Exploring in AR

Description

The project has been selected for the Allocations of annual grants and Programme agreements and understandings – Mur, for the development of research and experimentation of methods to provide effective education in science and science history, with a focus on the use of new technologies and promotion of science and technical subjects in schools at all levels.
The project aims at promoting the use of AR as an innovative teaching tool to support the active role of students by offering them the opportunity to become fully involved, also emotionally, in learning; facilitating the acquisition of knowledge of fundamental aspects of the physical and biological world, as considered in their mutual relationships e in their relationship with the human being; empowering students to verify and check their learning process (metacognition) through interaction and connection with the virtual or real environment around them.

Details

Specifically, the project is focused on a fundamental subject of the Science Programme of the Primary School: the human body. Through AR, the human body acquires an interdisciplinary value where, in a physical world, virtual contents and interactive methods are introduced: students can gather experiences and verify them on the field, reducing the time needed to convey information and increasing the time to understand, comprehend, exchange ideas, gain a better grasp of systemic relationships and develop a multi-disciplinary approach.

To integrate the digital and teaching efforts, the project also includes an interactive exhibit that guides students to discover the human body through AR for families visiting Explora, the Children’s Museum of Rome.
Within the project, science content will be created in the form of flashcards on the e-learning platform, the digital contents available in AR and the lesson plans of the twenty-hour online training course for primary school teachers, available for free on the Explora Education training platform.

The project is based on the awareness that the digitalisation process in Italian schools still needs some time and action to develop properly – many schools are not fully digitalised – and willingness from the Museo dei Bambini SCS onlus to promote a stimulating, entertaining, and dynamic experiential education – typical of an informal learning process – through AR, a technology which, in combination with mobile devices and Apps, allows to add in real time to a display additional and interactive information such as animations, texts or videos, connecting everyday world with virtual information, opening new opportunities of interaction and improving comprehension dynamically.