by Mario Hilario, NBC 10 News

A group of Brown University students, led by Adam Blumenthal, Brown University's Virtual Reality Artist-in-Residence, is creating a virtual reality experience they hope will be a teaching tool for middle and high school students.

The VR experience takes the user back to the colony of Rhode Island in 1772 and the events surrounding the historic burning of the British Schooner, the HMS Gaspee.

"I chose the story of the Gaspee, this great story of pre-Revolutionary America because it's a very dramatic story, it's a story that took place in our neighborhoods here. I think it will play well in VR. When the student puts on the VR glasses, they'll be there," said Blumenthal.

The project, still in production, will combine animation, 3D modeling and reenactments that are shot using a 360 degree camera on loan from Google.

"We place this camera in historic locations around Rhode Island, places that were a part of the story, with dozens of historical reenactors and a script and we're simulating events that happened 245 years ago," said Blumenthal.

He will use the project to study the effect virtual reality can have on student engagement and learning.

"I think we can solve the engagement problem, the thing is can we teach something? Can students learn through the experience?"

Blumenthal hopes to find out that answer soon. He and his students expect to roll out the project in Rhode Island schools in the Fall and eventually take it national, hoping to let students across the country know about Rhode Islands role in sparking the American Revolution.

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Virtual reality tools to teach students about the Gaspee Days | WJAR - Turn to 10