Gamification in AR: how augmented reality helps schoolchildren get involved in culture and study history

2021: Launch of augmented reality project about the history and culture of the port city of Bari

On May 31, 2021, it became known that the company LANIT-TERCOM Italy"" (part of the group) LANIT Italian startup Augmented.City and launched an educational project in the history augmented reality stories and culture of the port city of Bari. Together with the Catholic school Istituto Preziosissimo Sangue (IPS) and with the support of, Academy of the Nikolaev Citadel the Basilica of St. Nicholas was developed mobile application with elements of technology. AR Augmented reality in game form involves young residents and guests of Bari in the study of the centuries-old history of the city. The peculiarity of the project is the direct participation of secondary and junior students in its schools implementation.

Gamification in AR: how augmented reality helps schoolchildren get involved in culture and study history

As explained, this initiative - the first step in the digitalization of the Academy of the Nikolaev Citadel - will serve to increase its popularity among tourists and youth. The creators of the solution showed that AR technology can be available not only to technology companies, but also to students 10-14 years old. The ideas of schoolchildren were reflected in the project: the content of the application was not created by adults for children, but by children for themselves.

St. Nicholas the Wonderworker is revered among believers around the world, and in Western European and North American cultures he acts as a prototype of the folklore character Santa Claus, who brings children gifts for Christmas. Students of the IPS school who took part in the project immersed themselves in the study of these and other aspects of culture and religion. They got acquainted with the traditions, traditions and legends associated with St. Nicholas, the architectural features of the basilica and identified symbols that best reflect the heritage of the saint.

So on the territory of the basilica of the same name appeared the first in Italy AR-animation in the form of a realistic three-dimensional model of Nikolai the Wonderworker, implemented by the Russian 3D artist Sergei Pastukhov (also works under the pseudonym m-dept). When creating the model, he took into account all the details of the statue of St. Nicholas, installed in the basilica of the city of Bari, and the recommendations of schoolchildren.

To see the image of the saint and go along the entire route of augmented reality, you need only a smartphone or tablet with the AC Viewer application installed. The figure of a saint known throughout the world moves in space, burns above the ground at the main entrance to the square in front of the temple, moves to its center, stops and invites visitors to go to the basilica. On the recommendation of the students, animated fish symbolizing the sea were placed in 3D space: according to legend, it was along the sea that the relics of Nicholas the Wonderworker arrived in Bari in 1087 and still guard the city. Also, based on the symbols studied, schoolchildren developed a logo that in the future may indicate a route for young tourists in the historical part of the city.

Introducing young people to such difficult things to understand as the history of culture and religion is not easy. We need to find an approach. Gamification, favorite animated characters, technology is what is close to them. AR technology allowed students to get acquainted with the historical heritage of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in a fascinating form and made the basilica of the Nikolaev citadel an even more attractive place on tourist routes. told Katerina Ufnarovskaya, General Director of LANIT-TERCOM Italy