Bringing Books to Life with Augmented Reality

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS), adopted in Hawai‘i in 2012, place an emphasis on engaging students with complex, non-fiction text. In primary grades, emergent readers struggle with the level of complexity and challenging vocabulary found in non-fiction text. An overwhelming percentage of my first grade students are unable to read at grade-level proficiency and more interested in fiction than non-fiction. I decided to create an immersive environment that would provide rich content-based learning, capture student interest, and keep students highly engaged.

Today’s students are so motivated by technology; why not use it as a vehicle to increase engagement in reading non-fiction? Using a mobile application called Aurasma, I enhanced my classroom Language Arts program with augmented reality (AR). AR uses technology that overlays multimedia features over the real world environment through mobile device cameras. With no programming background, I was able to add interactive videos, 4D-images, and sound clips into non-fiction classroom readers. Not only did AR give students access to complex, non-fiction text, it also allowed them to engage in meaningful ways and strengthen their comprehension and text connections. This presentation will discuss how augmented reality infused life into regular books and how these books evolved based on my classroom implementation. Participants will be able to experience and learn about a valuable teaching tool that brings learning to its full potential and allows children to explore independently, manipulate objects in a natural way, and exercise control over their own learning experience.