Learn About Lincoln: Peak Reality Uses AR To Shine Light On US President’s History

One of the things we often discuss here are the different ways that immersive technologies are playing a role in the field of education. It’s understandable considering just how many subjects there are, the various different fields and by extension the ways that the technology can help solve problems, answer questions and reveal new ways to help students’ understanding of topics and ideas.

In the last few months alone, we’ve brought you news and features related to a number of different immersive education projects and events. Kevin Williams’ The Virtual Arena column gave an oversight into the recent British Educational Training and Technology Show (BETT). NUSHU are looking to augmented reality (AR) to make the news more accessible to children.  Google are also using AR as part of their continued Google Expeditions series. There’s a new mixed reality (MR) service for Chinese students and their Canadian tutors, and charting American history there was a virtual reality (VR) experience created on how The Unabomber was caught.

Developers Peak Reality are also looking into American history with the latest addition to their AR Flashcards series. Following up an update to their AR Flashcards Space offering which targeted the Apollo 11 space program and allowed students to do things such as land the Lunar Module and dock the Command Module all within AR.  The team have now turned the clock back even more to one of US history’s most revered political figures and in timely fashion one whose birthday would have been this week.  The 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.

“In this first release you will learn about and visit historical places that Lincoln lived in as a child.  There are 4 doorways that will take you to real places in Kentucky where he was born and for a $.99 in app purchase you can buy the next 5 doorways in Indiana where he spent much of his youth.  You will also get an animated Lincoln reciting the Gettysburg Address for free!”

The Gettysburg Address, which took place during the American Civil War, is widely considered one of the best-known and most important speeches in history.

You can see a screenshot of the app in action below. Peak Reality will be looking to add additional content throughout the year based on other periods in Lincoln’s life, in relation to New Salem and Springfield. A further pack relating to Washington DC will be added by around September with further “surprises” revealed throughout the year.

The app is available now on the Apple App Store and can be found here.

Originally written by the author for VRFocus.