Mobile Eye Tracking during Experimenting with Digital Scaffolding—Gaze Shifts between Augmented Reality and Experiment during Zinc Iodide Electrolysis Set-Up

Abstract

In this exploratory eye tracking study, gaze behavior during an experiment on electrolysis of a zinc iodide solution has been examined. The experiment is designed according to inquiry-based learning and therefore well suited to students’ self-directed experimenting in science classrooms. Scaffolding by means of stepwise presented digital hints (sequential scaffolds), here by means of augmented reality (AR), supported learners during the experiment. Two succeeding AR-hints were offered. This research focuses on the set-up of the experiment by learners and the change of gaze between the AR-hints and the real experiment. This was investigated by means of mobile eye tracking. For the analysis of the gaze changes, scanpath analyses are used. Areas of Interest-based visualizations such as radial transition graphs and scarf plots are used to compare and detect similar or different gaze behaviors of participants. Results reveal that students first look at the AR-hints, try to memorize the construction and then switch to setting up the experiment. Recurrent changes of gaze between the AR-hints and the experiment hardly, or do not, occur. Furthermore, students who had already set up the experiment correctly with the first hint only use the second hint for evaluating correctness of their own set-up.

Implementation of Eye-Tracking Recording Tool into Narupa iMD VR Environment for Application in Chemistry Education

“…32 Importantly, fixations have been linked to visual attention, attention during task execution and task difficulty. 33 These features have some potential applications in education as the data obtained by ET could help to account for the functional state of a student in the course of the educational session/lesson 34−36 and adjust the learning content accordingly (e.g., change difficulty of the presented material in real time). The strong argument in favor of the ET to be used in education is that previous research has shown that eye movements are linked with different psychological characteristics, such as verbal 37 and spatial abilities, 38 as well as reasoning ability 39 and working memory.…”

“…ET measures the following oculomotor events: fixations and saccades; smooth pursuit; fixation eye movements (tremors, microsaccades, drifts); blinks; ocular vergence . Importantly, fixations have been linked to visual attention, attention during task execution and task difficulty . These features have some potential applications in education as the data obtained by ET could help to account for the functional state of a student in the course of the educational session/lesson − and adjust the learning content accordingly (e.g., change difficulty of the presented material in real time).…”