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The fast development of immersive virtual reality (iVR) offers innovative teaching methods, particularly in history education. Research has explored iVR’s pedagogical benefits and challenges, but there are few studies with a focus on design of virtual environments to support history education. This scoping review explores the potential of improving teaching and learning that has been presented in previous studies of iVR design. While some iVR applications have been designed considering the potential to provide narrative to the user, fewer were designed to support critical thinking and methodological approaches to history as a science. This study underscores the need for further development in iVR design for critical and scientific thinking and provides suggestions for how to integrate iVR into history education. The conclusion of the study was that without thoughtful design, iVR would add limited value to learning.

Immersive Virtual Reality (iVR) is increasingly being used in education for its ability to recreate vivid, realistic environments that enhance engagement and motivation. In history education, iVR is often addressed when fostering emotional connection and empathy. However, its potential to support critical historical thinking, such as analysing sources, evaluating perspectives, and understanding bias, is less often addressed. This study contrast emotional and analytical uses of iVR in the history classroom. It investigates teachers’ perceptions of iVR in history education, with a focus on how those perceptions shape pedagogical goals, motives, and implementation strategies.

Guided by Affordance Theory and Leontiev’s Activity Theory, the research adopts a qualitative design based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with twelve history teachers who have implemented iVR in their classrooms. Participants were selected based on their expertise in history education, experience with iVR for teaching, and alignment with competency-based curricula. Through thematic analysis, the study found significant variation in teachers’ strategies and aims, closely linked to their digital competence and the perceived affordances and constraints of iVR. Teachers with higher competence aimed for more complex tasks, such as student-led content creation and applied knowledge, while others focused on motivation and visualization. Some educators expressed concerns that poorly scaffolded iVR content risks oversimplifying historical narratives and promoting passive learning. The findings suggest that the effective use of iVR in history education depends less on the technology itself and more on how it is contextualized, critically framed, and pedagogically enacted.

History education faces challenges engaging students due to its complexity, hindering understanding of key concepts like causality. Immersive virtual reality (iVR) is being broadly implemented in heritage institutions, with some history teachers beginning to explore its potential. However, insufficient technological-pedagogical knowledge complicates its implementation and the competencies needed for K-12 history teachers remain unexplored. Knowledge required to effectively implement iVR in history education is presented, aiming to discuss a model covering the various areas that should be developed for successful history education through iVR.

Organic chemistry, also known as stereochemistry, is a subject considered to be notably complex for students to understand. Knowledge construction in stereochemistry might demand the ability to imagine or visualise the distribution of atoms. For students with insufficient spatial ability, this could be confusing. This study aimed to explore empirically students and teachers’ experiences regarding the opportunities and challenges they encountered when using virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies to teach and learn stereochemistry, as well as how these technologies might support students’ spatial ability and 21st-century skills in K-12 education by participating in virtual lab environments. Using design-based research methods, an exploratory study based on the utilization of immersive technologies was designed and carried out with three groups in Grade 8. Two researchers observed the activities that were implemented, after which the participating students answered a qualitative survey about how these technologies and the specific teaching design might support their understanding of molecules in 3D space. The schoolteacher was interviewed afterwards, and she shared her motives and goals (e.g., what she sought to achieve) by using the technologies in her teaching. The results show that the students had a positive experience in their learning of chemistry through immersive realities, increased motivation to learn the subject, and their test results improved slightly. However, it is essential for a teacher to possess technological know-how regarding VR and AR to achieve the intended goals. The findings highlight the added value of these immersive technologies by enhancing students’ learning processes and the central role of the teacher as a designer and technological leader of the group.

Today, western educational institutions on all levels are situated in highly digitally infused societies and the teaching and learning practices have become increasingly permeated by advanced digital technologies. Teachers need to develop necessary digital competencies to seize the classroom opportunities following with new technologies, while also be able to mitigate risks and addressing challenges.

The use of digital technology in history education has so far faced some resistance. However, the emergence of new digital history trends has started an innovative process highlighting the potential in using digital technology in history teaching and learning. Technologies such as databases or searching engines have been documented in the literature as efficient practices in teaching and learning history. Among a broad array of digital technology available, this study focuses on one emergent technology in history education – immersive virtual reality (iVR).

iVR is expected to grow within education environments in the coming years. Considering iVR, some scholars in history didactics have already looked into the opportunities, risks and challenges which this digital technology might bring to history education. Different studies argue that digital open learning environments, like databases, have the potential to cultivate historical thinking and consider a potential to enable learners to engage in historical analysis akin to that of professional historians. However, studies about the pedagogical uses of iVR seem to report an undecided impact for historical thinking (HT) development.

In light of this intricate terrain, the proposed study seeks to explore history educators’ motives of using iVR in their teaching. To do so, eight history educators have been interviewed. The interviewees are settled at different parts of the western world: 2 in Sweden, 1 in the UK, 3 in USA, and 2 in Spain, considering this international perspective essential for comprehending a teaching approach that is global, active, and competence-based. Participants shared two requirements: (1) they worked within history education, and (2) they had experienced history education through iVR. All interviews were on Zoom, transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis inspired by the Technology Acceptance Model, which has been broadly accepted to explain which factors influence users to adopt a particular technology, such as perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness.

Early results show that the history educators employed iVR as a means to foster their students' historical imagination, facilitating a deeper connection with the past. Notably, some educators also utilized iVR to encourage students to envision potential future scenarios. These motives reflect the educators' intention to shape historical consciousness through the use of iVR. HT is not broadly considered or questioned, and no specific teaching strategies to support it have been broadly found. The history educators’ level of digital competence and level of support from their educational institution seem to affect the way iVR was used and what type of iVR employed.