Cultivating Interest in History and Culture using Augmented Reality for Elementary Students

Abstract

Local history and culture are vital elements shaping the identity of a society and its civilization. Yet, the appreciation of local history and culture among the younger generation are decreasing, where this could be observed in the social or history classes offered in schools. In Taiwan, elementary schools would organize field trips visiting local historic sites to encourage and improve students’ appreciation of the local history and culture. Past research had shown that technology could assist in engaging and motivating students to better appreciate the history and culture. Hence, a design based research was conducted with the objective of cultivating students’ interest and increasing their appreciation towards the local history and folk culture by designing an augmented reality application which used the strategy of situated learning and critical thinking in designing the learning content and assessment. After conducting two iterations, the research found that after using the designed application, students’ interest in local history and culture had increased, and the students were engaged in the learning process as the situated learning strategy and critical thinking questioning were applied.