Efficient investments in education has been identified as one of the keys to maintaining and expanding EU's global position, and developing new ways of teaching and learning are important. Furthermore, prioritizing STEM subjects is seen as necessary as they are part of the “key foundations for further learning”. In addition, teachers and teacher educators alike continually face new demands that require them to develop their skills, not least to facilitate the needs of the 21st-century skills they are expected to help their students at all levels to acquire. Therefore, there is a need for support for teachers and trainers to take on new approaches to teaching and learning and use new technologies to support and facilitate this. The science subjects pose problems or obstacles for a large number of students in European schools. School science subjects are considered “hard” and require high levels of abstraction. As a result, there has been a decline in young Europeans’ interest in the science subjects both during their education and as career opportunities. At the same time, across Europe, science subjects suffer low attendance and are often chosen away by students as soon as possible. This serious problem reverberates up through the educational system, leading to universities eventually lacking qualified student cohorts. Therefore, recent policy papers recommend reforms in the approach to how science is taught in the school system. Inquiry-oriented approaches are recommended to make the learning of science more like the practice of science. This project addresses the above concerns by contributing to developing and implementing innovative science education in order to enhance the quality of science teaching/learning and student attitudes and motivation. AR-sci will develop a more student-centered approach facilitating an inquiry-oriented teaching, collaboration and active learning, and a visualization of the often hidden processes that are central to understanding science. This will be done through the introduction of Augmented Reality (AR) and a development of a needed pedagogical approach to its uses. AR makes possible active, collaborative learning as well as interaction with and visualization of central science knowledge. Thus AR-sci has the dual aim of 1) developing and testing an innovative, called-for approach to science teaching and 2) giving students a more positive view of and attitude to science, thus helping enhance and promote science education across Europe by motivating students otherwise prone to giving up on science. To sum up, then, addressing Europe's needs for changes in science education to ensure the development of STEM key competences and the intake of students in science-related career paths, this project will describe a supplementary, new and innovative approach through a design guideline for science teachers and others interested in the field. Partners in the project are 2 university colleges, a university, a research center and 2 schools. The project will first carry out an intensive needs analysis across a broad spectrum of areas, and next, materials will be developed in three “waves”: first by the HE partners, school partners sparring, then by school partners and teachers, and finally, students will be involved as producers. Co-creation and user involvement will be very much present in the projects working methods. The materials produced in the project will be piloted in three iterations, and materials will be available as OER on the Jorum platform. The expected impact of the project is renewal of science teaching. The changes here will be made possible through the project’s targeting of all levels in the educational system, albeit in different ways and through different channels.
Context and background for the project This project addresses the needs to develop and take on new approaches to teaching and learning and to use new technologies to support and facilitate this. In particular, the project deals with wellknown issues related to science teaching and learning and furthermore with teaching towards the 21st-century skills in schools. The science subjects pose problems or obstacles for a large number of students in European schools. School science subjects are considered “hard” and require high levels of abstraction. As a result, there has been a decline in young Europeans’ interest in the science subjects both during their education and as career opportunities. Inquiry-oriented approaches are recommended to make the learning of science more like the practice of science. This project addresses the above concerns by contributing to developing and implementing innovative science education in order to enhance the quality of science teaching/learning and student attitudes and motivation. The basic rationale of this project is that science education can be strengthened through the use of Argumented Reality (AR) (Shirazi & Behzadan 2013), because AR makes possible active, collaborative learning as well as interaction with and visualization of central science knowledge. Furthermore, it is believed that the technology has matured sufficiently to introduce it into school contexts and involve teachers in designing and producing AR-materials. The objectives of AR-Sci is to: A) Contribute to developing and implementing innovative science education in order to enhance the quality of science teaching and learning B) Strengthen students' motivation for and attitude towards science education C) Develop a student-centered approach to science education, facilitating inquiry-based teaching, collaboration and active learning. D) Strengthen technology-enhanced teaching and learning in ways that make sense to students and teachers The project aims to produce materials to facilitate student learning and engagement and also build models for how teachers can use the technology and involve their students AR-sci has the overall objective of furthering innovative teaching and learning with augmented reality-technologies. AR-sci aims at describing a supplementary, new and innovative approach through a design guideline for science teachers and others interested in the field. Number and profile of participating organisations The consortium consists of 6 partners from higher education, IT and education, and the school sector respectively. VIA University College is Denmark’s largest provider of teacher education with close ties to university research environments nationally and internationally. Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Hioa, is the largest state university college in Norway. Hioa has renowned competences in digital literacy and ICT-suported learning. Jisc, Manchester University, UK, is a not-for-profit organisation for digital services and solutions for the UK higher, further education and skills sector. Galicia Supercomputing Centre (CESGA), Spain, is a public non-profit technological centre, offering advanced IT-services to the scientific community in Galicia. Skolen I Midten (SIM), lower secondary school, Denmark. CPI O Cruce, K-12 school, Spain. The main activities in the project are: 1. Developing and testing an innovative approach to science teaching 2. Designing and producing a series of AR-based teaching materials 3. Testing and evaluating the materials and teaching approach together with teachers and students in schools (in a series of pilots) 4. Sharing ideas, models, experiences, materials etc. with teachers, lecturers and researchers in webinars, workshops, conference presentations, and scientific articles 5. Describing and sharing the pedagogical model, the teaching and learning materials, a guide for science teachers in a free online resource Results and impact attained AR-sci has developed a student-centered approach facilitating an inquiry-oriented teaching, collaboration and active learning, and a visualization of the often hidden processes that are central to understanding science. Based on evaluation of the pilots in schools we found that students considered the use of AR activities to be motivating, to give clarification on complex concepts, and to bring further attention to STEM topics. In terms of developing a studenter centred teaching approach, 76 % of the students stated that they had learnt from their fellows, and 60 % stated that they had noticed a different role from their teacher. At the end of the 3rd round of pilots, 75 % of the students involved stated that their interest in STEM subjects had increased. Through collaboration with schools, teachers, students, teacher educators, researchers and developers of educational technology, the project has communicated its results and raised awareness of the potential of AR in education.