4_Research

=Research Data=

Augmented reality is not new technology, but is being more widely used and researched for educational purposes. As educators find new means of uses in course curriculum more questions are posed for research opportunities. One opportunity for research occurred as a direct result of new applications of augmented reality to science classes. Many people questioned the application of augmented reality to building inquiry skills used in science. Squire and Jan (2007) conducted a designed based research project that compared three case studies of students in an environmental science game. There were a total of twenty eight students who participated in the study. They came from an elementary school, a middle school, and an alternative high school with a wide range of experiences. The students’ ages ranged from nine to fifteen, and all read around and eighth grade level. The students participated in an augmented mystery game on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The game started with a mysterious death and was followed by the students collecting data, accessing documents, and using inquiry based skills to connect information. After each case study was complete the information was compared to search for evidence that inquiry skills can be enhanced through the game based augmented reality. Squire and Jan (2007) concluded that inquiry based science skills can be developed using augmented reality.

Dunleavy, Dede, and Mitchell (2008) conducted research to investigate how teachers and students understand the ways augmented reality enhances or inhibits learning. The study was a designed based approach that included eighty students and six core academic teachers from two middle schools and one high school. The study took place over year. With government funding and assistance from MIT and the University of Wisconsin at Madison Alien Contact was designed. The handheld game was designed to teach language arts, scientific literacy, and math. Students could move around the school with the handheld device and when GPS triggered the software information would be given to the students regarding clues for collaboration and various academic engagement. There were seven researchers who were responsible for collecting data. They collected one hundred hours of data over the course of the school year. They used Atlas to analyze the field notes and interview information. Case studies were used in a cross case analysis and all three sites were shown to have high engagement. Across all three sites the teachers reported higher student engagement for those who were previously not engaged in the regular classroom. Dunleavy, Dede, and Mitchell (2008) conclude, “The importance of the research detailed in this paper is not the technology itself, but rather what added value the technology brings to the learning environment” (p 20). This research provides evidence that students using augmented reality are more engaged in course material.

Studies have also measured student achievement as a result of using augmented reality. Vilkoniene (2009) reports a qualitative study that was conducted to test the impact on student learning using augmented reality as opposed to traditional books, encyclopedia’s, the internet, and teacher help. One hundred and fourteen students participated and were studying the digestive tract. The students were divided into three groups. One group received traditional methods while the two other participated in augmented reality based learning. The study took place over a three week period of time. To accurately measure academic growth students were given a pre-test and a post test that were composed of four tasks that required critical thinking, reproducing information, and application of information. The pretest did not show significant ability differences in the groups but the post test revealed significant gains for those who participated in the augmented reality. Students who were exposed to the augmented reality practice were able to accurately point to vital organs than those who received the traditional book and internet version of instruction.

Augmented reality is an emerging technology that has been applied to many facets of life. While research in augmented reality has been focused in a variety of areas including student perception, teacher application, and academic growth many questions are left to be answered. Current research is becoming more available and producing new questions that will be addressed as time moves forward and technology continues to increase in availability and use.