Learning Journal #3: "Making it real": Exploring the potential of Augmented Reality for teaching primary school science

Journal Entry #3(26/11/2013-27/11/2013)

For this week Learning Styles and Strategies class, I studied about learning strategies used in both science and mathematics, where my classmates and I were put into groups and had to do a short presentation on what makes a good science or maths class/curriculum and what makes a lousy science or maths class/curriculum. I also learned about the meaning of augmented reality (AR), the difference between AR and VR, how do teachers feel about using AR to teach their subject matter in the classroom, the benefits and limitations of using AR in both teaching and learning. In this entry, I will review one article that talked about the potential of Augmented Reality (AR) to teach primary school science in a fun, engaging, interactive and meaningful way.

According to Webopedia (2013), Augmented Reality is a type of virtual reality that focus on the duplicating the environment in a computer.

Based on the article “Making it real”: Exploring the potential of Augmented Reality for teaching primary school science” by Lucinda Kerawalla , Rosemary Luckin, Simon Seljeflot and Adrian Woolard, found  that the use of Augmented Reality(AR) in UK formal education has the potential to  engage and motivate students to explore material from a variety of differing perspectives and has been shown to be particularly useful for teaching subject matter that students could not possibly experience first-hand in the real world(Kerawalla, 2006). This technology has become increasingly popular tool for teachers to teach various subjects in the classroom. It is a useful tool for teachers to conduct interactive lessons especially when it comes to teaching difficult concepts and it offers students to explore the textbooks by seeing videos and listening to audios relating to the material.

In this article, it tells us that this technology is demonstrated of spatial relationships and the interactions of elements within a 3D space.  The researchers focus is on the affordances and constraints of AR technology to both learners and teachers within formal schools in the UK. They also stated that the National Curriculum limits the opportunity for teachers to teach a large, complex topic and materials and it also did not give students the benefits to learn the complex concepts in time (ibid).

 Moreover, the researchers stated that the teachers are positive about the potential benefits of AR for teaching subjects such as the earth, sun and moon. They believed that this technology could offer children to learn the subject matter that ‘brings it to life’.  I agree with the teachers (above) and would like to add my opinion that AR also promotes active teaching which maximizes the opportunity for students to interact and engage in the subject by learning abstract concepts that represents in a visual way. In the AR environment, students viewed objects in 3-D that can be moved and changed through personal interaction. From combining the number of atoms for science to viewing works of art from every angle, students were benefited by this technology (Myers, 2012). Students could also manipulate and change the object in front of them through instructions given in the programme.  Another point from Myers (2012) is that artificial intelligence (AI) has been experimented on AR objects. Can you imagine the impact that has on the student to have an explanation on the first, second and third law of motion by Sir Isaac Newton himself? Artificial intelligence for some experimental programs has been able to react to real-life objects being placed next to them.  I also think that students can observe a realistic representation of the object with the use of cards as part of the AR technology. Students can use other cards to gather information about the object and displays it to the students on the monitor. For example, students can see how does the water molecule looks like in 3D and can collect information on  how does H2O is formed. But I also think that educators are facing some challenges of using 2D resources to teach what students actually see and experience in 3D. Students have to interpret or translate their original knowledge to a flat abstract representation, and then translate back to 3D to make connections to their own personal experience. As for students who do not have strong visual-spatial ability, the ideas being taught can be lost in the change in dimensions.

Imagine living in the magical world of Harry Potter, where the school paintings that are alive and interactive.  Movies like Iron Man, where Tony Stark look at the air in front of them and wave their hands around to shuffle through files or develop robotic prototypes (Goodrich, 2012). Now, imagine teachers creating an atmosphere like that for their students. I feel augmented reality is a useful technology because it allows both teachers and students to create or unlock layers of digital information in top of the physical world that can be viewed in the IPhone and Android device.

Harry Potter used augmented reality for moving portraits or pictures

Iron Man used augmented reality to combine the elements together to make a robot prototype

This article further compared augmented reality with virtual reality. The main difference is that VR completely immerses a user into synthetic environment. While immersed, they cannot see the real world and this can be used in games and other applications. In contrast, AR enable users to see the real world that is supplemented the virtual elements. For instance, the objects are in 3-D and teach people in potentially hazardous environment. Moreover, the researchers found that this technology is useful for students to have the experience learning the things that applies to the real world and analysis shown that students who have verbal interactions with their teacher, they experience major changes in understanding manipulated the virtual image in a cycle of ‘move, examine, and move again’. Students have the chance to rotate the image and view from their own perspectives. This could avoid them having misconceptions and build great understanding of the topic. Their understanding on the inter-relationship between the earth and the sun gives them the opportunity to explore and the researchers concluded by saying that AR has a higher level of cognitive access to adapt complex visualizations. In my opinion, I agree with what the researchers have said that AR does give various opportunities to students to explore more about the content and help them to understand broader concepts. After they have understood these concepts, as a result they will become more engage and participate more frequently in the lessons. This is different from my experience. Upon my personal experience, my primary school did not provide this technology because of the cost and availability.  This is actually quite an expensive for the school to buy, and it will also be difficult for teachers to use this tool, if they have no experience of using AR. Unless if this technology will provide free to schools to improve the teaching and learning process in the school. Without having this technological tool, my science teacher used the traditional teaching method, where she would define and explain the concepts using the science textbook and sometimes we go to the science labs, she would use concrete materials such as the parts of the skeleton to explain the human anatomy and model of the solar system. We also get to experience by touching and feeling the material in certain science lessons. In my high school, my Biology teacher used to teach using a CD provided by the Ministry of Education and this CD had visual representations that move around. For instance, there is an image showing the blood circulation system, my teacher will nominate one student to click the red blood cell, white blood cell, and plasma to complete the circulation system.

Besides science, AR can be further applied to all subjects such as English, where teachers used as for reading stories to younger children and in History, do you know the film called Night at the Museum?. It is a fun movie where a security guard named Larry Daley discovers the exhibits to come to life at night. The exhibits include the Tyrannosaurus skeleton (Rex), Attila the Hun, Theodore Roosevelt (US president), Christopher Columbus and many more. With having augmented reality, teachers can show artifacts or exhibits like Night at the Museum for students to see the moving historical objects together with its explanations on a white screen. In the AR environment, the classroom will be more student-centered rather than teacher-centered and it also allows students to learn at their own pace and have sense of ownership over their educational experiences.

Night at the Museum used augmented reality to bring exhibits to life.

Based on the results in the article, the researcher first analysis is based on the teacher questions in the AR sessions: clarifying the relationship between elements on the screen. The findings were the teachers were asking a lot of questions and it does limit the opportunity for students to contribute and to explore the relationships with themselves. Thus, this shows that the children’s role is passive and there is less engagement between the teacher and the students.  Next analysis is the children’s turn to hold the tile, findings shown that children were given the chance to hold the tile. This method is effective for children to understand how day and night occur in different places on the earth, but they are still obeying the teachers’ instructions and not experiencing it by themselves. My view on this, not all children will be able to hold the object AR tile and exploring the topic by themselves, because of the time constraint given in each lesson.

On the other hand, the teacher in the traditional teaching sessions used books and role plays and they found that children were much more engage and active both verbally and physically, closely guided by the teacher and able build and animate their own representation. Compared to the results in the AR environment, I feel the students in traditional teaching sessions benefited by gaining a lot of experiences from doing their own role play and get to hold the book and read the content at their own pace.

My opinion on this is that teachers can use AR in the classroom, but they have to flexible in their teaching. I'm not satisfied with the first result where the teacher asked so many questions and students did not have the chance to contribute their ideas. So, teachers have to keep their instructions simple and give students the opportunity to engage and contribute their answers and let them explore the material by themselves. If students find it hard to explore the material, teachers can provide scaffolding by showing them the way to use this technological tool.

In my future classroom, I think I will use this AR technology to conduct my English lessons especially during reading lessons, where I will use this to tell stories where students can flip the pages of the books and the characters will pop-up in a 3D form and teach grammar by showing the 3-D visual representation of the timeline showing the tenses (past, present, and the future). But, I will still use the traditional teaching methods for some of my lessons where I would want to be creative in making my own classroom materials and not relying too much on the technology.

Although Augmented Reality technology is not new, its potential in education is just about to begin and explore. Unlike other computer technologies, AR interfaces offer seamless interaction between the real and virtual worlds, and transitioning between real and virtual worlds. To end my journal, I would like to say that teachers or educators should work with researchers in the field to explore how this technological tool can best be applied in a school environment.

References

Goodrich,R.(2013). What is Augmented Reality?[online]. Available at: http://www.livescience.com/34843-augmented-reality.html Accessed on 26th November 2013.

Kerawalla, L., Luckin, R., Seljeflot, S., & Woolard, A. (2006). “Making it real”: exploring the potential of augmented reality for teaching primary school science. Virtual Reality, 10(3-4), 163-174.

Myers, K. (2012). How Augmented Reality Can Change Teaching [online]. Available at: http://gettingsmart.com/2012/12/how-augmented-reality-can-change-teaching/ Accessed on 26^th November 2013.