The Project objective is to develop a new approach, which combines Augmented Reality (AR)/Mixed Reality (MR) technologies with Remote and/or Local Laboratories, for encouraging 12-18 year-old students’ STEM engagement. In particular, we are targeting students of lower and upper secondary schools and irrespective of the expected varying individual inclination to STEM subjects, we are aiming to: (a) attract students who currently might not be interested in STEM related studies/careers and enhance the interest of those who have already chosen this field of studies/careers, (b) improve students’ performance in courses related to STEM education. Inspired by emerging technologies of IoT (Internet of Things) and AR (Augmented Reality), we wish to connect the physical laboratory and/or the remote laboratory to the digital world and turn it into an “Enlivened Laboratory”. We aim to explore various digital solutions to “immerse“ students within STEM laboratories while implementing experiments. Moreover, we aim to attract more students to STEM related studies/careers through intense hands-on experiences, where they can participate, transform and augment what they are implementing, thus applying digital competences, developing haptic skills, collaborating with peers and ultimately, becoming more engaged in STEM education. This approach will be supported at school as well as at home through the involvement of appropriate platforms offering remote access to laboratories. Acknowledging the crucial role of teachers in any effort to bring about change and innovation, our project will make available the necessary knowledge, indicative tools, and will introduce underlying dynamics in teaching cultures that will enable STEM education to obtain the full benefits of AR/MR. This will be achieved by providing teachers with high quality professional development opportunities to acquire knowledge and skills to effectively embed AR/MR in teaching and learning. More specifically, we will create a comprehensive framework for providing teachers with innovative digital tools to enrich their laboratory-based courses, in order to not only attract students’ attention towards STEM education but also to achieve better performance in STEM related subjects. Project outputs will include AR/MR educational scenarios implemented through Remote and/or Local Laboratories. The technologies used for the implementation of these scenarios explore where applicable, the utilization of (a) AR/MR Remote Laboratories, (b) AR/MR Local Laboratories, (c) Mobile Technologies (e.g. smartphones and/or tablets), and (d) AR hardware technologies (e.g. AR glasses) in the teaching and learning of STEM courses.
The Project objective was to develop a new approach, that would combine Augmented Reality (AR)/Mixed Reality (MR) technologies with Remote and/or Local Laboratories, for encouraging 12-18 year-old students’ STEM engagement. In particular, via targeting students of lower and upper secondary schools and irrespective of the expected varying individual inclination to STEM subjects, we aimed to: (a) attract students who currently might not be interested in STEM related studies/careers and enhance the interest of those who have already chosen this field of studies/careers, and (b) improve students’ performance in courses related to STEM education. Inspired by emerging technologies of IoT (Internet of Things) and AR (Augmented Reality), we managed to connect the physical and/or the remote laboratory to the digital world and turn it into an “Enlivened Laboratory”. We explored various digital solutions to “immerse“ students within STEM laboratories while implementing experiments and managed to attract students to STEM related studies through intense hands-on experiences, where they actually participated, transformed and augmented what they were implementing. By developing and applying various digital competences and via collaborations with peers they were increasingly more engaged in STEM education. The EL STEM approach was supported at school as well as at home through the involvement of appropriate online tools offering the capability to experiment with simulated remote laboratories. Acknowledging the crucial role of teachers in any effort to bring about change and innovation, our project made available the necessary knowledge, indicative tools, and introduced underlying dynamics in teaching cultures to enable STEM education obtain the full benefits of AR/MR. This was achieved by providing teachers with high quality professional development opportunities to acquire knowledge and skills to effectively embed AR/MR in teaching and learning. More specifically, we created a comprehensive teaching and learning framework for providing teachers with innovative digital tools to enrich their laboratory-based courses, in order to not only attract students’ attention towards STEM education but also to achieve better performance in STEM related subjects. Project outputs included AR/MR educational scenarios expressed in Lesson Plans (LPs) and implemented using technologies that explored the utilization of AR/MR Remote and Local Laboratories. Mobile Technologies (e.g. smartphones and/or tablets) and associated hardware (e.g. AR glasses) were extensively used in the teaching and learning of STEM courses.