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Subjects:
Computer Science, Software Engineering
Educational institutions have faced significant difficulties in the teaching process at all educational levels, due to lack of motivation, concentration, attention, and confidence, among other aspects. In this sense, information and communication technologies can be the answer to transform educational models. One of the most promising and accessible technologies in recent years is mobile augmented reality (MAR), which allows students to visualize content through a mobile device combining the real environment with a virtual environment, providing an interactive and digital vision of the physical world in real time.
- mobile augmented reality
- smartphone
- mobile learning
- active learning
- sustainable learning
1. Introduction
In recent years, educational institutions have faced many difficulties in the teaching process, due to multiple educational needs, as well as the lack of basic competencies, attention, concentration, motivation, and confidence among students [1,2]. The new generations of students, due to the exposure and use of technologies from a relatively young age, have developed new ways of learning and can reach great learning potential with innovative educational methodologies [3]. Education, according to the United Nations, is the key to achieving several of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [4]. When all people have access to quality education, they can escape the cycle of poverty [4]. For this reason, information and communication technologies in education should be used to transform educational models to improve the learning experience and equip students with skills that will help them in their professional and daily lives [5].
Digital technologies can be used to support students in both formal and informal settings, generating positive results in the teaching process [6]. An example of this is gamification, which promotes the use of game elements to improve engagement and motivation in academic activities [7]. With the proliferation of mobile devices, it has been possible to find new alternatives for the use of technology for education such as mobile augmented reality (MAR) [7]. There is evidence showing that the use of MAR in the educational model improves students’ comprehension, memory, and imagination skills [8]. MAR is a field of computer science that combines real-world data with virtual objects, which can be superimposed on real images and dynamically coexist in the same space [9]. Furthermore, it allows students to visualize content through a mobile device, providing a digital view of the physical world in real-time [10]. Among the aspects that are most enriched by MAR are spatial skills, practical skills, concept understanding, conceptual change, collaborative work, long-term knowledge retention, and student motivation [11,12]. However, there are also negative effects, such as usability issues, distraction, and deployment and integration in the classroom effectively [12,13].
The use of MAR in early and primary education has been successful because users at these educational levels see it as something fun, which generates an intention to use it and motivation to learn [7]. For students at these levels, entertainment is paramount, because if they do not find this factor, they get bored and begin to look for another medium with which to interact [14]. MAR as a technology has been used to support the teaching of a variety of subjects in early and primary education such as STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) [6], health [15], biology [16], astronomy [6,17], animal names and sounds [18,19], painting and reading [20], and language [14,21]. The motivation for the implementation of MAR, in the subjects described above, was that students innovatively receive teaching, with the use of digital technologies to improve the practical process of learning [22].
2. Use of MAR Technology in Early and Primary Education
The constant evolution of digital technologies and their progressive inclusion in early and primary education is a generalized reality [23]. Today, educational methodologies and technology complement each other, to offer students new tools to access educational content in a playful, ubiquitous, and formative way [24]. However, the knowledge and applicability of this digital tool in primary-level teaching are still scarce [24]. Thanks to the continuous advancement of mobile technologies, the development of educational applications and tools has gained relevance in recent years [25]. Features such as flexibility, availability, and affordability are three elements that allow this technology to be deployed in a variety of educational environments [26]. In particular, the potential in the synergy between MAR and mobile devices (smartphones and tablets, even some laptops) for use in the gamification of education is appreciated [27].
Over the last few years, several initiatives have been developed that use new digital technologies to innovate the way of teaching in early and primary education [6,13,28]. Tools such as e-learning, mobile learning, AR, Virtual reality (VR), and videoconferencing, among others, have become options that can be used in the educational model to help motivate and enrich the knowledge of students [29]. With the accelerated growth of digital technologies in recent years, the traditional teaching and learning model has not been able to be maintained and educational institutions seek to innovate their academic proposal [5]. MAR is a widely versatile technology that has been used in early childhood, primary, secondary, and higher education, and is even useful in job training, video games, and continuous learning [9,28,30,31]. Early childhood education is a learning process in which children have the desire to know and begin to be curious about their environment; if the teaching method does not attract their attention, they can easily become bored [19]. Therefore, MAR in education has been used to improve the learning of children at an early level in subjects related to vowel and number recognition [21]. This tool has been used as a strategy to improve children’s attention and motivation to learn the names, shapes and characteristic sounds of animals [19]. Furthermore, this technology is used to teach English vocabulary to early childhood [19]. For the development of this application, the researchers integrated real-time monitoring so that parents can control the use, access, start, and end of use of the application [32]. This was done to control the problems that may arise from the continuous use of mobile devices by children [32].
On the other hand, in primary education, MAR together with gamification has been integrated into a playful application that serves to improve the socialization, communication skills, and emotional intelligence of students [7]. This technology has also been used to improve reading comprehension levels [24], improve chemistry learning [33], and in natural sciences [34], etc.
Nowadays, the use of mobile devices is part of the daily lives of children, youth, and adults [28]. The new generation of digital natives is multi-tasking, they work on a laptop while watching a program on their tablet, listen to music on audio streaming applications, and chat at the same time [35]. Therefore, taking advantage of students’ mastery and familiarity with technology, educational institutions should explore the opportunities of using digital technologies to innovate learning [36].
This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/su16031192
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