Fostering Performance in Hands-On Laboratory Work with the Use of Mobile Augmented Reality (AR) Glasses

• Published in: Education sciences Vol. 11; no. 12; pp. 816 - 830
• Main Authors: Södervik, Ilona, Katajavuori, Nina, Kapp, Karmen, Laurén, Patrick, Aejmelaeus, Monica, Sivén, Mia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-12-2021
• Subjects: Augmented reality; College Students; Colleges & universities; Computer Simulation; Educational Environment; Educational objectives; Educational Resources; Educational Strategies; Educational Technology; Feedback; Foreign Countries; Handheld Devices; Hands on Science; Higher education; Instructional design; Knowledge; Knowledge Level; Laboratories; laboratory skills; Learning; Learning Processes; Learning Theories; mixed reality; Outcomes of Education; Pharmaceutical Education; Pharmacy; pharmacy education; Problem solving; Program Effectiveness; Science education; Science Laboratories; science laboratory; Skills; Teaching Methods; Technology Uses in Education; Telecommunications; University students; Usability; User experience; virtual reality; Finland (Helsinki)
• ISSN: 2227-7102; 2227-7102
• DOI: 10.3390/educsci11120816

The learning of laboratory skills is essential in science education, but students often get too little individual guidance in this area. Augmented reality (AR) technologies are a promising tool to tackle this challenge and promote students’ high-level learning and performance in science laboratories. Thus, the purpose of this study was (1) to design an AR-assisted learning environment to support individual knowledge construction, (2) to investigate students’ learning processes and learning outcomes and (3) to examine the usability of the system. Pharmacy students (n = 16) were assigned to experimental (n = 10) and control (n = 6) groups and performed the same laboratory work together with pre- and post-tests. The experimental group worked with AR glasses that provided additional support and timely guidance during the work with additional info-screens, questions related to choosing correct reagents and laboratory tools and think-aloud questions, whereas the control group worked in a traditional laboratory context. The results showed that AR was more effective in fostering performance in the science laboratory compared to traditional laboratory instruction and prevented most of the mistakes. The AR group considered the guidance and feedback provided by AR to be beneficial for their learning. However, no apparent differences were found in tasks measuring students’ understanding of the content knowledge. Thus, an AR environment embedded with supportive tools could partly replace the teacher in science teaching laboratories by providing individual and timely guidance for the students.