Page 17 - THE Journal, March/April 2018

and she uses AR to enhance her students’ understanding of topics — while also captur- ing their attention.
“I feel like it’s a way to get them engaged and motivated to learn,” she said.
But it’s not all about sizzle. AR also helps her students visualize key concepts.
For instance, she uses an app called Ele- ments 4D to help bring chemical elements to life for her students. Teachers can print out paper cubes representing various elements, and when students hold these cubes in front of their iPad’s camera, they can see the ele- ment in its natural form on the iPad screen.
What’s more, when students push the blocks together, they can see those ele- ments combine to make a new substance. If students touch hydrogen blocks to an oxygen block, they will see water virtually form within the cubes.
Britton also uses a series of augmented reality books from the U.K. publisher Carl- ton Books, with titles such as iScience, iSolar
Students aren’t just consuming AR and VR. They’re also creating it — while learning valuable technology skills in the process.
System, iStorm and iDinosaur. When certain pages are viewed with the Digital Magic app, the books come to life — allowing students not just to read them but to actually experi- ence them through hands-on activities.
As students are learning about the concept of force, for instance, they can see for them- selves how much force is needed to push something over by pressing on the screen.
The interactive nature of the content “usually spurs a desire for further exploration,” Britton said. She added: “It’s no secret that
it’s a constant struggle for teachers to connect
reality with the digital world. Augmented reality does that very well.”
Creating Virtual Content
Students aren’t just consuming AR and VR content. They’re also creating it — while learning valuable technology skills in the process.
Britton has her students use Aurasma (now called HP Reveal), a platform for creating AR experiences, to enhance their presentations. In one project, students researched different types of homes from
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