Technology is big in the world today, having 95% of Americans that own a phone according to the PEW Research Center (2018). Technology in the classrooms can help prepare the children for the world of technology ahead of them. Moreover, most children are already using technology at home like a television or even their own smartphone. One type of technology that can be implemented in the United States School System is augmented reality or AR.
This form of technology, closely related to virtual reality, combines the real world with the virtual world. Augmented reality isn’t restricted to your sense of sight but also hearing, touch, and smell according to Educational Technology and Society (2014). This creates an opportunity for teachers to create an environment for their students to interact in and have fun learning, captivating their attention and interest. Overall, an analysis of the student’s performance, the health effects, and the economic standpoint shows why augmented reality should be implemented into the United States School System while providing real examples of programs for teachers to use in the classroom. Students’ learning performance increased by 53.13% and a 28.13% increase in learning motivation. With technology at home and at school, kids can start to enjoy school and also have fun, enjoying themselves in addition too learning about the subject.
While augmented reality has continued to show these traits, this technology is still new leading to a fewer number of studies than most technology. According to Larysa Nadolny (2017), a professor in the School of Education at Iowa State University, “All results are placed in a larger context of overall usage and not individual user trends and patterns”. Nadolny is trying to convey the idea that while these statistics are true, they do not derive from the users of the applications itself but the averages of the groups, leaving some limitations in the study. Augmented reality helps the students stay focused and motivated because it can transport them somewhere else, someplace where there is no family drama or pressure, just them and the game. “We are conducting experiments to see if wearable computers can tap into the brain’s inherent ability to focus on tasks while maintaining a preattentive connection to the environment”.
AR could potentially take the students out of their own environment and transport them into their task, whatever that may be. In history class, students can experience the past like the Roman Empire or the Chinese Dynasty. The student would understand the subject more having experienced it. “For there is nothing new, of course, in the idea that historians should write from their own direct experience”. The students may not be historians, but it shows that with some types of augmented reality, they can write from their own experience, having felt as if they were almost there. It can completely immerse the students into their new environment, feeling as if they are experiencing it. A challenge of AR, that can be overcome, is minimizing the amount of cognitive load. This means limiting the amount of information in one sitting so your brain can properly function Although this may be true, AR does not have to stop there. “There are several keywords about AR in the future referred to by a large number of professionals and researchers in the field of AR in education and considered as the results of the developments of AR in the coming years”.
The AR studies have not stopped either. Published studies are increasing year after year, especially after the past 4 years. The Cambridge Chemistry Challenge was used in a high school. It worked by hanging a poster on the wall that showed the flame test colors of nine elements. The students would then hold up their device with the app Zappar over the poster to show video demonstrations over each element. AR is becoming more popular in the world and some programs you may not even realize it is augmented reality, like pokemon go, while not being overworked.
This may sound harder than it sounds. The program would have to limit the amount of information while also explaining how it works and what to do. “…minimize cognitive load and maximize learning through appropriate design of the print page in combination with the AR items”. Basically, the program would need to show information through our world and the virtual world, limiting information all at one. This would instead be broken up, letting our brain process the information without a sense of rush. It can also be said that AR can be more simplicit and easier so learners can accept this more with ease. AR can be more straight forward for the learners and they can do it without having to really think with the help of the computer. Moreover, most augmented realities can also “overlay contextually relevant information”. The system would overlay some of the instructions and select what information is needed, highlighting only the important parts.
As the stages change, it may show you the different tools needed for that specific tool as well too, spacing out the amount of information like previously stated in Nadolny (2017). Overall, cognitive overload can be extinguished in augmented reality by splitting up the information given to the user and being more simple in doing so. Teachers can also manipulate the augmented system and shape it for their own needs. They could potentially be able to define their own overlays and triggers. If the students do not respond effectively, the teachers can modify it to adapt to their own needs. This could also potentially help decrease cognitive overload by limiting the information if the teacher needs/wants to, depending on the students reaction to the augmented reality system. While augmented reality is beneficial to the students in the school environment, it can cost the school system. AR apps can be free, but eqiptment still needs to be bought. Most academically driven apps can be bought online requiring an IOS device.
George Koutromanos, a faculty member of primary education at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Alivisos Sofos, a professor of Department of Primary Education at the University of Aegean, and Lucy Avraamidou, a professor of Department of Education at the University of Nicosia (2015), recommended 15 AR apps for the classroom. 13/15 of those programs are compatible with IOS devices, 3/15 of them compatible with IOS and android. This would mean that a ipad minis would suffice, without having to buy a lot of equipment. While this may seem easy enough, ipad minis can range from $130 to $600 at Walmart. According to Kangdon Lee, a professor at the University of Northern Colorado, “AR has not been much adopted into academic school settings due to little financial support from the government…”.
The federal government supposedly gives $79 billion to the public school system with and, with this new technology, funding from the Department of Labor. This may sound like a lot of money going to the school system, but divided by the number of schools in the United States, it can seem a lot smaller. This money may also be needed for more pressing matters instead of some new ipads. Despite the fact that the equipment for the augmented reality apps may cost the schools, AR can be used for other applications that could help save the school more money. There are apps of augmented reality that have access to resources that may cost too much or unrealistic for the school to purchase. For example, an AR app that can replace expensive laboratory equipment could save them money instead of buying the real product. In order for a successful implantation of augmented reality in the United States Public School System, teachers have to be educated and really understand the technology before teaching it to the students and answering their questions. “It is crucial that educators become equipped with skills to integrate Augmented Reality into their own classes in order to avoid the situation where Augmented Reality learning design is undertaken by information technology professionals with limited understanding of effective pedagogy.
The authors are trying to convey the idea that the teachers have to know what they are doing before other people come that know all about augmented reality but know little of teaching, the most important part. Moreover, even if teachers know how to work the programs, they also have to believe in the technology. If the teacher hates what they are doing in their own classroom, why would the students like it? The students can become unfocused or unmotivated to do the activity if the teacher does not care. Some examples of apps that can be used in the classroom are Moon Finder, Fetch Lunch Rush, and Eco Explorers. The Moon Finder helps guide you to the moon’s location using your body position and tells you facts about the different types of stars you see, including the moon. Fetch Lunch Rush is an interactive math game that asks the students a math question. Once they find the answer, they search to room for the augmented reality marker, or spot. Eco Explorers is a game where the students have to follow the scientific method in collecting data and interpreting results. The augmented reality apps are endless with many applications. Because of the increase in motivation and performance, immersive technology, regulation of brain overload, and the combination of many different types of equipment, augmented reality should be implemented in the United States Public School System.
