AR in education
The classroom is becoming more digital than ever to aid children’s learning. This way of learning aims to develop vital modern skills in pupils ready for the ever-changing technological future. Due to this massive development, Augmented Reality (AR) is becoming a vital way of learning any subject.
We are delving into AR in education to show how it can be used in lessons. We also explore the benefits of using AR in your classroom for you to understand why it is important to integrate AR into your lessons.
AR in education
AR can transform a classroom immensely and bring children’s imaginations to life. It allows teachers to bring a more interactive learning experience by showing virtual examples of particular subjects. It adds gaming elements to support textbook materials too, so that pupils can memorise information more easily. AR uses virtual elements mixed with real-life elements that children are surrounded by daily.
How can AR be used in your lessons?
AR can support children’s learning in all subjects but can be particularly useful in coding to help pupils understand how coding works. It can bring to life all sorts of imaginative characters or places to make coding exciting and fun for children.
You can use our EaRL AR treasure island map with our Findel EaRL app to aid pupils in understanding coding robots and how to instruct them to move to certain places. They can solve challenges and interact with the different AR elements on the map to develop their understanding of algorithms, sequencing and debugging. Discover more you can do with EaRL here.
Another great subject you can integrate AR into is history. Allow pupils to bring history to life through the power of AR for them to understand certain historical events and moments in time. A great app to use for this is the BBCs civilisations AR. Delve into the Egyptians and see how mummification works right in your classroom.
There are also plenty of core subject AR apps you can use to develop pupils understanding of Maths, English and Science while supporting key elements in the curriculum. You could use AR to show the biology of humans and animals or show the difference in shapes.
How can AR improve learning?
There are many benefits of using AR in education. AR doesn’t replace the environment pupils are in but integrates various virtual objects into the familiar environment. This doesn’t only just create a more interactive and immersive learning environment. View some of the benefits below to consider implementing AR into your lessons.
The benefits of using AR
Brings a combined learning experience
Due to AR still being quite new, it is best to combine this type of learning with the traditional textbook style. As an example, you could combine worksheets with AR learning so that pupils can fully understand what they have learned.
Adding AR to the traditional way of learning can enhance your lesson plans as it adds the value of being able to visualise the topic. Eventually, there is potential to digitalise all of your lesson plans when using this combined way of learning. Doing this helps children to understand what they read about subjects as they can memorise information easier with a visual representation.
Allows lessons to be interactive and interesting
AR lets children’s imagination and creativity run wild and involves them more in lessons. AR brings an interactive style of learning where pupils can understand topics more easily as it allows them to think beyond the classroom. Their minds are opened, and it can allow them to ask more questions and make connections from one topic to another.
AR lets you provide a comprehensive learning plan where children gain a clear understanding of each topic taught. This helps them to reinforce what they have learned in the classroom as well as interact with their peers and you. It can boost their social skills and create a deep interest in topics as lessons are fun and engaging with AR.
Learn from everywhere
A huge positive of AR is that the materials can be accessed from anywhere. Children don’t have to be in the same location or a school setting at all to learn with AR. This is great for children who may be missing out on their learning for various reasons as they can learn from home. You could also set homework tasks involving AR to encourage pupils to learn outside of school.
AR learning can remove the barrier of physical presence when needed as well as a change in location. When possible, you could integrate AR learning with the outdoors to provide a diverse learning environment that children can develop a range of skills. It also allows learning materials to be accessible at any time, so reduces the need for time restraints.
Allows you to access diverse content
With so many new AR apps available, it is really easy to access a diverse range of content. AR learning can provide all the core subjects for children but also can offer subjects or topics beyond the curriculum. This means that pupils can spend some time delving into their interests as well as learning what they need to. They can also access different and fresh perspectives through AR as every app explores topics in various ways.
Try integrating AR into your lessons to provide your pupils with key skills while making learning fun and engaging. Start by incorporating AR into coding lessons. Work towards an interactive and digital way of learning, combining this with the traditional style to help children learn topics easier and boost their memory.
Want more information about our amazing coding robot EaRL? Check out our meet EaRL 2 blog now.
