Using Augmented Reality in the Classroom

Once the "Wow" factor has worn off, what can teachers really do with augmented reality apps?  Here are two apps that answer that question. 

Fetch! Lunch Rush is an easy to use, drill & skill app.  Here's the story:  The children (one to four players) are the gophers on a movie set and must provide lunch-the crew likes sushi.  The app provides the student with a single digit plus single digit addition problem.  When students point their iPads at preprinted numbers to answer the problem, virtual sushi will appear.  Students then touch the sushi to complete the problem.

Aurasma Lite is a little less straight forward, but far more interesting.

For any augmented reality app, the user must point the iPad at a preassigned target that is typically printed out.  Pointing the iPad at the target causes a virtual "thing" to appear on the screen as if it were actually there.

This app is different.  Rather than passively pointing at a target, the app allows the user to create, and then share, their own target. Furthermore, the target doesn't have to be a piece of paper. It could be anything. A page in a book, a picture on a wall, a building, a billboard, even a pencil can be used as a target. The targets can be assigned to display a picture or to play a video.

This app provides a number of possibilities for classroom use.  Some examples:

• Make the students' books more interactive. Text books, picture books, and chapter books could all have augmented reality added to them.  Pointing the app at a preselected word in their book could cause the definition to appear.  A picture in their social studies book could trigger a video explaining the image. FYI: Currently all videos and images you use need to reside on your iPad. You couldn't have it trigger a YouTube video.
• Create a scavenger hunt. Use different parts of the school/classroom as targets. When the student points the iPad at the target it could trigger a question the student must answer, give information about the target, or give them a clue to help them find the next target.
• Students could create a poster about a topic and then use different parts of the poster as targets that could trigger a video of the student explaining the topic.