This week we ran a live lesson focusing on learners creating scenes in Augmented Reality (AR).
The lesson itself was based on creating a Christmas scene, which was fun to do at this time of year, but the children also learned how to use AR to enhance their learning and support their literacy, numeracy, critical thinking and problem solving development, amongst many other benefits. For this particular lesson, around two thousand children and their teachers participated.
There’s no doubt that AR is becoming a bigger and bigger part of our lives and work. Whether it’s companies like Siemens using AR for building prototypes in real-world environments or Ikea creating apps that help people view furniture in their own homes before purchasing, being able to create and interact with AR is an important skill for our children.
Prior to the live lesson we also ran a professional learning session for teachers. Our goal is that teachers can now feel confident using AR in the classroom for activities such as topic-based escape rooms promoting problem solving, storytelling to enhance literacy, analysis, strategy and gameplay in P.E. and numeracy development through maze creation. At the same time, learners are developing the skills to use tools that will be a core part of the workplace that they will enter in future.
Feedback from teachers attending the session include comments such as “I would like to use this app in all areas of the curriculum” and that AR offers “practical learning opportunities” linking to topic work.
Through our dedicated CLPL M365 Team, teachers have the opportunity to share their suggestions and good practice on AR and any other aspect of teaching and learning. Shortly after the live lesson, Ms Rutherford from James Gillespie’s Primary School posted a video montage of her children’s creativity.
Our live lessons are online sessions run by our team of education practitioners. The purpose is to upskill both teachers and children at the same time, using fun and engaging activities. Other live lessons that we have run include app design, virtual world building and coding.
Edinburgh teachers can view our list of planned live lessons and professional learning opportunities here.
If you are interested in the theory of AR in education then this research is a good starting point.
Edinburgh Learns Digital | City of Edinburgh Council 