A mixed methods assessment of students' flow experiences during a mobile augmented reality science game

Abstract

Current studies have reported that secondary students are highly engaged while playing mobile augmented reality (AR) learning games. Some researchers have posited that players' engagement may indicate a flow experience, but no research results have confirmed this hypothesis with vision-based AR learning games. This study investigated factors related to students' engagement -as characterized by flow theory -during a collaborative AR, forensic science mystery game using mobile devices. School Scene Investigators: The Case of the Stolen Score Sheets is a vision-based AR game played inside the school environment with Quick Response codes. A mixed methods approach was employed with 68 urban middle school students. Data sources included pre-and post-surveys, field observations and group interviews. Results showed that neither gender nor interest in science was an important predictor of variability in flow experience. Gaming attitude uniquely predicted 23% of the variance in flow experience. Student flow experience features included a flash of intensity, a sense of discovery and the desire for higher performance. The findings demonstrated a potential for mobile AR science games to increase science interest and help students learn collaboration skills. Implications for future research concerning mobile AR science games are discussed.

The educational possibilities of Augmented Reality

“…It must additionally be remembered that this technology favors different action levels, insofar as its design permits to create AR scenarios where the student exclusively acts as an information recipient, until they are designed in such a way that students can interact with it. This interactive potential appears as one of the great advantages that several authors have seen in AR (Bongiovani, 2013;Bressler & Bodzin, 2013;Dalgarno & Lee, 2010;Dunleavy et al, 2009).…”

“…Experiences have also been carried out with the aim of promoting students' positive attitudes towards science (Bressler & Bodzin, 2013;Ibáñez et al, 2014;Kamarainen et al, 2013), in training oriented to the acquisition of healthy habits (Acosta, Catalá, Esteve, Mocholí, & Jaén, 2006), as well as in the development of games meant to favor school coexistence (Pérez-Fuentes, Álvarez-Bermejo, Molero, Gázquez, & López, 2011).…”

“…According to various authors (Fundación Telefónica, 2011;Kipper & Rampolla, 2012), it is possible to use AR in a wide variety of fields: advertising, navigation and city guides, industry, art, language learning, travel and tourist guides, medicine, marketing and sales, entertainment and games, social networks, education, and translation. As far as education is concerned, the first thing which needs to be highlighted is that different experiences and research initiatives related to AR utilization have recently been undertaken at various educational levels: primary education (Bongiovani, 2013); lower and upper secondary education/vocational training (Avendaño, Chao, & Mercado, 2012;Bressler & Bodzin, 2013 (Carozza et al, 2012;De la Torre et al, 2013;Redondo et al, 2012); town-planning (Carozza, Tingdahl, & Gool, 2014), mathematics-geometry (Avendaño et al, 2012;Bujak, Radu, Catrambone, MacIntyre, Zheng, & Golubski, 2013;De Pedro Carracedo & Méndez, 2012); art and history (Ruiz, 2011); language learning (Emma, Liu, Tsai, PeiHsun, & Ming-Kuan Tsai, 2013;Liu, 2009); technology (Rodríguez, 2013); design (Ko, Chang, Chen, & Hua, 2011); chemistry (Núñez et al, 2008;Pasaréti et al, 2011); física (LinT et al, 2013); or geography (Klopfer & Squire, 2008;Tsai, Liu, & Yau, 2013).…”

A Flip Blended Learning Approach for ePUB3 eBook-based Course Design and Implementation

“…In addition to the many existing contents delivery ways such as internet-based, multimedia, social media, and virtual/augmented reality (Bermejo, 2005;Blank, et al, 2003;Bressler and Bodzin, 2013;Caeiro-Rodríguez, et al, 2013;Chen, et al, 2017;Chen, et al, 2015;Clark and Mayer, 2011;Denner, et al, 2012;Gao and Liu, 2010;Lee, et al, 2016;Mao, et al, 2017;Martens, et al, 2004;Romero-Hall, et al, 2016;Stash, et al, 2004), the standardized ePUB3 format (ePUB3 Overview, 2011) is a newly introduced specification as a distribution and interchange format standard for digital publications and documents. It defines a means of representing, packaging, and encoding structured and semantically enhanced Web contents -including HTML5, CSS, SVG, images, and other resources -for distributions in a single-file format.…”

Evaluation of a Learning Platform and Assessment Methods for Informal Elementary Environmental Education Focusing on Sustainability, Presented through a Case Study (RTP)

“…Based on a review of current practices and similar studies 30,31,32 a mixed-method approach to assessment was employed. Methods included multiple-choice, Likert scale, open-ended, and matching questions, as well as a Personal Meaning Map (PMM) 33 .…”