Emerging technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR), have the potential to radically transform education by making challenging concepts visible and accessible to novices. In this project, we have designed a Hololens-based system in which collaborators are exposed to an unstructured learning activity in which they learned about the invisible physics involved in audio speakers. They learned topics ranging from spatial knowledge, such as shape of magnetic fields, to abstract conceptual knowledge, such as relationships between electricity and magnetism. We compared participants' learning, attitudes and collaboration with a tangible interface through multiple experimental conditions containing varying layers of AR information. We found that educational AR representations were beneficial for learning specific knowledge and increasing participants' self-efficacy (i.e., their ability to learn concepts in physics). However, we also found that participants in conditions that did not contain AR educational content, learned some concepts better than other groups and became more curious about physics. We discuss learning and collaboration differences, as well as benefits and detriments of implementing augmented reality for unstructured learning activities.
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How Augmented Reality Affects Collaborative Learning of Physics: a Qualitative Analysis
Augmented reality (AR) is a powerful visualization tool to support learning of scientific concepts across learners of various ages. AR can make information otherwise invisible visible in the physical world in real-time. In this study, we are looking at a subset of data from a larger study (N=120), in which participant pairs interacted with an augmented sound producing speaker. We explored the learning behaviors in eight pairs of learners (N=16) who participated in an unstructured physics activity under two conditions: with or without AR. Comparing behaviors between the two experimental conditions, we found that AR affected learning in four different ways: participants in the AR condition (1) learned more about visual concepts (ex: magnetic field structures) but learned less about nonvisual content (ex: relationship between electricity and physical movement); (2) stopped exploring the system faster than NonAR participants; (3) used less aids in exploration and teaching; and (4) spent less time in teaching their collaborators. We discuss implications of those results for designing collaborative learning activities with augmented reality.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1748093
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10101504
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Computer-supported collaborative learning
- ISSN:
- 1573-4552
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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