Too many middle years and high school students remain disengaged from history education, often perceiving it as irrelevant to their everyday lives and futures. While teachers aspire to design engaging history lessons, achieving this goal is challenging amidst the complexities of contemporary classrooms. Differentiating instruction to meet diverse student needs while navigating outdated and rigid curriculum guides can overwhelm educators. Addressing these pedagogical concerns, we conducted a mixed-methods study with 98 participants from the University of Saskatchewan to explore how virtual reality (VR) technologies can support the training and development of pre-service teachers in history curriculum and instruction. Guided by Allen & Sites’ (2012) Successive Approximation Model (SAM), VR experiences were designed to immerse participants in two specific historical contexts: The Ottawa River Timber Slide and Agnes Deans-Cameron Magic Lantern Tour. Data collection methods included Likert scale surveys, open-ended questions, participant observations, and group debriefing sessions. The findings are synthesized within the context of the broader scholarly literature, bridging theoretical insights with practical applications. Based on the study results, we propose instructional design recommendations for integrating VR to support authentic, deep, and meaningful learning experiences in history education.

Keywords: Authentic Learning, Instructional Design, History Education, History Teaching, Teacher Training, Immersive Learning Experiences, Virtual Reality Education