Study of Augmented Reality Interaction Mediums (AIMs) towards Collaboratively Solving Open-Ended Problems

Abstract

Open-ended problem solving involves multiple approaches in solving a problem. This can help students to think divergently to relate and apply their classroom learnings in real-life examples. At the same time, through active collaboration, students get to exchange and enhance their knowledge, thus increasing productivity beyond that of an individual. The aim of our study was to develop a collaborative open-ended learning environment using Augmented Reality Interaction Mediums (AIMs) as scaffolds. We conducted a study in a classroom with 12 student s of 7th grade who collaboratively used different AIMs to solve certain open-ended problems based on their Mathematics syllabus. We observed their interactions and performance with AIMs as compared to the cont rolled treatment for each task. Further, we evaluated the creativity through divergent thinking scores using the parameters of fluency, flexibility and originality, where the experimental groups using different AIMs had better creativity score (M=86.3) as compare d to the control group (M=79). Thus, a collaborative open-ended approach using AIMs as scaffold can be explored further in improving creative problem solving.