Hi Everyone, I hope you enjoy our video and if you are interested in learning more check out our website!

skills21.org/arx 

Liz

Hi,   Interesting project.  I have seen teachers make very effective use of digital labs as prep for hands-on labs (with actual materials), and it seemed to help the students navigate complex material of various kinds. 

    I'd be interested to look at the piece of curriculum you mentioned in the video, about red blood cells and DNA, but couldn't find it on your website.  Maybe I was looking in the wrong place?  

Hope you get lots of comments this week!

This is such a fascinating project! I wondered how you went about selecting content for each unit.  I work in biomaking/synthetic biology education and so the potential AR has as a simulation or (better yet) design tool (as Brian Drayton seems to suggest in a point) seems incredible!  

I wondered if you could share some empirical, or preferably, anecdotal insights about some of the challenges you encountered onboarding students to Zappar—did this distract or benefit content/concept learning?  

Also, I thought it was interesting that you seem to incorporate debate (and maybe argumentation) in the curricular design (related to designer babies)—could you share a bit about why you did this, how the activity was design, and how you examined learning? By the way, theres a really cool and relevant article that came out just a few years ago in Science (AAAS) that may be of relevance here. You should check it out. 

In any event, thanks for pushing AR forward in the life sciences!

Thank you for preparing and submitting this video about a very interesting and potentially game changing approach to science/STEM education. I have one question regarding the sequencing of the components of these modules and can’t tell from the brief video whether you may already have considered this as part of your research design:

The video indicates that students are asked to learn basic concepts about a given topic and then engage with the augmented reality components. An often utilized approach when learning science is to present details about the concept first and then provide a more comprehensive view of the issue at hand (a conceptual framework). However, research about how people learn suggests that introducing learners to a conceptual framework at the outset of a learning experience, enabling them to see the larger picture, can facilitate deeper learning of content and concepts because they are better able to see how the various pieces fit together. It occurred to me that this initiative could allow for a test of how the order of presentation affects the depth and types of learning that occur by having half of the learners follow the path described in the video and reversing the process for the other half of students. It also would be interesting to see whether reversing the order had any effect on the kinds of augmented reality modules that the students produced. If this kind of experiment was not undertaken, perhaps future work in this area might consider doing so.

Thank you again for your participation in the STEM Video Showcase!

Augmented reality is a timely and engaging topic for very tech-savvy and tech-dependent users. At the same time, I appreciate engaging students in learning the skills and use of AR. Did you ever have an opportunity to address virtual reality's responsible and ethical use?

Hello Elizabeth,

Thanks for replying to my comment.

While I advocate for extracurricular STEM activities, I am unsure of these programs' long-term impact on student's entry into the field and ultimate success in affecting the pipeline. Has your program been able to track your program's long-term effects on student success in STEM disciplines, particularly in AR and computer science?

Best,

Anne

This looks like an interesting way to engage kids in STEM learning while linking one branch of STEM to another.  I am particularly interested in the biological slant of your sample, since this is the area my team and I are working in.  I hope you get a chance to look at our entry, https://stemforall2022.videohall.com/presentations/2489, which is also about using creative ways to teach biology K-12, specifically focused on BioFabrication.  You can view the entire project here Building a Strong Workforce Alliance for Biofabrication & Bioengineering through K-12 Education