Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Serious Games
Date Submitted: Apr 2, 2023
Date Accepted: Nov 6, 2023
Augmented reality serious game design for promoting children's science education cognition: a randomized controlled trial
ABSTRACT
Background:
The purpose of science education is to improve children's scientific cognition, which is increasingly valued by scholars and parents. However, traditional science education is popularized through movies, books and science education lectures, being reported in monotonous forms and confusing materials that hinder the spread of scientific knowledge. Serious games provide children with viable and successful solutions for science education. Therefore, it is important to design serious games for science education that are suitable for children's cognitive processes.
Objective:
To evaluate the effectiveness of augmented reality (AR) game as a teaching tool for promoting science education cognition of children.
Methods:
36 healthy children between the ages of 6 and 8 years old were included in this study. Individuals were randomly divided into an intervention group (n=18) and a control group (n=18). Interventions, namely a 20-minute AR science education including three game lesson modules, while the control group was asked to learn 20-minute same knowledge with non-AR science learning app. POE (predict-observe-explain) test of 3 games including animal vision, color-light mixing and light refraction were conducted for all participants before and after the experiment. Also, intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) test including interest-enjoyment (INT-ENJ), perceived competence (COMP), effort-importance (EFF-IMP), and tension-pressure (TEN-PRESS) were conducted for children after the experiment.
Results:
There was a statistically significant difference in animal vision (Z=-2.166, p=0.03), light refraction (Z=-3.213, p=0.001), color-light mixing (Z=-2.508, p=0.012) and total POE test scores (Z=-3.528, p=0.000) in experimental group. Additionally, two groups showed variability in INT-ENJ (z=-2.440, p=0.016) and COMP (z=-2.170, p=0.031). In contrast, significant differences were not observed in EFF-IMP (z=-1.310, p=0.203) and TEN-PRESS (z=-0.733, p=0.481), especially in TEN-PRESS, where the experimental group (13.67±1.12) showed higher stress compared to the control group (8.61±2.09).
Conclusions:
Through the randomized controlled study, it is confirmed that the AR-based science education game we designed may correct children's misconceptions about science and enhance the effectiveness of science education.
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