With the growing number of diagnosed learning difficulties such as dyslexia, dysgraphia and ADHD, technology is rapidly seeking to overcome barriers to student learning. Through this, students now have more access to many different types of learning through lots of different augmented reality apps such as Osmo. Augmented reality is defined in a broad sense by “augmenting feedback to the operator with simulated cues” (Milgram et al p.283), a few other features which define augmented reality is it’s real time interaction, accurate imitations of 3D of real and virtual objects and combines real and virtual worlds.
Osmo’s website claims it is a “groundbreaking system that fosters social intelligence and creative thinking by opening up the iPad and iPhone to endless possibilities of physical play”. Theorists such as Papert, suggest that students learn best when they are involved in creating their own knowledge through constructing or deconstructing knowledge, named the “constructionist” learning theory. While there may be sufficient evidence to suggest this to be true, students learn best through multiple methods and physical manipulation of objects can be beneficial to students learning. This is especially true when considering students with ADHD, where the physical embodiment of enacting knowledge assists students to retaining motivation, engagement and enjoyment.
Osmo has 3 main functions and users must buy each program to go with their iPad/iPhone. Along with these functions are different objects which users must use in order to operate the program. For the maths program, users are provided different number tiles, the tangram program includes different shape tangram pieces, while the english word program includes letters. One of the great features of the english program is that students can place tiles of certain words under the Osmo reader and it will place the letters in order. This is an extremely beneficial feature for both young children who have difficulty placing letters in order but is also groundbreaking for students with dyslexia. This app overcomes the barriers of having to spell every word in the correct order and instead awards points when users can correctly identify letters in a word. As well as this, the tangram program is lots of fun and allows students lots of flexibility in creating their own shapes through using the skills learnt prior in the app.
Wu et al (2013) discuss the affordances and features of augmented reality programs, as typical of technological tools, Osmo and other augmented reality programs are able to engage students and revitalise typically mundane learning activities through including virtuals worlds. As well as this, students can interact with synthetic objects which can enhance their enjoyment and participation, as well as this, Wu et al (2013) state that augmented realities can “bridge formal and informal learning”, therefore maths and english practice through the app Osmo can influence students intrinsic motivation for learning these subjects and strengthen students knowledge schemas through repetitive practice in physically tangible ways.
References
- Bower, M., Howe, C., McCredie, N., Robinson, A., Grover, D. (2014). Augmented reality in Education – cases, places and potentials, Educational Media International, 51(1), pp.1-15.
- Papert, S. 1980. Mindstorms. Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas. New York: Basic books.
- Milgram, P., Takemura, H., Utsumi, A., & Kishino, F. (1994). Augmented reality: a class of displays on the reality–virtuality continuum. Proceedings the SPIE: Telemanipulator and Telepresence Technologies, 2351, 282–292.
- Wu, H., Lee, S., Chang, H., Liang, J. Current Status, opportunities and challenges of augmented reality in education, Computers & Education, 62, pp.41-49.
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