Augmented Reality in K-12 Education

Introduction

In a society where our daily lives revolve around an ever-changing digital world, new methods of learning have been created using technology. We use technology daily to communicate, collaborate, entertain, invent, design, and teach (Kidd & Crompton, 2015). Over the last few years, the educational system has integrated various digital tools and technologies into classrooms for students and teachers in the United States at an accelerating rate (Bower, Howe, McCredie, Robinson, & Grover, 2013). Teachers are able to utilize different digital tools to help students not only think critically in the classroom, but also take information and apply it outside of the classroom (Baharti, 2014). Augmented Reality (AR) is one of the digital tools being integrated into classrooms. AR is defined as a technology applied to digital devices to link together the reality and virtual worlds by adding a virtual overlay to real world scenarios (Bower et al.,). These digital tools allow teachers and students to formulate, explain, learn, and let their creativity take their education to new levels. Through traditional teaching, this opportunity would not be possible for students. The use of AR in a classroom enables students to reach higher levels of thinking by connecting to real-world experiences (Bower et al., 2013). Although AR is available to many educators, there are problems in using and applying it in the classroom (Demski, 2013). Teachers are still mainly relying on older methods of teaching to instruct students, as they lack training in how to use and integrate these digital tools into teaching and learning (Antonioli, Blake, & Sparks, 2014). Technology is often the tool selected to support didactic teaching in the use of slide presentations (Demski, 2013). Teachers also face obstacles, such as a lack of support from administration, a lack of personal experience with the technologies, and a fear of digital malfunctions (Spencer, 2012). There are a great many affordances in using AR in K-12 learning and with support these tools can be best used to support teaching and learning.

The purpose of this chapter is to articulate the affordances of using AR in K-12 classrooms. This is thematic review of the literature to understand what themes have developed from the published literature. This chapter begins with a definition of AR. This is followed by the unpacking of four trends in how AR can support teaching and learning. These affordances are that AR supports; authentic learning, contextualized learning, student-centered learning and enables students to better visualize subject content. Finally, the projected future path of AR is revealed to show where AR may benefit future students.