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by mattferderer 3250 days ago
I strongly agree with this. A recent Google search I did showed companies are already trying this with VR. I hope within the next decade it is common place for students to learn history by being put in the shoes of different people during the events.

I know one famous history lesson where a teacher separated her class into 2 groups based on the color of their eyes. This happened shortly after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The teacher than treated one group superior to the others. They received longer recess, praise & other benefits. The inferior group was treated very poorly & their grades & attitude suffered because of it. The next day she said she made a mistake & the other group was superior. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/introduction-2/

The students in my school had a history teacher that would randomly surprise us in Middle School with an announcement of our school being selected to send one student to space. He put on a great acting performance to a bunch of gullible students. He did this to discuss what it might have been like sailing across the ocean to discover a new continent. He also talked about the teacher that sadly died with several astronauts in an explosion. Almost everyone who attended my school remembers this lesson.

Imagine if it was easy for all teachers to provide historical lessons with such impact & meaning. The improvements it could make in civil engagement, relations in our communities & maybe it could even help curb the constant jumping to conclusions that people love to do.