Project Gemina 3D. Virtual Archaeology: How to create a Realistic Virtual Archaeological Museum in Úbeda (SOI-ES-606)
Authors: José María Díaz Fuentes and David Rodríguez Martínez
In coordination with the Archaeological Museum of Úbeda
Below is a summary of the activities, but you can download the full Story of Reuse and its annexes here in Word and PDF.
This Story of Reuse is based on a Learning Scenario we developed for our students which combines Digitalization and History and in which we reused digital cultural heritage items from Europeana.eu, connecting local heritage with European digital resources.
The aim of this lesson is to develop students’ digital skills by guiding them in creating a virtual replica of the Archaeological Museum of Úbeda, using 3D modeling and immersive technologies.
Introduction
Last year we carried out a project that consisted of a virtual tour of our city. It was a very interesting and promising project (available here).
The students spent some time sightseeing around the city, and after that playful activity, I suggested to my students that they conduct a more detailed study of one of the buildings in our city: the Mudejar House, also known as the Archaeological Museum of Úbeda.
First visit
During our first visit to the Archaeological Museum of Úbeda, we conducted the following activities:
- For the subject of digitalization: we obtained museum plans, took on-site measurements, photographed from different angles, and recorded various details.
- For the subject of history: we took a tour of the museum spaces, exploring the diverse items located within, and selecting one object in pairs.
Architecture
Over 18 class sessions (6 weeks), students individually modelled specific elements that make up the building’s structure. They also worked in pairs, which helps improve each final product and gives them the opportunity to get ongoing feedback.
Parallel work
Each week, the computer science teacher, together with students, integrated the elements provided by the students into a Tinkercad project and checked it on the Spatial platform.
The contents of a museum’s display cases are so numerous that it’s impossible to cover them all in a school project, so we’ve only included photographs of the cases, although we’ve interactively highlighted some particularly important objects taken from Europeana. We’ve also included some decorative elements from the museum that we had previously overlooked.
Presentation and assessment 1
For one hour, the students tour the virtual museum, recognizing their own work and preparing the sheet that they will present as proof in the assessment session.
Second visit
In our second visit to the museum, students visited the museum in pairs to scan (using the Polycam app) the piece they have committed to studying.
Since this is a collaborative project with the museum, we provide them with our virtual space, and the final digitization of each artifact is done by the museum itself using Blender. These scans are then shared with us and saved in high resolution as valuable data for public display.
Access to 3D file made by our students here.
Research
Each pair of students then carried out their research on the artifact assigned, and prepared a formal content sheet following a detailed script and in accordance with the museum’s requirements, as all these studies will form part of the museum’s inherent data set.
Presentation and assessment 2
Each pair of students handed their worksheets to the history teacher to ensure that the content was appropriate and met the required quality standard, making final corrections if necessary.
We shared the work done with other teachers and parents and in our school’s dissemination groups. For example: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1LBKeLvykG/
Assessment
During Digitalization class time, the teacher has observed each student’s progress, acknowledging their good ideas and suggesting potential improvements.
Since our students work in pairs, peer assessment is also very important at all times.
There are no failing grades, and the result of each student’s work is always integrated into the project when it reaches a certain level of quality.
The whole project and the virtual building are visible on our virtual space.
About copyright
Ceres Database_Archaeological Museum of Úbeda
CER.es Colecciones en Red – Ministerio de Cultura
“Access to the CER.es catalog is free and open to all. Reproduction of the content for private use is permitted, provided it is exclusively for personal or educational, non-commercial, and non-profit purposes, and is not shared with third parties, always within the limits established by law”.
The items from the Archaeological Museum of Úbeda taken from Europeana.eu have been used upon permission granted by the Museum itself, collaborator in this project.
CC BY-NC: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana and has been provided by the University Institute for Research in Iberian Archeology.