Immersive Learning of Cultural Heritage through VR: Evaluating Interest Development and Educational Outcomes in the Osaka Castle Case Study

This research aims to create content that enhances users' interest in target historical buildings, in order to promote the preservation, utilization, and continuation of historical structures. While preserving cultural properties requires a wide range of knowledge and personnel, the aging of the current workforce and a shortage of successors have become serious issues; thus, it is necessary to stimulate greater public interest in cultural assets. Therefore, in this research, a content utilizing VR (Virtual Reality) technology was developed; taking Osaka Castle as an example of a historical building, an animation content was created that allows users to relive its history. The historical events of Osaka Castle were reproduced in several scenes, and the learning effects of the VR experience and the pamphlet experience were measured for visitors. The results revealed that while the VR experience excels in providing visual information, it has limitations in conveying textual information. Moreover, survey results indicated that although feedback suggested the VR experience was perceived as more enjoyable, it also highlighted challenges in deepening learning. In the future, by incorporating walkthrough-style VR experiences and gamification, improvements to the content will be made to aim for deeper learning effects and sustained interest. It is believed that doing so will provide users with opportunities to develop long-term interest in and a deeper understanding of historical buildings and cultural properties