The 380 students of IES Poetas Andaluces in Benalmádena have explored Phoenician, Roman, and Picasso's Málaga using virtual reality glasses in the Historical Virtual Reality Workshop, promoted by the school in collaboration with XR Experiences.
The IES Poetas Andaluces in Benalmádena has turned its classrooms into a time machine. The 380 students of the school have participated in the Historical Virtual Reality Workshop, an initiative from the Geography and History Department that combines an interactive book with immersive experiences to bring the local history of Málaga and Benalmádena closer to students.
The mayor, Juan Antonio Lara, and the councillor for Education, María Luisa Robles, visited the school to learn about the project's development, which also involves the Málaga-based company XR Experiences and has engaged around 40 members of the teaching staff and Administrative and Services Personnel (PAS), as well as the AMPA.
The starting point is an Open Educational Resource (REA) hosted on BlogsAverroes, the institutional platform of the Ministry of Education. Developed with H5P technology, it functions as an interactive book that mixes texts, infographics, images, videos, comics, and activities about the history of Málaga and Benalmádena, with special attention to sites in the municipality such as Benalroma.
The immersive experience, developed free of charge by XR Experiences at the school itself, has been articulated under the slogan “Learning History vs LIVING HISTORY”. Students have used virtual reality glasses to delve into four topics: Phoenician Málaga, Roman Málaga, The Capture of Málaga, and Picasso's Málaga.
The project has been promoted by the school's director and Art History teacher, Antonio Carrillo. As the mayor explained during the visit, the workshop complements the previous work with the interactive book and serves as a prelude to the initial assessment, allowing students to face that first test after having worked on the content in various formats.
“What’s interesting about this project is that students are not limited to studying history in a book; they can see it, explore it, and practically live it firsthand,” the mayor highlighted.
Lara congratulated Carrillo, the Geography and History Department, and the educational community for incorporating new ways of teaching and pointed out that knowing local heritage is also a way to value and preserve it. The councillor for Education emphasised the involvement of the teaching staff in adding methodologies that complement traditional teaching.
The workshop has already been conducted for the students at the school and there are currently no plans to expand it to other schools in the municipality.
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