In a world powered by technology and filled with distractions, capturing learners’ attention is easy, yet, keeping them engaged throughout the session remains the biggest challenge. Learners, more than ever, need a dynamic and engaging form of learning that goes beyond the traditional lecture-based approach and that would make the learning experience more productive and worthy.
Immersive learning is a new and innovative learning technique that has been gaining popularity in the recent years. It refers to a type of learning that is designed to be interactive and engaging, allowing learners to immerse themselves in real-world scenarios and learn specific techniques and skills in a safe artificial environment. It does not only eradicate distractions but also eliminates monotony in the process of learning by providing stimulating visualizations and bringing abstract learning to life. For example, learners might be able to experience a simulated historical event or explore a virtual environment by actively participating in the learning process and gaining a deeper understanding of the subject matter.
At Saint Mary’s Orthodox College, we believe that a classroom goes far beyond its structured walls. Accordingly, we have been using the Virtual Reality (VR) technology, as one of the solutions to integrate immersive learning in the classrooms and to bring sceneries and objects to life making the users feel as if they are immersed in their surroundings.
Consequently, Intermediate and Secondary learners had the chance to virtually explore various places around the world without having to leave their classrooms. Equipped with VR headsets, Grade 10 learners visited the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt in the Social Studies sessions and enjoyed a wonderful trip while discovering the Great Sphinx of Giza. Another VR project was implemented with Grade 7 and Grade 8 learners as they visited NASA and became astronauts on a mission to explore space. Throughout this virtual tour, they discovered how NASA’s program facilitates the capability to transport humans to and from deep space and explored the planets and asteroids within our solar system. The astonishment they expressed when they returned to earth is inexplicable!
Additionally, Intermediate and Secondary learners are constantly using the VR Science Lab to learn chemical and physical concepts through engaging visualizations; one of the lessons was about atoms structure where they dived inside a pencil and a balloon and flew between their molecules and atoms to discover the difference between solids and gaseous substances at a molecular level.
Another solution for integrating the immersive learning technique in our school is using the Augmented Reality (AR) technology that adds digital elements to reality to enhance it. With the help of AR tools, preschoolers’ beautiful colorings, drawings, and handwritings are scanned and animated in 3D, spreading a spirit of excitement and happiness in the classroom. This technique is used to develop young learners’ fine motor skills in a captivating and enjoyable learning experience. Grade 4 learners have also used this technology in Geography where they scanned the AR World Map and traveled across continents in 3D to explore their various landscapes and monuments as well as discover their seasons, plants, and animals. Moreover, Elementary learners have used AR in Math to discover the 3D models of the main 2D geometrical shapes where they got a clearer visualization of their edges, faces, vertexes, etc. Several AR-based tools are also being used in different subjects at school, allowing learners to discover critical and abstract concepts in 3D.
Immersive learning has proved to have a positive impact on our learners’ motivation and engagement, which is critical to their long-term success in school and beyond. Therefore, Saint Mary’s Orthodox College constantly seeks to integrate new approaches to foster an active learning environment and inculcate in our learners the love of learning and the desire to continue exploring new subjects and topics.
The Augmented Reality (AR) can be used for different objectives in the classrooms. This innovative technology overlays virtual content on top of the real environment, allowing students to interact with content in whole new ways.
Since the technology’s inception, App developers have been producing the best AR apps for education that help improving classroom learning through increased engagement and interactivity.
These Augmented Reality apps allow students to expand their knowledge and also engage them in the process of developing AR projects. Additionally, they enable educators to build their own AR content and lesson plans. Below is a list of the 15 best AR apps for education.
15 Best AR Apps for Education
1. Narrator AR
Narrator AR is one of the best AR apps for education that supports pre-school writing in a fun and inspiring way. The application encourages children to pick up a pen and write before using the app to animate handwritten words off the page in Augmented Reality. It also motivates them at a vital stage of early education to engage essential fine motor and cognitive skills in order to support early literacy and brain development. Watching letters and numbers form in 3D animation helps young learners gain a deep understanding of how to write. It is specifically beneficial for visual learners.
How to Use:
1. Download Narrator AR app from the Apple Store or Google Store.
2. Download the sheets or get the activity books here.
3. Open the app.
4. Scan the sheets or the activity books with your device’s camera.
2. CleverBooks
CleverBooks Geographyallows K1 to K-6 students to explore ready-to-use content in Augmented reality. It features 3D models of countries and includes information on geographical peculiarities, political structures, animals, plants and heritage sites, and more. Adaptable to multiple subjects (geography, literacy, social studies, the world around us, etc.) and grades, CleverBooks Geography is one of the best AR apps for education that engages students in a new way of seeing and exploring the world, and all its wonders through an interactive learning experience of a real-world environment.
How to Use:
1. Download CleverBooks Geography app from the Apple Store or Google Store.
2. Get the map here.
3. Open the app.
4. Scan the map with your device’s camera.
3. QuiverVision
QuiverVision is also one of the best AR apps for education that combines physical coloring with the Augmented Reality technology to bring students an extraordinarily magical experience. When students finish coloring the sheet, they can use this 3D coloring app to animate its content.
How to Use:
1. Download Quiver app from the Apple Store or Google Store.
2. Download the coloring pages here.
3. Print out the coloring pages.
4. Color the coloring pages.
5. Open the app.
6. Scan the coloring pages with your device’s camera.
4. Virutali-Tee by Curiscope
The Virtuali-Tee by Curiscope takes Science to a new dimension enabling students to learn about the human body… on a human body. With beautifully designed Augmented Reality and amazing 3D learning experiences, learners can explore the circulatory, respiratory and digestive systems with fully immersive 360° videos. It’s is one of the best AR apps for education that allows students to track their heart rate and see it animating live in the app.
How to Use:
1. Download Virtuali-Tee by Curiscope app from the Apple Store or Google Store.
2. Get the Virtuali-Tee T-shirt here.
3. Put on the T-shirt.
4. Open the app.
5. Scan the T-shirt with your device’s camera.
5. Animal 4D+
The Animal 4D+ app is created to highlight the beauty and importance of wildlife on Earth. Various animals are magically brought to life in realistic 3D animation through the magic of Augmented Reality for the children to observe, along with their unique sounds and movements. It’s one of the best AR apps for education designed to contribute in building children’s awareness about the diversity of animal species and the importance of preserving, protecting, and saving the ecological balance.
How to Use:
1. Download Animal 4D+ app from the App Store or Google Store.
2. Get the AR flashcards here.
3. Open the app.
4. Scan the flashcards with your device’s camera.
6. Space 4D+
Space 4D+ app is a simple yet smart tool using the Augmented Reality technology to take children on a journey to the edges of our solar system, where they can easily observe and learn about various celestial bodies and space explorations. It’s one of the best AR apps for education designed and created to inspire children with the wonders of our universe.
How to Use:
1. Download Space 4D+ app from the App Storeor Google Store.
2. Get the AR flashcards here.
3. Open the app.
4. Scan the flashcards with your device’s camera.
7. Octaland 4D+
Octaland 4D+ is one of the best AR apps for education that features an assortment of real-life occupations through 26 Octanian characters from A-Z using the Augmented Reality technology. “Once upon a time, there is a magical land ruled by Kaz the Knowledgeable King. It is called Octaland and its inhabitants are called the Octanians. From Albert the Astronaut to Zack the Zookeeper, the Octanians are hardworking people, proud of what they do for a living!”
1. Download Octaland 4D+ app from the App Store or Google Store.
2. Get the AR flashcards here.
3. Open the app.
4. Scan the flashcards with your device’s camera.
8. CleverBooks Geometry
CleverBooks Geometry allows students to explore geometric solids in Augmented reality and spark their curiosity for 3D geometry. It’s one of the best AR apps for education that features 3D models of five main 2D-dimension geometrical shapes (circle, rectangle, cube, hexagon, and triangle) and enables a teacher to explain abstract geometry concepts through 3D visualization. Pair the app with CleverBooks Geometry Building Blocks to create an engaging and immersive learning environment for kids at home of ages 5 to 12 years or students in your math class (K-6).
How to Use:
1. Download CleverBooks Geometry app from theApple Store or Google Store.
2. Get the CleverBooks Geometry Building blocks here.
3. Open the app.
4. Scan the Geometry Building Blocks with your device’s camera.
9. Catchy Word
Catchy Wordlets learners walk around their homes, classrooms, and more, to ‘catch letters’ using the Augmented Reality technology. Once the letters have been caught, they can be arranged into a word. It’s a perfect app for kids struggling with spelling. It’s one of the best AR apps for education that allows teachers and parents to create their own word list and solve either one word or the entire list in series.
How to Use:
1. Download Catchy Word app from the App Store or Google Store.
2. Open the app.
3. Walk around while scanning the environment around you with your device’s camera.
10. ANSTO XR
ANSTO XR is one of the best AR apps for education that unlocks the periodic table to reveal a world of protons, neutrons, and electrons and illustrates how useful they are to science and industry in the 21st century. By pointing their devices at the ANSTO periodic table poster, students can see new and engaging information about some of the most popular elements; including the arrangement of the atom and information on how the element is used in everyday life.
How to Use:
1. Download ANSTO XR app from the App Store or Google Store.
2. Download the periodic table poster here.
3. Print out the poster.
3. Open the app.
4. Scan the poster with your device’s camera.
11. GeoGebra Augmented Reality
GeoGebra Augmented Reality ignites interest and critical thinking around math and physical space. It includes several examples of 3D math objects that students can place on the table, floor, or any flat surface around them. It’s one of the best AR apps for education that allows learners to work as individuals or in pairs to explore shapes, 3D functions, and more. They can also rotate their cameras to connect a Penrose triangle or enter a Klein’s bottle. Moreover, they can take screenshots from multiple angles, compare evidence with other students, and then come back to class for presentation and discussion.
How to Use:
1. Download GeoGebra app from the App Store.
2. Hold on your device over a flat surface.
3. Choose the topic from the menu.
12. Bookful
With the power of Augmented Reality (AR) and 3D elements, Bookfulcreates an engaging experience and brings stories and characters to life. Parents and educators will love how this app transforms reading into an active learning experience. It’s one of the best AR apps for education that holds the world’s largest 3D/AR library with hundreds of titles from leading publishers and brands such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit, DK’s Encyclopedia, and children’s favorites, Barbie, My Little Pony, Thomas & Friends, Transformers, and The Smurfs.
How to Use:
1. Download Bookful app from the App Store or Google Store.
2. Open the app.
3. Choose the book.
13. World Brush
World Brush is an Augmented Reality app that allows students to paint with brushes on the world around them. It’s one of the best AR apps for education that also allows them to share their paintings with their friends and teachers. Every painting is anonymous and is saved at the approximate GPS location where it was created.
How to Use:
1. Download World Brush app from the App Store.
2. Open the app.
3. Scan the environment around you with your device’s camera.
4. Paint.
14. Google Translate
With the AR feature of Google Translate, students can point their device’s camera towards the text they want to translate, and it will give them a real-time translation on the image display. It’s one of the best AR apps for education that makes it easy for your students to learn languages without typing the words they want to translate.
How to Use:
1. Download Google Translate app from the App Store or Google Store.
2. Open the app.
3. Scan the text with your device’s camera.
15. Arloon Plants
With Arloon Plants, students will find out all about plants: their parts, their life cycles, and their different species. They will delve into the way they adapt to ecosystems and the seasons to survive and discover a host of curious facts that will amaze them. It’s one of the best AR apps for education that allows students to take care of their own virtual plants that they can bring to the real world through the Augmented Reality technology.
How to Use:
1. Download Arloon Plants app from the App Store.
2. Download the AR card here.
3. Print out the AR card.
4. Open the app.
5. Scan the AR card with your device’s camera.
AstroReality’s Education solution is a technology bridge between tactile and digital to discover the space like never before!
With their Solar System Mini set, students can interact and visualize the planets through the Augmented Reality technology by pointing their devices at the 3D printed planetary models.
Working with these AR replicas, students are engaged in an immersive learning process; they will see the planets come to life their location, and their rotation speed around the sun. In addition, they will have access to information and data directly from NASA and other accredited sources at the tip of their fingers.
Each planetary model is crafted and designed to utilize the highest quality renderings of the planets. It’s also precisely made with up to 0.1millimeters per pixel precision based on NASA data.
QuiverVision new AR digital aquarium environment is incredible! It’s used to link the mobile AR coloring experiences with large, shared, and public displays. Overall, it can combine different AR-colored fish with other additional features and educational elements.
When students finish coloring the sheets containing different types of fish (Star Fish, Sea Shell, Jellyfish), they can scan them using the Quiver App to magically bring their fish to life with the Augmented Reality technology. Afterward, teachers can submit all the classroom’s custom-colored sheets to the digital environment where students can watch their fish swim all together on the large screen!
This digital environment has become a quite popular product across schools, STEM Labs, events, libraries, museums, conferences, etc…
ANSTO XR released a new AR periodic table where students learn more about its elements through the Augmented Reality technology. It reveals a world of protons, neutrons, and electrons and illustrates how useful they are to science and industry when students point their tablets at it.
The program is designed to make STEM subjects engaging and exciting for the next generation, according to the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Karen Andrews.
“It’s so important that we get as many children as possible studying these subjects because so many of the jobs of the future will require the skills,” said Andrews.
How to Use it?
Teachers need to simply download the free app, get the students to point their device at the ANSTO periodic poster on a wall (or the pocket poster) and instantly students can see new and engaging information about some of the most popular elements; including the arrangement of the atom and information on how the element is used in everyday life.
zSpaceis an AR VR laptop that provides students with a new way of learning by bringing together the augmented and virtual reality technologies. Its learning methodology consists of a combination of hardware, software, and educational content where students are completely immersed in a learning experience that facilitates the building of a curriculum around it.
zSpace: AR VR laptop
zSpace laptop applications offer a realistic study environment by providing virtual-holographic images that can be “lifted” from the screen and manipulated with the stylus. Some applications also provide multi-sensory feedback; for example, students working with a virtual heart can see it pumping, hear it, and feel it beating.
zSpace: AR VR Laptop
The AR VR laptop comes with glasses that work in conjunction with its tracking system to provide users with an interactive AR/VR experience and a stylus that allows them to bring the objects out of the screen and into reality.
How to use the AR VR Laptop?
zSpace Laptop Applications
zSpace laptop offers interesting K-12 applications; some of them are listed below:
Franklin’s Lab– guides students through electricity concepts and troubleshooting faulty circuits. Students can follow guided activities and repair broken switches and motors in Workbench mode.
Euclid’s Shapes – offers activities with math manipulatives and provides teachers with a guide to math learning. Students learn with Base-10 blocks, Square Tiles, Fraction Bars, and more!
Curie’s Elements – allows students to explore a periodic table with Bohr and atomic models for each element. Students can also build elements by adding protons, neutrons, and electrons.
MEL Chemistry – provides an engaging visualization and explanation of chemistry concepts – from atoms to molecules including the periodic table, gas laws, and isomerism.
Experiences – include experiential-based simulations of Earth, Life, and Physical Science topics allowing students to manipulate content while learning abstract concepts.
Human Anatomy Atlas – is an award-winning human anatomy general reference. Students can explore human body systems, over 4,600 anatomical structures, and more!
Geogebra Classic – allows students to better engage in math concepts related to three-dimensional topics. Students can explore functions, geometry, algebra, calculus, and 3D math.
Newton’s Park – allows students to run or create their own experiments to deepen their knowledge of Newtonian Mechanics. Students can build simulations while interacting with data.
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