The COVID-19 pandemic and its disproportionate impact on learners with disabilities raised the urgent need for adaption of individualized learning plans, methods and tools. New ICTs potential for customisation of the teaching and learning materials and tools to the individual needs of the SEN students is not fully recognised and adapted. Project ARphymedes Plus is an extension of the ongoing project ARphymedes, which focuses on developing an education tool kit for physics education enhanced with augmented reality (AR). The aim of the ARphymedes Plus project is to make available the full potential of the ARphymedes project intellectual results to the SEN students. The ARphymedes Plus project will integrate new technologies as AR, computer games, text to speech, user environment adjustment, machine learning and others, to the education toolkits for the physics education of SEN students at the secondary school. The ARphymedes Plus project is not only about the application of ICTs, but also on the attractiveness of the content, based on a multimodal approach in education using Science, Technology and History as access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking applied in the ARphymedes project. It incorporates technology and cross-sectional knowledge to foster the creativity, imagination and interest in physics and STEM, by removing environmental and individual barriers leading to the social exclusion. Expected project results are: 1. A student book –for SEN students to take part and learn in relation to the lessons/topics, including full ICT support for accessibility features, implementing multi-sensory approaches enabling visual, tactile and auditory support of the presented content. 2. Teachers’ and parents book – to support teachers and families in using the educational tool. It will encourage and propose strategies to the teachers to respond to children’s special needs in an inclusive environment. 3. Application with AR modules – to create an immersive and engaging eLearning experience in real time. Based on analysis of personalisation needs of SEN students we will adjust the developed exercises and models to meet the needs of the individual. 4. Teachers training programme – to encourage the teachers to use the educational tool kit, to review organisation of classes and practice and to plan developments. The responsibility for project results is based on the project partners expertise: 1. The University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius (UCM) in Trnava, Slovak Republic is a young and dynamic university, that has been continuously expanding international contacts with major international and European institutions. UCM will manage the consortium and will be responsible for the project internal evaluation of the quality of the project activities and outputs. It will be the leader in providing the general framework, unifying the inputs from all participating partners and supervising all internal quality checks. UCM will contribute to the Intellectual Outputs by ensuring the linguistic quality of the prepared texts. 2. The University of Ljubljana (ULI) has a rich tradition in various fields and is a very large university with more than 63,000 graduate and postgraduate students. The Faculty of Education educates and trains teachers and other professional workers in pre-school, kindergarten, primary, compulsory secondary and upper secondary schools. The ULI will be the project methodological coordinator, steering the consortium in regard to the requirements of special pedagogy and didactics. 3. Viteco is an Italian SME with engineering and business administration backgrounds. It’s a software and e-learning provider with experience in EU projects. It has its own e-learning platform and a solid expertise on open source platforms. Viteco will be responsible for the development of the technical solutions connected to the multimedia content of the educational tool kit aside AR. 4. Diadrasis IKE (PC) is a private Greece IT company, developing web, mobile and multimedia applications and content focusing on cultural management and education. The expertise includes the development of mixed reality mobile guides, 3d historical reconstructions and interactive educational games. Diadris will be responsible to develop and adjust all the necessary technical solutions connected to the augmented reality modules. 5. ZŠ Postupimská 37 is a primary school in Slovak Republic with 10 % SEN students. The school will define their specific needs for the adjustment of the educational tool, test the educational tool and advice in further development. They are a key partner for the success and implementation of the tool. 6. Osnovna šola Orehek Kranj - OŠ Orehek (SI) is a primary school with 15 % SEN students. The school will define their specific needs for the adjustment of the educational tool, test the educational tool and advice in further development. They are a key partner for the success and implementation.
The ARPhymedes Plus project was designed to enhance physics education for students with special needs through the application of AR. Access to suitable ICT can reduce disparities in inclusive education and children with special educational needs must have access to ICT-based programs that are part of the school curriculum. An essential condition for creating high-quality e-learning materials that can be used in school practice was to define specific requirements, such as accessibility, user-friendliness, comprehensibility, and well-prepared content in terms of curriculum and didactics, using the latest information processing technologies with a high proportion of interactive elements. Project outputs include: Multisensory learning- AR engages multiple senses. Personalized education- AR applications can be customized to meet the specific needs of students with special educational needs. Practical exploration- Overcoming physical limitations and the need for traditional laboratory environments. Improved focus and attention- The interactive and immersive nature of augmented reality captivates students with SEN, reducing distractions. Real-world context- AR overlays virtual information on objects in the real world.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on students with disabilities have prompted an urgent need to adapt individualized educational plans, methods, and tools. The potential of new information and communication technologies to tailor textbooks, educational materials, and tools to the individual needs of students with disabilities is not fully realized. The ARphymedes Plus project is an extension of the ARphymedes project, which focused on developing a set of educational tools for teaching physics using augmented reality (AR). Physics, as part of STEM subjects, is becoming an increasingly important component of basic literacy. The aim of the ARphymedes Plus project was to make the full potential of the intellectual outcomes of the ARphymedes project accessible to students with disabilities. The project integrates new technologies such as augmented reality, text-to-speech conversion, user interface modification, machine learning into educational tools for the physics education of students with disabilities in elementary schools. The project focuses on the attractiveness of content to education, using science, technology, and history as access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking.