Augmented Reality for Science Education Erasmus Project

Project Title

Augmented Reality for Science Education

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships addressing more than one field

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Pedagogy and didactics; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Natural sciences

Project Summary

Context and background for the project
This project addresses the needs to develop and take on new approaches to teaching and learning and to use new technologies to support and facilitate this. In particular, the project deals with wellknown issues related to science teaching and learning and furthermore with teaching towards the 21st-century skills in schools.
The science subjects pose problems or obstacles for a large number of students in European schools. School science subjects are considered “hard” and require high levels of abstraction. As a result, there has been a decline in young Europeans’ interest in the science subjects both during their education and as career opportunities. Inquiry-oriented approaches are recommended to make the learning of science more like the practice of science. This project addresses the above concerns by contributing to developing and implementing innovative science education in order to enhance the quality of science teaching/learning and student attitudes and motivation. The basic rationale of this project is that science education can be strengthened through the use of Argumented Reality (AR) (Shirazi & Behzadan 2013), because AR makes possible active, collaborative learning as well as interaction with and visualization of central science knowledge. Furthermore, it is believed that the technology has matured sufficiently to introduce it into school contexts and involve teachers in designing and producing AR-materials.

The objectives of AR-Sci is to:
A) Contribute to developing and implementing innovative science education in order to enhance the quality of science teaching and learning
B) Strengthen students’ motivation for and attitude towards science education
C) Develop a student-centered approach to science education, facilitating inquiry-based teaching, collaboration and active learning.
D) Strengthen technology-enhanced teaching and learning in ways that make sense to students and teachers
The project aims to produce materials to facilitate student learning and engagement and also build models for how teachers can use the technology and involve their students
AR-sci has the overall objective of furthering innovative teaching and learning with augmented reality-technologies. AR-sci aims at describing a supplementary, new and innovative approach through a design guideline for science teachers and others interested in the field.

Number and profile of participating organisations
The consortium consists of 6 partners from higher education, IT and education, and the school sector respectively.
VIA University College is Denmark’s largest provider of teacher education with close ties to university research environments nationally and internationally.
Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Hioa, is the largest state university college in Norway. Hioa has renowned competences in digital literacy and ICT-suported learning.
Jisc, Manchester University, UK, is a not-for-profit organisation for digital services and solutions for the UK higher, further education and skills sector.
Galicia Supercomputing Centre (CESGA), Spain, is a public non-profit technological centre, offering advanced IT-services to the scientific community in Galicia.
Skolen I Midten (SIM), lower secondary school, Denmark.
CPI O Cruce, K-12 school, Spain.

The main activities in the project are:
1. Developing and testing an innovative approach to science teaching
2. Designing and producing a series of AR-based teaching materials
3. Testing and evaluating the materials and teaching approach together with teachers and students in schools (in a series of pilots)
4. Sharing ideas, models, experiences, materials etc. with teachers, lecturers and researchers in webinars, workshops, conference presentations, and scientific articles
5. Describing and sharing the pedagogical model, the teaching and learning materials, a guide for science teachers in a free online resource

Results and impact attained
AR-sci has developed a student-centered approach facilitating an inquiry-oriented teaching, collaboration and active learning, and a visualization of the often hidden processes that are central to understanding science. Based on evaluation of the pilots in schools we found that students considered the use of AR activities to be motivating, to give clarification on complex concepts, and to bring further attention to STEM topics. In terms of developing a studenter centred teaching approach, 76 % of the students stated that they had learnt from their fellows, and 60 % stated that they had noticed a different role from their teacher. At the end of the 3rd round of pilots, 75 % of the students involved stated that their interest in STEM subjects had increased.
Through collaboration with schools, teachers, students, teacher educators, researchers and developers of educational technology, the project has communicated its results and raised awareness of the potential of AR in education.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 353906,49 Eur

Project Coordinator

VIA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE & Country: DK

Project Partners

• THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
• Skolen I Midten
• FUNDACION PUBLICA GALLEGA CENTRO TECNOLOGICO DE SUPERCOMPUTACION DE GALICIA
• HOGSKOLEN I OSLO OG AKERSHUS
• Centro Público Integrado O Cruce