Learning and Leading - September/October 2012

AR simulations allow students to learn content while collaborating face to face and interacting with a multimedia-enhanced version of the world around them.

our early pilots, we discovered that students would rush to find the characters without doing the mathematical tasks. So we started programming the answers to each math problem to serve as access codes that the students would need to receive information at the next location.

Place independence versus dependence. AR programs use GPS coordinates to create game spaces anywhere on the planet. As our target demographic was urban public schools that had no money for field trips, our simulations were place independent so that students could play them directly outside any school. If you develop a place-independent simulation, using real objects in the game space will help students interact more productively.

However, one of the coolest things about AR technology is that it can augment students’ learning experiences within a meaningful context, which can include location. Simulations with tasks that relate to a specific location—such as giving students measurement data about their own school and asking them to calculate its height—take better advantage of this benefit. Think about how nearby geographical areas might lend themselves to tasks that further student understanding of your content focus.

For example, Harvard graduate stu-
dents have been developing a simula-
tion for the Black Heritage Trail in Bos-
ton, Massachusetts, USA, to help K– 12
students experience what it might have
been like to be a self-liberated slave in
Boston. At locations on the actual trail,
the students will access historic docu-
ments, hear from significant people
detailing their experiences in Boston
in the 1700s and 1800s, encounter
setbacks that self-emancipated slaves
would have encountered, and receive
financial assistance and employment,
all via AR.

Building the Program

A University of Wisconsin–Madison team developed the free ARIS AR platform ( arisgames.org) for iPhone and iPad. On the program’s map screen, you determine the game space using Google Maps, and the object screen allows you to create characters and items, which you then place on the game space by dragging them over. You can easily upload images, video, audio, or other multimedia files for students to view during the game. ARIS is user friendly, and we were able to create a sample game in 30 minutes.

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