The Battle of the Somme through a 360-degree virtual reality video; or examine the different types of equipment soldiers used in the many devastating battles. They can assess the strength of the soldiers’ uniform when looking at our 3D Models or view a 360-degree image of the Delville Cemetery to understand the importance of memorials.
From Avanti’s World, students can explore the World War One Trench scene to learn about the layout of the western front and discover how trenches were often the only thing that stopped enemy forces moving forward.
World War Two VR Content
Similarly, when teaching about World War Two, students can begin exploring what life was like for someone arriving at Birkenau concentration camp through a 360-degree photo in the ClassVR library. The VR experiences also help students understand the purpose of the Berlin Holocaust Memorial and examine the role of memorials in the twenty first century.
Students can take a close look at the design of the German Panzer Tank, the Italian biplane and British Spitfire by holding and examining several of our fascinating 3D Models, and even watch a 360-degree video re-enacting a battle that took place in 1941. There are so many educational opportunities at your fingertips!
On top of all of this, students can explore the Modern World Zone in Avanti’s World and discover lots of engaging explorable scenes: from how people lived in Britain during World War Two, how soldiers fought on D-day or the impact the Blitz had on Britain.
Lesson Guides for Teaching the World Wars
As you are delivering your World War lessons and your students are exploring the explorable scenes, it’s important they are getting the most out of the exploration. You can guide the lesson by asking the following questions:
- What was life like for the people who lived at home during the war?
- How might a solider have felt who was going to go and fight for their country?
- Where did most of the fighting take place?
- Which different types of equipment were used during the wars?
To get started, simply search “war” in the ClassVR portal, start adding to your playlists and you’re all set!
TOP TIP: Don’t forget to check out our latest scene guides, teacher notes and student worksheets all available on the ClassVR portal to help you plan your lessons.
We love to hear feedback from schools all over the world on what content you would like to see us build for you next, so if you have any suggestions of resources you’d like to use or lessons you want to teach, just drop our Educational Services team an email at community@classvr.com.
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