Abstract
Children’s interest in new technologies and games creates opportunities to use these tools to facilitate their thinking processes for scientific content and education, especially to support abstract reasoning in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths (STEM). Chemistry concepts, in particular, can benefit from being presented through hybrid physical/digital interfaces. However, the actual impact of immersive gaming technologies on learning and teaching chemistry to young children can benefit from further evaluations. We developed the “Periodic Fable Discovery” AR game to fill this gap. “Periodic Fable Discovery” is an AR serious game that uses a tangible interface and storytelling to introduce and teach basic chemistry concepts to young children from 9 to 13 years old. After designing and implementing the game, we conducted a study with 30 children, using a mixed-method approach, comparing the AR game versus a traditional method of teaching activity. The results show a significant positive learning outcome, higher motivation and engagement in the AR experience.
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Statements and Declarations
This work was supported by LARSyS-FCT Plurianual funding 2020-2023 (UIDB/50009/2020), and FCT Ph.D. Grant PD/BD/150286/2019. Also co-funded by NOVA LINCS (UIDB/04516/2020) with the financial support of FCT.IP. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, SC, upon reasonable request. The authors have no other competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by LARSyS-FCT Plurianual funding 2020-2023 and FCT Ph.D. Grant PD/BD/150286/2019. Also co-funded by NOVA LINCS (UIDB/04516/2020) with the financial support of FCT.IP. Our gratitude also goes to the students, teachers and coordinators at Doutorecos, Associação Olhar and Madeira CAB. We would like also to thank Gonçalo Martins, Michaela Sousa, Rui Trindade and Manuel Fontes for their ongoing support.
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Appendix A: PF iteration process
Appendix A: PF iteration process
PF Discovery Design and Development Process / Iterations
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Câmara Olim, S., Nisi, V. & Romão, T. Periodic fable discovery: an augmented reality serious game to introduce and motivate young children towards chemistry. Multimed Tools Appl 83, 52593–52619 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-023-17526-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-023-17526-9