AR books and pre-school children’s engagement

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AR books and pre-school

children’s engagement

Author: Alisa Dibrova Bachelor thesis

Program: Media production and process design Course: ME126A Media Technology: Degree Thesis Supervisor: Daniel Spikol

Examiner: Sven Packmohr Date: 2016-05-20

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Abstract

Modern children use mobile technologies more and more often. A number of studies argue that children’s learning can benefit from the use of media in classrooms and that there exists a lack of these technologies applied at schools. Many research indicate that use of augmented reality technologies in children’s teaching helps children to get more motivated and engaged in the learning activities, and it is beneficial for children’s memory retention. Some studies claim that motivation is an essential factor for promotion a learning performance.

This study aims at creating an augmented reality (AR) book for 4-5 years old children and on

understanding how AR can affect engagement, and how it can support learning in terms of memorization. There was conducted an experiment with eight children who go to preschool. During the experiment, the observations and interviews were made. Graphic design, illustration and animation were a part of

preparation for the experiment. The study results are analyzed and discussed in relation to earlier research in this area.

The results point towards the fact that AR could help children of preschool age in classroom education by positively affecting their memory retention and increasing their engagement and motivation – which was earlier claimed to be an extremely important factor for improving the learning performance. At the same time, it is hard to interpret the results with a high degree of certainty as the test groups were small and a number of additional factors could have affected the results. In order to confirm the results of this study, it is suggested to conduct a study of a larger scale.

Keywords

Augmented reality, motivation, child development books, illustration, graphic design, animation, memorizing, learning, engagement.

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Sammanfatning

Moderna barn använder mobilteknik oftare och oftare. Ett antal studier hävdar att barns lärande kan dra nytta av användning av medier i klassrum och att det finns en brist på denna teknik att använda i skolorna. Många undersökningar indikerar att användningen av augmented reality (AR) teknik i undervisning för barn hjälper dem att bli mer motiverade och engagerade i lärande activiteter, och att det är fördelaktigt för barns minneslagring. Vissa studier hävdar att motivation är en viktig faktor för att främja en

inlärningsförmåga.

Denna studie syftar på att skapa en augmented reality-bok för barn 4-5 år och på att förstå hur AR kan påverka engagemang, och hur den kan stödja lärandet i termer av memorering.

Ett experiment genomfördes med åtta barn som går till förskolan. Under experimentet gjordes

observationer och intervjuer. Grafisk design, illustration och animering var en del av förberedelserna för experimentet. Studieresultaten analyseras och diskuteras i förhållande till tidigare undersökningar i detta område.

Resultaten pekar mot att AR skulle kunna hjälpa barn i förskoleåldern i klassrummsundervisning genom att positivt påverka deras minneslagring samt öka deras engagemang och motivation - som tidigare påstås är en mycket viktig faktor för att förbättra inlärningsförmåga. Samtidigt är det svårt att tolka resultaten med en hög grad av säkerhet för att testgrupperna var små, och antalet ytterligare faktorer kan ha påverkat resultaten. För att bekräfta resultaten av denna studie är det rekommenderat att genomföra en

undersökning av en större skala.

Nykelord

Augmented reality, motivation, barns utveckling böcker, illustration, grafisk design, animering, memorering, lärande, engagemang.

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1 Introduction

This section contains a theoretically based explanation of why this study is necessary, the section describes the problem, defines the objectives, questions, limitations and ethical aspects of this research.

1.1 Introduction and Problem

According to Billinghurst (2002), young children often dream about jumping into the pages of a book and about becoming a part of the narrative. Augmented Reality books make this dream come true (Billinghurst, 2002, p. 197).

This thesis focuses on the creation of an augmented reality (AR) book for children aged from four till five years old and on identifying its possible advantages for children’s classroom education, understanding AR’s effect on engagement, motivation and their effect on memorization. In the current case, text memorization. To avoid misleading, by text is

understood the original words of a piece of writing or a speech or, as Cambridge Dictionaries Online (2016) define the notion of text, “the exact words of a speech, an article, etc.”. AR is a modern technology which nowadays is applied in different spheres, such are, for example, driving, games, books etc. AR books among others are used in education, and by people of different ages. It has been proved by many research that the use of AR books can benefit education in various ways. Positive attitude to AR activities can be brought by using AR toys by children (Yilmaz, 2016), use of AR has shown to improve learning with better memory retention (Valimont, et al, 2007), it contributes to development of more complete and detailed internal representations, e.g. while learning geography (Hedley, 2003). While there exists a lot of studies revealing advantages of AR technologies use while learning, it is hard to find extensive studies describing the effect that AR makes on engagement and for instance on memorization of preschool children when AR technology is used in books.

According to the definition given by Azuma & Azuma (1997, p.2), augmented reality lets the eye perceive the real world with virtual objects as its part. These virtual objects can compound with the real world or superimposed upon it. The authors explain that for this reason AR supplements the reality – virtual and real objects appear to the user existing in the same space. Augmented Reality improves the perception of the real world and user’s interaction with it. This means that users become able to discover the information displayed by the virtual objects which users would be unable to percept directly with their own senses. (Azuma & Azuma,

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1997). Fujimoto et al. (2012) define augmented reality as systems which present information by means of overlaying it on user’s real world view. Billinghurst (2002) writes that by AR is commonly understood as an ability to superimpose computer graphics onto the real world. Inglobe Technologies (n.d) mean that augmented reality is a fusion of real and virtual in a real time. They also state that AR technology used inside books can assist in creating of immersive reading experiences and high impact content structures in an even more innovative manner than newspapers. Augmented Reality and the Future of Printing and Publishing

When AR is used in books, a person sees the physical pages with images through a digital screen of, for example, a smartphone or a tablet. At that moment person sees an additional digital data, for example, an animation overlaid on the physical page. AR effect, in this case, will be an illusion of the digital animation being played directly on a physical real page – the digital and the real world will be blended.

The AR books for children available on the Swedish market are designed for the age group of 6 to 9 years old. For example, if we look at the AR children books available on Bokus, Adlibris and Fyndiq, which are three of the biggest book shops in Sweden, we may see the following. Bokus suggests augmented reality books for children and teenagers in the total amount of eighteen. All of the suggested books are for older children and use 3D animations. Adlibris.com suggests five augmented reality books, none of them is suitable for children of the younger audience 4-5 years old. Bokus.se, adlibris.se as well as fyndiq.se lack AR books for children younger than 6 years old (see appendix 1 – AR books in book shops). This project aims at creating an AR book for the target audience for which there are only a few of them are available on the market – children of 4-5 years old. The AR book is to be created with the help of simpler animation technology, 2D, which is also hard to find to be used in the children’s AR books. The important notions for this research are motivation, engagement, and memorization. By inner motivation should be understood a wish to do something because it is interesting or enjoyable. This kind of motivation became important phenomena for educators because it may result in creativity and learning of a high quality (Deci & Ryan, 2000, p. 54). The notion of engagement can be defined as the grade to which students get engaged in learning activities and which is connected with obtaining learning results of a high quality (Krause & Coates, 2008 cited in Trowler et al., 2010, p. 7). By memorization is meant the capacity of storing and retrieving information about the past experiences (Wilson & Keil, 2001 cited in Wang & Eng, 2007).

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According to Chen (2007), the essential factor to promote academic performance and learning satisfaction is motivation. This could mean that if the use of AR books in pre-school education could contribute to a higher engagement and motivation, it could at the same time lead to better learning results. I believe that if the use of AR technology in books can positively affect engagement and motivation of the chosen audience it in its turn may lead to a better perception of information and a higher memory retention.

The investigation of this area is especially important when it is known that AR technologies and Information Communication Technologies (ICT) can be beneficial for learning and when there exists a lack of these technologies applied in classroom education. A closer look at these facts and a deeper understanding of the notion of learning, of how media can support learning and of how AR can be beneficial for education is suggested in a theory section.

1.2 Objectives (aim and purpose) and research

questions

This study focuses on creating an augmented reality (AR) book for children of 4-5 years old, and on contributing with knowledge about its possible benefits for the process of learning, in particular – motivation, engagement and their possible benefits for text memorizing, compared to books which are normally used in classroom education.

This research aims to find answers to the following questions:

 Can AR technology be beneficial for classroom education of preschool children?

This main research question is supported by the following sub-questions:

 Can the use of AR technology in children’s books effect the engagement of children of preschool age?

 Can AR support memorization of young children?

1.3 Limitations

This study will be conducted on the children of a certain age and will not be tested on an older audience. In addition, it is difficult to take into account the abilities of the children in each group. It is also hard to exclude the fact that some of the participants in the study could be

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already familiar with the chosen poem. Even if the chance is very small, it may still affect the accuracy of the results.

1.3.1 Ethics

When conducting the experiment I should take into account the ”personuppgiftslagen”, a Swedish law regulating the processing of personal data. According to ”personuppgiftslagen”, when conducting a research or a study, it is required that the participants should have left a consent to processing their data (Datainspektionen, n.d.).

Besides that, if the person is under age, his or her guardian is required to leave a consent in order to make processing of the child’s personal data allowed (Datainspektionen, n.d.). In order to be sure that my study will be conducted in line with Swedish law on personal data

processing, I will provide the children’s guardians with the consent forms. Consent forms will include the details about the personal data which is to be gathered, experiment procedure details and possible ways of use of the gathered data. The children’s guardians will be provided with the consent form samples signed by me and will be asked to agree or disagree to the form content. The experiment can be held only after receiving a consent on its conducting from the sufficient number of participants.

In the current research all the children’s real names are replaced with the different ones. This was done in order to protect the tesees’ personal data. For the same reason the name of the preschool where the experiment took place is not named in the research.

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2 Theory

This section presents earlier research which was made in the area of this study. Learning part gives arguments for how learning works and provides a basis for the use of the children’s story book in this research. The media part gives arguments for why information communication technologies can support learning. The AR part shows how this technology can help learning. The gap part identifies a basis for the current research in a form of a gap in the available theory.

2.1 Learning

Learning is a complex process (Illeris, 2009, p18; Jarvis, 2009). Illeris (2009, p.18) calls learning a very complicated matter and adds that programs, analyses, and discussions must take into account the whole field in order to be reliable. There exist many different factors which affect learning. There are also many different theories of learning explaining its process and the role of different factors in it. One of the definitions of learning belongs to (2009), who divides it into three dimensions. He names these dimensions as content dimension, incentive dimension and interaction dimension. By content dimension Illeris (2009) understands what is learned. According to the author, this is usually described as skills and knowledge which may contribute to building up the capacity of the learner. Illeris (2009) describes the second, incentive

dimension, as the one which provides and directs the mental energy which is needed for the learning process to take place. According to Illeris (2009), incentive dimension comprises feelings, emotions, motivation and volition. The author argues that the basic function of the incentive dimension is to secure the continuous mental balance of the learner. The third, interaction dimension, according to the author’s definition, provides the impulses that initiate the learning process. He describes these impulses as perception, transmission, experience, imitation, activity, participation, etc. (Ibid., pp. 100ff.).

Learning is complex and sometimes for some students the learning process does not go as it was intended. Then mistakes or going off the track may occur in many different ways. This can happen due to different factors, for example, the interaction may not function for the reason that the teacher’s instructions are incoherent or not good enough, or due to the disturbances during the learning experience “because the teacher’s explanation is not good enough or is even incoherent, or there may be disturbances in the situation” (Ibid.). The author claims that the process of learning may also be inadequate, among other factors because of a lack of

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or insufficiencies in the prior learning, which makes them hard or unable to understand the teacher’s explanations which in turn makes children unable to learn what is being taught (Ibid.). The beliefs that learning should be adjusted to student’s peculiarities is also shared by Gardner (2009, p. 107) who claims that students do not arrive in school as individuals who have the same level of intellectual achievements, researcher argues that all students have their personal histories, experiences, biological and cultural backgrounds. The author states that all the students differ in kinds of minds, strengths, interests, and modes of processing information. According to Gardner's (2009, p. 107) point of view, these students’ peculiarities complicate the teaching process, but they can as serve as a good support in making teaching more effective. The author explains that this can be achieved if the teacher is able to use different pedagogical approaches, in this way more students can be reached in more effective ways.

Both Illeris (2009) and Gardner (2009) distinguish learning or intelligence types. Illeris (2009) divides learning into types. By assimilative learning author understands the learning where one learns by addition. Here Illeris (2009) means that the new elements get linked as an addition to a scheme or pattern that is already established. The type of learning where learning is grounded on what seems interesting or important or something that learner is determined to acquire author defines as accommodative learning. Cumulative learning author argues to be the most important in early childhood (Ibid.).

Through the lens of examining the usability for this project Gardner’s (2009) research on how different learning styles work has been applied as means to investigate AR. Gardner’s theories do not necessarily represent my views on learning skills but were only used to support a framework for evaluating the results. Gardner (2009) defines different intelligence types which according to his views can be the ways to engage students. These intelligence types are:

“narrative, quantitative/numerical, foundational/existential, aesthetic, hands-on and social type” (Gardner, 2009). Thus, the students who enjoy learning through stories have a narrative

intelligence type. Quantitative type addresses students who are intrigued by numbers and different operations that can be performed with numbers, these students are attracted to insights into size and ratio. Gardner (2009) explains that foundational type is more suitable for learners who enjoy fundamental kinds of questions. Individuals with aesthetic learning type are inspired by the way materials are arranged, the composition design, and the works of art. The author explains that for some learners, in particularly for the young ones, it is more effective to learn via activities where they can manipulate materials, carry out experiments and be actively engaged – this type of intelligence is defined as a hands-on type. Researcher claims that learners

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having the social type of intelligence learn more effectively in a group, where they can interact with other persons.

There, of course, exist other factors affecting the efficiency of learning. For example, the use of media technologies can be one of the factors affecting the learning process.

2.2 Learning with media

There have been given many arguments for the fact that the use of media technologies can support learning. Forgo (2013) argues for the advantages of New Media technologies use in the learning process. He explains that New Media as technology mostly involves “devices and tools facilitating digital, network-based connections promoting interactivity and creativity via tablet machines, smart phones, smart community TVs in addition to the Internet” (Forgo, 2013). The author explains that “New Media concept is generally associated with digital cameras,

videogames, consoles, mobile telephones and the internet” (Forgo, 2013). The researcher states that New Media phenomenon has already made an impact on a number of disciplinary fields. He also writes that because of the efforts in innovations it is possible to observe that the use of e-books and digital tablets is growing in the sphere of education. At the same time, according to the Forgo’s (2013) statement, these technologies are not yet totally accepted to be used in the process of teaching. The author continues with the statement that the presence of media technology equipment in schools is relatively limited and that digital technology still does not enjoy everyday educational use. He claims that despite this fact the modern generation of students insists on the integration of new media technologies, hi-tech ICT and entertainment devices they are used to at home in the classroom work as well.

Students without any special qualification are able to “film and edit materials, create and publish content on the internet while sharing their experiences on several social communication channels” (Forgo, 2013). Researcher continues with a statement that New Media can give rise to the advancement of new narrative technologies and notably enhance the methods used in teaching. These new ways of classroom work organization can include ways of fascinating learners’ minds and increasing their motivation, importing the present students’’ knowledge into the classroom, the presentation of new materials, arrangement, the use of earlier obtained knowledge and information, the evaluation of learners’ achievements etc. (Forgo, 2013). A number of other researchers have argued for why the integration of ICT (Information Communication Technology) in education can benefit learning. Ahmad et al. (2013) claim that

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ICT has a great potential for enriching the learning experience, especially in early childhood education. They state that nowadays the need to integrate ICT into preschool education has become greater.

According to Pohradsky et al. (2013), it is important to create the right attitude to ICT from the pre-school and elementary school age. The authors claim that it is also important to motivate child's interest in the application of ICT. They continue with the statements that there open up new possibilities of application of ICT within elementary school education within different subjects. Authors argue that it is important to create the right focus among children towards implementation of ICT especially in the sphere of education. Giving more arguments for why ICT can support learning, researchers explains that application of ICT at early stage of education is a great help and advantage from the point of view that pre-school and early

elementary school education is very demanding due to the early students’ ages, their low ability to concentrate, and due to their illiteracy.

The innovations which have been occurring the recent decades in ICT have risen the interest of the educational community which during these last decades had the need to evolve in its theoretical areas and pedagogic practices Nicholas (2013). Nicholas (2013) states that ICT integration is especially effective in primary education. Miguez et al. (2009) argue that the use of ICT has been applied in primary, secondary and high schools for a number of years. They claim that benefits of these technologies have been well documented. For example, in terms of administrative and educational task management. The application of ICT benefited, for example, to improve motivation and subject knowledge. The study conducted in the UK and called “New technology in schools: Is there a pay off?” finds evidence for a positive

relationship between an increase in ICT investment and a rise in educational performance in primary schools (Machin, et al., 2007). The Norway’s largest and most extensive project which supports the application of ICT in school education (the PILOT project) has shown that 52% of the students confirmed that the use of ICT increased their performances in school subjects (Network for It-Research and Competence in Education (ITU), 2004). Benefits of mobile learning are argued for by Rogers & Price (2009). Authors claim that mobile learning opens up many new opportunities for ways in which children can learn. Applied in a learning process use of mobile devices can be highly motivating and can increase children’s engagement in the learning activities. Rogers and Price (2009) argue that mobile learning can help to transform learning and to broaden children’s understanding of their world. It can also show how this understanding can help children to manage the world that changes more and more (Rogers & Price, 2009, p.15, 17).

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One of the ways of using mobile technologies in the process of education is applying AR technologies which are argued by many researchers to be beneficial for children’s learning.

2.3 Learning with AR

A number of earlier studies found a positive effect of using AR in the educational process. Radu (2014) who aimed on finding a comprehensive understanding of how augmented reality

medium differs from other educational mediums, analyzed 26 studies providing a comparison of learning withAR opposed to non-AR applications, and states that it is shown by many studies that augmented reality makes the performance better in many ways in learning tasks as well as improves book's functional features. The author also claims that a high number of research studies investigated the ways AR can potentially benefit learning.

Multiple studies note high enthusiasm from the users' side to get engaged with AR experiences (Radu, 2014). The researcher also states that according to multiple studies, a feeling of higher satisfaction was reported by users, they were having more fun and were more willing to repeat the AR experience. The positive effects that the use of AR shows compared to traditional methods of education were detected, among these effects are: increased content understanding, long-term memory retention and increased motivation (Radu, 2014).

Juan et al. (2010) claim that outcomes of their study showed that children learned from the AR game, and that use of AR games improves learning outcomes. Researchers designed an AR game for children which would help them learning about endangered animals in a fun way. There was conducted a test on a total number of 46 children of 7-12 years old who played the AR game and the equivalent real game. Authors explain that the results indicated that children found AR game more fun and enjoyed playing it more than playing the real game.

Another study showed that the AR mode contributed to better learning and memory retention of aviation maintenance students when compared to the other three traditional learning modes. The examination was made with the printed material, videotape, text annotations activated by mouse interaction, and AR mode. The study aimed at investigating the efficiency of learning in an AR conditions in contrast to traditional methods of teaching. (Valimont et. al. 2007, p. 36).

A study with a purpose to find out if AR improves motivation in students’ math learning was conducted by Chen (2013). In order to answer that question researcher needed to determine if students use different instructional materials would have different preferences toward using AR

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in the class. The research also aimed to investigate how AR implementation in education would affect students’ attitude of attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction towards learning. The study outcomes have shown that students from the AR group had a more positive attitude towards satisfaction and attention than the students from the non-AR group. AR education showed to be more attractive, convenient, and interesting to the students (Chen, 2013). The evidence of how AR can benefit learning was also found by Chen & Wang (2015) who conducted a study where mobile AR technology in the context of English vocabulary learning by children of elementary school was tested. The research has shown that all of the students learning with the help of mobile AR technology had significant learning achievements. Authors have also found that in terms of learning motivation, the AR instruction eliminated the gap between high and low prior proficiency learners.

Eleftheria et al. (2013) conducted a study with children of 10-12 years old using AR and gamification techniques. Authors set a goal to create an educational platform based on AR learning books while using AR and Gamification technologies. The study aimed at revealing an alternative method for students to learn in a more enjoyable and productive way. The study also aimed at finding a more extensive understanding of the main issue as well as engaging learners and increasing the level of their satisfaction while learning.

The findings of a study by Lai et al. (2015) say that 92% of participants of an AR book test agreed that the application could help them to understand the book’s content clearly and that 95% of learners agreed that the application could make the learning become more interesting compared to the traditional learning methods in classroom. AR book was tested on 37 preschool students. Authors (Lai et al., 2015) claim that the most important children’s feedback was that 100% of students agreed that AR motivates them to enjoy the learning. Researchers explain that AR application in a textbook publication can help students increase their learning performance and make the lessons in the classroom more interesting. (Lai et al., 2015)

In the research by Han et al. (2015) it was found that children of 5 years old experienced the suggested AR play in the more positive way then the 6-year-old children. The study has also shown that 5-year-old children perceptions with AR play were higher than of those of 6-year-old children. While conducting the study, authors (Ibid aimed to explore the design and

adoption of an AR-infused robot system with the purpose to improve children’s enjoyment and their sensory engagement with the AR play. Authors conducted the experiment in a

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into two groups: one was placed in computer-mediated AR conditions; another one – in robot-mediated AR conditions (Ibid. ).

Yilmaz (2016) argues that children and teachers liked activities with educational AR toys. His study which aimed to discover teachers' and children's attitude to educational AR toys, and to determine children's behavioral patterns and their cognitive achievements, and the relationship between them while playing these toys. The study was conducted involving 30 teachers and 33 children aged from 5 till 6 years old. The data was collected via survey, an observation and interview form. Children interactively played with these toys but did not have high cognitive accomplishments (Yilmaz, 2016).

According to the Hedley’s (2003) research outcomes the use of AR increased content understanding. Users who studied via AR interface were able to construct more complex and detailed representations than those who studied via PC interface. This became a finding of a research aimed to develop an understanding of how new AR interfaces can affect a gain of spatial knowledge by learners. The study was conducted in two groups both of which learned different kinds of geographic visualized content: one group via AR interface, the second one – via interaction with a PC interface (Hedley, 2003).

Chen et al. (2007) state that AR makes children more immersive in the learning scenario. There was conducted a study in a kindergarten in China with 30 children under 6 years old (Chen et al., 2007). Children’s Chinese learning was tested by dividing children into two groups: a book group who underwent traditional learning exercises; and a group using AR learning system. The study showed that AR learning system helped children to gain better understanding and

memorization of Chinese which in turn enhanced children’s learning motivation and interest of the school.

The AR storybook read via mobile AR application improved experience of story reading and learning experience for preschool children. Authors (Tomi et al., 2013) observed children be fully engaged with the learning process in a joyful learning environment, and state that according to the observations the suggested AR storybook turned reading old folklore story from a traditional book into a new joyful and engaging learning experience. Authors conclude that encouraging response from observational study motivates the development of the AR playbook series for preschool education as their future work (Tomi et al., 2013).

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2.4 The gap

My literature analysis has shown that AR can positively impact learners’ engagement and memory retention. At the same time, the research outcomes have shown that there is a limited amount of AR studies engaging preliterate children (Chen et al., 2007; Tomi et al, 2013; Lai et al., 2015; Han, 2015; Yilmaz, 2016). Besides that, many studies have shown that while the use of media and ICT has proven their efficiency in various aspects of education, there is still a lack of media and ICT used in classroom education (ITU, 2004; Machin et al., 2007; Miguez et al., 2009; Ahmad et al, 2013; Forgo, 2013; Nicholas, 2013; Pohradsky et al., 2013).

The AR can be seen as a bridge connecting books, as classical tools of education, and media technologies, the use of which has proved to have a positive impact on learners’ performance. Books with implemented AR technology can be used both at home with parents and as well in the classroom at school, which makes these books be a universal learning means and will satisfy the learners demand to integrate the technologies used at home into the classroom as well. (Forgo, 2013) Thus, among the currently available studies, there can be found a lack of research, aimed at investigating the combination of learning, digital media, and AR in the context of learning process of 4-5 years old children, revealing the impact of this combination on the child’s engagement in the learning process.

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3 Methods

This section suggests a description of the chosen methods; the justification for the methods saying why the methods were chosen and how they were used; methods discussion enlightens the notions of reliability, validity, and generalizability in relation to the chosen methods.

3.1 Methods theory

Considering AR usability is an important part of the methodology the design of the current experiment builds upon. In order to achieve all the potential benefits AR experiences need to be designed in accordance with children’s capabilities and limitations (Radu & MacIntyre, 2012, p. 227).

Some authors claim that nowadays there exists a lack of systematic instructions for designing AR experiences for children, explaining it with the fact that the available amount of AR applications is too small for generating thorough design guidelines (Radu & MacIntyre, 2012). By analyzing a number of studies Rogers & Price (2009, p. 6) point out the possible problematic moments of children’s AR usability and ways to avoid them when designing AR experiences. According to the authors, children can get distracted by a mobile device which is to be used in support of another activity. It has been observed that when children are listening to or looking at what is on the mobile device screen, they can get isolated from the surroundings. The solution for this problem is to make child share a mobile device and interact with others in order to succeed in the stated task. Researchers argue that it is important to make sure that children’s attention is not focused too much on a mobile device as this can make child miss what happens around (Rogers & Price, 2009, p. 14).

There has been developed a number of tools and mobile applications in order to augment learning (Rogers Price, 2009, p. 6), and there have been identified three biggest challenges in using mobile technologies for augmenting learning. Authors recommend to avoid information overload; to prevent children from getting distracted by the mobile devices; to design the learning experience in such way which would not allow children to work largely by themselves (Ibid., p. 15). Rogers & Price (2009, p. 16) also point out that it is important to design mobile learning experiences as not too confusing or complex because it may be difficult for children to switch between a mobile device and the real world, as children may be too focused on the digital content. In addition, it is also recommended to have a constant guidance of a teacher.

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Scarlatos (2006) argues that that the constant teacher guidance is needed during the learning process in order to prevent learners from becoming distracted, frustrated or confused The current research was conducted with the help of experiment and observation as its part. Denscombe (2003) defines three factors comprising the notion of the experiment: controls; the identification of casual factors; observation and measurement. By controls, the

above-mentioned author understands the fact that experiments involve the manipulation of

circumstances. This means that the significant factors are to be identified by a researcher, and included or excluded from the experiment circumstances in order to be able to observe the effect these factors cause (Densombe, 2003, p. 61). The identification of causal factors – means that the researcher can determine which of the experiment factors affect its outcome by excluding or including those in the experiment process (Denscombe, 2003). The observation and

measurement of experiment outcomes and their changes after including or excluding certain factors are determined to be the third essential feature of an experiment. Close attention to the measurement of what is observed is important (Denscombe, 2003).

Denscombe (2003, p. 63) argues that the two experiment groups should be matched and similar in terms of their composition, matching the groups will be the start point for the experiment. According to the Densombe (Ibid.), the next step is including a factor to one of the groups and excluding it from the other experimental group. The final step is to observe the two groups again with the belief that the artificially included factor caused any difference between the groups’ performance.

The experiment within current research was conducted according to the following scheme (figure 1):

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Projecting Denscombe’s (Ibid.) experiment planning on the experiment conducted within the frames of the current research would mean that during the test part an artificially included factor – AR is included for one of the groups. Thus, AR was supposed to only help children memorize during the test part. During the Post-test part the AR factor was excluded again and both of the groups were tested with the book of a classical format. This was done in order to create equal conditions for all children to recall the text, and in order to trace a possible improvement, the AR factor could cause on the children during the Test stage.

3.2 Justification for the choice of methods

The preparation to the experiment required a use of different tools for illustration, animation and creating the AR experience. Before conducting my experiment each of the characters from the story was illustrated by creating 2D static pictures. The program used for creating illustrations were Adobe Illustrator. All of the pictures were animated and thus, animated versions of the illustrations were created. The animations were made with Toon Boom Harmony Advanced and partly with Adobe After Effects. The creation of AR experience required superimposing digital animations onto the real physical pictures. For this purpose, the Aurasma studio application was used. Aurasma uses image recognition technology, it lets to scan static illustrations and to see them overlapped with corresponding animated ones on the tablet screen during the experiment. “Aurasma makes it easy for anyone to create and use AR, from educators teaching the next generation to the world's leading brands» (Aurasma, 2016). The proper AR tool for carrying out the current experiment was chosen by comparing the six different AR tools on some of their parameters. The parameters chosen for comparison were: licence, which would indicate if the product is free to use, need to be paid for or both; platforms, indicating which platforms the chosen AR tool can work on; video specifications; and way of publishing.

The comparison showed that all of the chosen AR tools had commercial content, the only free tool was Aurasma. It was important that the chosen AR tool would work on both Android and iOS, Android was used during the development process and iOS during the final tests and experiment with children. All of the six AR tools were possible to use on both Android and iOS. The most complete information on video specifications was available for Aurasma. D’Fusion was able to overlay a video, though not able to play audio, for this reason, this tool could not be used for the research purposes. From the five AR tools left only Aurasma and Wikitude did not require an app development for publishing AR content. The Wikitude was available to use for

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free only as a trial version, which creates undesirable time limits for the tool to be used. Besides that Wikitude’s trial version has a watermark on the camera, which could affect children’s level of distraction (ARmedia, n.d; Aurasma, n.d; D’Fusion, n.d; Metaio, n.d; Vuforia, n.d.;

Wikitude, n.d.).

Based on the comparison there was chosen Aurasma. Comparably to other augmented reality applications, like ARmedia, Metaio, D’Fusion, Vuforia or Wikitude, Aurasma is quite simple in use and has all the necessary features for creating an experience compared with a specially developed application for this particular case.

Product License Platforms Video

specificati ons

Publishing Creator Source

Aurasma Free Android, IOS mp4, flv min 512 x 512 pixels max 100MB max 3min audio: yes alpha: yes Via aurasma studio, users need to follow creator's account Aurasma studio aurasma.com Metaio SDK Free and commercial Android, iOS, Windows PC, Google Glass, Epson Moverio BT-200, Vuzix M-100, Unity n/a Need to deploy an app to publish Metaio creator metaio.com Vuforia SDK Free and commercial Android, iOS, Unity n/a Applied to existing apps Target Managem ent System, Cloud Target Database, Device Target Database, and Vuforia engine vuforia.com Wikitude SDK Commercial with free trial Android, iOS, Google Glass, Epson Moverio, Vuzix M-100, Optinvent ORA1, n/a Wikitude app or own app Different Wikitude SDK for Android, IOS, etc. Trial versions have wikitude.com

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PhoneGap, Titanium, Xamarin watermark s on camera. D'Fusion Commercial and free Windows, Mac OS, Linux, IOS and Android No sound AR projects for mobile and web based applications D'Fusion Studio t-immersion.com

ARmedia Free with commercial options iOs, OS X, Android, Windows n/a Develop AR applications Online SDK server. Different SDK versions for iOs, OS X, Android, Windows inglobetechnolo gies.com

Table 1. AR tools comparison (based on ARmedia, n.d; Aurasma, n.d.; Inglobe Technologies, n.d.; Metaio, n.d; Total

Immersion, n.d; Vuforia, n.d.; Wikitude, n.d.).

After all the illustrations and animations for the AR book prototype were created, they were combined into auras created in Aurasma Studio. All the auras were tested in order to ensure that Aurasma application can scan them from both digital screen and from paper pages. After the first test round there were detected a few images which are hard to scan. As Aurasma scans best the images of high contrast, it was decided to a high contrast black symbols to each of the images which showed to be hard to scan. After the second test round all images showed to be easy to scan.

When designing the physical part of the book prototype, the printed one, it was decided to hide the story text from the prototype pages. This was done in order to ensure that none of the tested children would be able to read it.

The recommendations on how to cope the challenges in using mobile technologies for

augmenting learning were followed (Rogers & Price, 2009, p. 15). In order to avoid information overload, the book content was designed to be simple, at the same time the contracted version of the story was used in order to make it easier for children. The original story is longer and involves more characters.

An option for designing AR learning activity for children was to use a prerecording reading of the story and integrate it into the AR book. This would guaranty the same reading speed and intonation for all the children participating in the experiment. Though, in order to avoid the

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distraction from the surroundings that children can possibly have when using a mobile device, the experiment planning relied on the solution suggested by Rogers & Price (2009, p. 14). Researchers advise to make a child share a mobile device and interact with others. Authors recommend to make the learning experience planned in such way which would prevent children to work largely by themselves. Relying on these recommendations, the experiment was

designed in such way that each of the children was supposed to use the touchpad together with the researcher, who helped to scan images, and interact with a teacher who read the story text. In such way, it was ensured that the child would share the mobile device and interact with both teacher and the researcher in order to avoid being isolated by the device. During all the process of the experiment children received a constant guidance from both teachers and researcher. This was done in order to avoid the flaws which can occur because of the lack of guidance.

According to Scarlatos (2006), these may be a distraction, confusement or frustration from the learners’ side.

The experiment was conducted in a kindergarten in Lund, Sweden, with eight children, who were divided into two groups, four children in each group, with the teachers present. The minimal possible number of participants had to be chosen with consideration to the time limits set by the kindergarten and the frames of the current project. Nielsen (2000) argues in his article ”Why You Only Need to Test with 5 Users” that for successful user tests it is enough to test with a group of five persons. At the same time, Krug (2006, p. 138) states in his book ”Don't make me think”, that the number of test users should be from three to a maximum of four people. I chose to have four participants for each of the test groups.

The current research was conducted with the help of experiment and observation as its part. As an addition to the method of observation, there could be used oral interview conducted after the post-test and including questions on how children perceived the AR experience. Such interview could have given an even clearer picture of children’s engagement. The method of observation with no doubt lets the researcher see the testees’ attitude to the object of the experiment, AR book in the current case, on the other side this method has some limitations. Evaluation of what is observed is given by a researcher, and this evaluation may obtain a certain degree of

subjectivity. Besides that, different children would express their emotions differently, even if they would have approximately the same level of motivation to engage themselves in the process of experiment. Besides being used as a part of post-test, method of interview could be used as a final part of this experiment – after the post-test. Though, due to time limitations established by the kindergarten where the experiment was conducted, it was decided to give up the additional interview. That made it possible to stay within the established time frames.

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As a basis for the current experiment I chose to use a Swedish version of an English poem called “This is the house that Jack built”. The Swedish version which I use is not rhythmed and is called “Huset som Hans har byggt”. I chose this story for a number of reasons:

 The original, “This is the house that Jack built”, is an English nursery rhyme which is more than two hundred years old and for this reason has no author rights, as its version translated into Swedish.

 The story is suitable for children, especially its Swedish version, as it can be hard for small children to understand English. The text I use is published in a book “Imse vimse spindel: rim och ramsor för de minsta” by Alfons and Henrikson (1990).

 This poem suits well for being illustrated and animated as it has very simple plot and a limited number of characters each described by just one line of text: a house, a rat, a cat, a dog, a cow, and a girl.

 The chosen story is also not very popular in Sweden, which minimizes the risk that some of the children could already be acquainted with it. Such fact could affect the experiment results.

The chosen story was introduced to children as a book. The design of the suggested storybook was inspired by Gardner’s (2009) and Illeris (2009) classifications of learning types and intelligence types according to which different learners learn in different ways. In should be noted that current research is relying on Illeris (2009) to support it with learning theories, and adapting Gardner’s (2009) perspective on learning styles not as a way to understand learning but as a way to judge the usability. Gardener’s perspective on learning styles was applied as a methodological approach in a form of usability framework for understanding the study results. Gardner (2009) argued that narrative type of intelligence or learning aims learners who enjoy learning through stories. Taking into account Gardener’s (2009) arguments that narrative type of intelligence aims learners who enjoy learning through stories, the experiment book was

composed as a coherent story. The way the story is narrated is supported by Illeris’(2009) assimilative learning type, which means that new elements get linked as an addition to an already established pattern of elements. The third learning type which served as an inspiration for experiment book design is the aesthetic learning described by Gardner (2009) as the one where learners are attracted and inspired by materials arranged in ways that suggest a carefully

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designed composition. The story book’s images and animations were designed to be beautiful, attracting children’s attention.

During the experiment, the significant factor, Augmented Reality, was both included and excluded from the experimental circumstances. In such way, the experiment circumstances manipulation was created in order to observe the effects the new factor may cause.

The experiment was held with total number of 8 pupils of 4-5 years old and was divided into three stages, as Denscombe (2003) recommends (see picture 1.):

 Preliminary memory test or Pre-test  Experiment phase

 Results check or Post-test

During the first part, the Pre-test, children’s memory was tested with memory cards in order to make sure that both groups have approximately the same memory abilities and in order to ensure the validity of the final experiment results. Creating the two matched groups, according to Denscombe (2003) is the first experiment phase.

Each of the 8 pupils apart from the rest of children was shown 4 different images supervised with different texts read by the teachers. An example of such picture and a text can be a picture of a bus supervised with words: “här är bussen som åker till skolan” (here is the bus which goes to school). After all the images were shown there was made a break of 30 seconds in order to let the short term memory fade (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1971, p. 15.

After seeing all the cards and hearing the texts in two rounds a pupil was shown one by one the pictures he or she saw before and encouraged to remember and say the corresponding words. Children were tested one by one to ensure that they would not hear what other children hear and say, this was done to exclude any undesired impact on the test results.

After the children had performed their pre-test results, the matched groups were created by dividing all the children into two groups with children of approximately equal memory abilities, 4 children in each group. Group 1 was the experimental group, and group 2 was the control one.

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Experiment phase (introduction of new factor)

The significant factor (Denscombe, 2003), Augmented Reality, was excluded during the experiment stage with Group 1, control group. Each child from group 1 was shown the illustrations in the book (a prototype of a book with a Swedish version of “This is the house that Jack built”, “Huset som Hans har byggt” (Alfons & Henrikson, 1990) illustrated by me) and read the text corresponding to each of the illustrations. In such way all the story was read. All the process was repeated twice. After all the illustrations were shown there was made a break of 30 seconds in order to let the short term memory fade.

Results check or Post-test for Group 1. Each of the pupils was interviewed individually apart from the rest of the pupils. A pupil was shown only the visual triggers in the form of pictures which were shown during the experiment and was encouraged to remember the corresponding lines from the poem

Group 2, experiment group

Each child from Group 2 was shown the same illustrations as the Group 1. While the image text was read to the pupils, the illustration was scanned with a tablet with preinstalled Aurasma application. Here the new factor (Denscombe, 2003), Augmented Reality, was introduced, its effect was to be revealed by the experiment results. During the scanning, a child looked at the printed illustration via the digital screen of the tablet. I scanned an illustration and showed the child its animated version which looks as overlaid on the paper picture. In such way, all the story was read. The process was repeated twice. After all the illustrations were shown there was made a break of 30 seconds in order to let the short term memory fade.

Results check or Post-test, Group 2. Each of the pupils was interviewed individually. A pupil was shown the pictures one by one and encouraged to remember the corresponding lines from the story.

The further analysis and comparing the results made it possible to answer the questions of the current research. For both groups the results were recorded and later on summarized, analyzed and written down. The results data which I focused on was both quantitative: a number of participants who could remember the story’s content; the number of lines from the poem which

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participants could remember, the number of participants who were engaged with the test, and qualitative: the accuracy of memorizing, the grade of engagement. I assumed that qualitative and quantitative data would be interconnected. I assumed, that some of the children could be able to remember only a few lines from the poem and retell them close to the text, while other children could be able to remember all the content but retell it less close to the text, using own words. After all this the results were compared and conclusions on which of the groups was more efficient in memorizing and more motivated to memorize were made.

During the experiment phase and during the phase of results analysis it is hard to take into account the circumstances which were hard to control and which could affect the testees behaviour: distraction by technique, by the new person, the speed and intonations of teachers while reading, level of Swedish which can make it hard to understand some words in the texts.

3.3 Methods discussion

Reliability means that instruments of the research are neutral, and when applied to the same

object they would measure the same result. The study would be considered reliable if someone else would obtain the same results and draw the same conclusions when conducting it, while variations in the results could be explained by only variations in the things being measured (Bryman, 2016, p. 41; Densombe, 2009, p. 273, 300). The impact of the interviewer and of the context means that consistency and objectivity are hard to achieve. The data collected are, to an extent, unique owing to the specific context and the specific individuals involved. This affects

reliability in a negative way. (Denscombe, 2009, p. 190)

The disadvantage of participant observation method, which was a part of this research, is researcher’s dependence on the “self”, (Becker & Geer, 1957, p. 28) which means that experiment results can be biased by the researcher’s personality. In order to minimize that as much as possible and heighten the reliability level of the current research, all the experiment process was video recorded. Such approach made it possible to view and to listen to the recordings multiple times, pay extra attention to details and in such way ensure the maximum possible objectivity while analyzing the results. The written transcriptions of the results were organized in a table for simpler analysis and comparison. The above stated makes me believe that the duplication of the current research and using the same research instruments would produce the same results data. Any variation which would occur could be explained by the variations in the objects being tested.

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The notion of validity means that the data and methods are “right” or honest, that they truthfully reflect the reality (Denscombe, 2009, p. 301). The study is valid if its measures really represent the concepts that they are supposed to touch (Bryman, 2016, p. 41). In order to ensure the research has a good level of validity, the researcher needs to explore alternative possible

explanations of the research results, avoid biased and one-sided reporting (Denscombe, 2009, p. 274). Thus, to risen the validity of the research, the obtained results were analyzed taking into account various factors which could have made an effect on the results. Such factors are: time limits – which let only 8 children to be tested, and meant that experiment would be held without additional interviews; human factor – different children have different abilities to concentrate and different speed of reaction, different vocabulary, some were able to read; the fact that two teachers took part in the experiment, this means that methods applied for each of the groups of children are slightly different; children could be possibly distracted by the presence of a new person.

The external validity of research is determined by which grade its findings and conclusions go along with the existing knowledge and by which grade they are applicable to the similar situations (Denscombe, 2009). According to Bryman (2016), external validity means that results of a research can be generalized outside of its research context. The research findings do not contradict any of the existing knowledge in the same area. At the same time the external validity of this research is limited as the number of participants was small, and different testees may behave differently which can be explained by different children’s, readers’ and researcher’s personalities, experiences and abilities – this, in turn, would bring new variables in the

experiment process and its results.

It is hard to keep a high level of generalizability in qualitative studies (Denscombe, 2009). In order to make the study more generalizable, there was chosen the maximum available number of participants for the experiment. The obtained results can be applied to another preschool and other children of same age. In order to obtain even higher generalizability, it could be possible to conduct such experiment with a bigger number of users tested.

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4 Results

After analysing the transcriptions of experiment recordings it became possible to put children in lists ranging from the one who showed the highest results to the one showing the lowest results. During the preliminary test where memory abilities of all the children were tested, children showed the following results (see table 2).

Post-test performance position Name 1 Ofelia 2 Mikael 3 Axel 4 Hampus; Anton 5 Leo 6 7 Tamra 8 Francesca

Table 2. Pre-test performance of all children

This table shows that during the preliminary test Ofelia showed the highest results and Francesca showed the lowest. Stage number 6 is empty because Anton and Hampus showed equal results and could both be placed on stage 4.

After the pre-test children were divided into two groups. Children were ranked according to pre-test results. In the two tables below (see table 3 and table 4), the second column shows children’s position relatively each other in the group of four, AR group and non-AR group. The first column shows children’s position relatively each other in the group of eight, where all children’s results were compared. Performance ranges starting from number one, indicating the highest results. Number four, respectively number eight show the lowest results and the last position in the range. Such comparison is made in order to be aware that child leading in

memory results in AR group differs from a leader of the non-AR group. Same is valid for all the rest of the children.

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Table 3. The non-ar group, children’s positions relatively each other in a small group and their positions among all

the children. Preliminary stage performance Original position in a current group Name 2 1 Mikael 5 2 5 3 Anton; Hampus 7 4 Tamara

Table 4. AR group, children’s positions relatively each other in a small group and their positions among all the

children.

During the test stage children from both groups were shown the “Huset som Hans har byggt” book prototype (See figures 2-6)*.

Figure 2. Cover

*To scan use Aurasma, channel Jack’s house. Preliminary stage performance Original position in a current group Name 1 1 Ofelia 3 2 Axel 4 3 Leo 8 4 Francesca

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Figure 3. ”Här ä mjolet som stod i huset som Hans har byggt”; “Här är råttan som åt av mjölet som

stod i huset som Hans har byggt”.

Figure 4. “Här är kitten som tog rattan som åt av mjölet som stod i huset som Hans har byggt”; ”Här

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Figure 5. ”Här är kon med de krokiga hornen som stångade hunden som jagade katten som tog råttan

som åt av mjölet som stod i huse som Hans har byggt”; ”Här är flickan som mjölkade kon med de krokiga hornen som stångade hunden som jagade katten som tog råttan som åt av mjölet som stod i huset som Hans har byggt”.

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As described above, the book (AR and non-AR) was read for each of the groups twice. On this stage the ways children showed their engagement in learning activity were documented based on the video recordings of the experiment. The comparisons of children’s engagement from pre-test and pre-test are suggested later in this paper.

Children’s memory performance in each group was tested during the post-test stage. After the post-test children obtained new positions according to their performance. The two tables below (see table 5 and table 6) display children’s memory performance positions after the post-test – for a group of four, AR and non-AR; before the post-test for AR and non-AR group; and after the preliminary test. The third columns show children’s performance range of the post-test stage. Column two shows children’s original positions in the small test group for easier comparison. Column one shows the original position of a group of eight.

Preliminary stage performance Original position in a current group Post- test stage performance performance Name 1 1 1 Ofelia 3 2 2 Axel 4 3 3 Leo 8 4 4 Francesca

Table 5. Non-AR group, children’s performance range after the post-test, children’s original positions before the

post-test, and children’s positions relatively each other after the preliminary test.

Preliminary stage performance Original position in a current group Post- test stage performance performance Name 2 1 1 Mikael 5 3 2 Hampus 5 3 2 Anton 7 4 4 Tamara

Table 6. AR group, children’s performance range after the post-test, children’s original positions before the post-test,

and children’s positions relatively each other after the preliminary test.

From the tables above (table 5 and table 6), it is possible to see that after the test stage children from non-AR group remained in the same positions as they were originally placed at after the preliminary test. In the AR-group children Hampus and Anton changed their position from third to second. According to transcripts of the test recording Hampus made noticeable

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improvements, and the differences between his performance and the performance of Leo who earlier was in the higher position are now significant, and Hampus has the advantage.

The next tables (table nr. 7 and nr. 8) show the comparison of all children’s performance range from pre-test with the performance range from the post-test.

Pre-test performance position Name 1 Ofelia 2 Mikael 3 Axel 4 Leo 5 Anton; Hampus 6 7 Tamara 8 Francesca

Table 7. Pre-test, performance positions of all children Post-test performance position Name 1 Ofelia 2 Mikael 3 Axel 4 Hampus; Anton 5 Leo 6 7 Tamara 8 Francesca

Table 8. Post-test performance positions of all children

According to the conducted analysis the performance of two children, Hampus and Anton, improved significantly after the AR test.

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The level of children’s engagement can be also characterized by how they reacted on the suggested material and how they behaved during the test and post-test. By analyzing the video records of the experiment process it was possible to create the following tables (see table 9 and table 10). The tables below contain the comparison of children’s reaction and behavior during the pre-test, test and post-test. Table 8 contains comparison for the AR group, table 9 contains comparison for the non-AR group.

Table 9. Comparison of AR group’s children’s behaviour and reactions from pre-test and test together with post-test.

Name Pre-test Test

Ofelia Looked very attentive, alive and interactive. Reacted on each phrase she heard. Remembered all the pictures already from the first round and helped teacher to say their texts already during the second round.

Very interested and active. Remembered all the texts already after the first repeating. Started with reading the book’s title, was the only one who did it and who could read.

Name Pre-test Test

Mikael Did not show many emotions. Attentively looked at all the pictures. Smiled when heard that swan lives in Paris.

Did not show many emotions. Looked and listened attentively.

Hampus Looks interested. Confirms with “yes” and nodded after hearing the text to each picture, showing that he understands. On the second round remembered “bus that goes to school”.

Looks interested in the pictures and animations. Gets distracted by the teacher’s sample of the book. Sometimes looks on animation on tablet’s screen than on the page which is scanned, then back on the digital screen. Tried to grasp all the information from different channels. Got less attentive seeing pictures, animations and hearing the story for the second time.

Anton Looked interested in the pictures. Named all the texts except the swan picture.

Looked interested in the book. Looked attentively at all the pictures, showed enthusiasm, looked amused.

Tamara Looked interested in the pictures, smiled when heard an unusual name of the hedgehog.

Looked interested. Got distracted by the teacher’s sample of the book in the beginning of the first round of the

experiment. Sometimes got distracted by the tablet paying less attention to the pictures and teachers reading. Smiled when saw the animations of rat, cat, dog, cow and girl.

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Francesca Looked indifferent while looking at the pictures.

Looked shy.

Axel At first looks serious and suspicious. After the second picture (swan) smiled but tried to hide it. Laughed both times when heard that hedgehog’s name was Plutrik.

After the instructions to try to remember the story he was going to hear said: “this will be difficult”. Turned pages by himself, showed interest. During the first round looked more interested than during the preliminary test. During the second round was looking less at the pictures, but was concentrating a lot on the text he heard.

Leo Looked interested in the pictures. Smiled when heard the unusual name of the hedgehog. Smiles when heard that swan lives in Paris

Did not seem to connect pictures with the text he heard, but was listening attentively. Got distracted by teacher’s book sample. During the first round was mostly concentrated on pictures, not on the text. During the second round looked a bit distracted by the surrounding.

Table 10. Comparison of non-AR group’s children’s behavior and reactions from pre-test and test together with

post-test.

Analysis of children’s behavior indicated that for a number of children AR book was interesting and attractive, some of the children got distracted by Aurasma scanner and its look on the tablet screen, some of the children got distracted by the book sample which teachers used for reading.

AR books and pre-school children’s engagement