The use of virtual reality, augmented reality and metaverse in museum education

Rapidly developing technology has an impact on many dynamics, from daily life to the way the world is perceived, from the learning process to the interaction with the environment. The Covid-19 pandemic, which became a global crisis in 2020, has also rapidly increased the use of technology and the concept of "virtual" has gained more importance than ever before. This situation has brought along a new understanding that has spread to every discipline and institution. In this context, museums, whose mission is to teach while educating their visitors, as well as being the transmitter and protector of cultural heritage and a social institution, have had to reconsider their relationship with technology. With the contemporary understanding of museology, museums, whose social function has come to the fore, have emerged as out-of-school learning spaces that serve the acculturation and education of each individual and provide therapeutic support in addition to their basic functions such as exhibition and conservation. In this context, technology is important for museums to communicate effectively with their visitors, to realize a more efficient and instructive museum education, to reach large masses of visitors and to make the museum experience unforgettable. Augmented reality, virtual reality and metaverse technologies, which have become popular in recent years, stand out as examples that offer important contributions to museums in improving educational activities and visitor experience. In this study, the contributions of augmented reality, virtual reality and metaverse technologies to museums and visitors were examined through theoretical studies, how these technologies are used in the educational activities of domestic and foreign museums were examined, and three different museum education course contents that include augmented reality, virtual reality and metaverse technologies were proposed for use in ocial studies courses at the 4th, 5th and 7th grade levels.