Can Mobile Games Make Learning History at Archaeological Parks Fun and Instructive?

This paper illustrates a project currently under development. The project aims at designing a system to support young students learning history at an archaeological park, exploiting mobile technology. It requires minimal investments and changes to the existing park exhibition because it runs on the visitors’ own cellular phones. Preliminary user studies we have performed demonstrated that students are very enthusiastic in using this new tool in their school activities. Our main objective is to evaluate the whole user experience in a real setting. Thus, we are planning a more formal experiment to be conducted at an archaeological park. The experiment aims at assessing whether mobile games can make learning history at archaeological parks fun and instructive