Dev blog

05.05- Second Futuclass AR test session with students

As Roland had made many improvements and students were back at school, it was time for Kristen and Arnold to test the AR app on students, face to face.

Summary

The updated “find the correct” mode was successful. Students like it and could remember the fun facts about different molecules after playing the game. The new format has potential and most of the students could clear the game. A comparative testing has been done about our 2 different designs of the reaction balancing mode. A lot of meaningful feedback has been collected. They are very informative and provide us inspiration for further improvement.

General

16 students from 9th grade and 1 chemistry teacher took part of the lesson
Lesson was hosted physically in TERA : students were grouped into small groups of 2-3 people
It was Futuclass AR ver. 0.08 that was tested
Delivering the application to the students’ iPad via TestFlight was unsuccessful due to Apple School Management permission issue
Alternatively, application was installed on the iPad provided by Futuclass
Feedback form was created using Google Forms by Roland to let students fill them in after the testing session
Overall 13 of 16 raised their hand if asked: “Would you like to learn chemistry using an analogous AR application.”

Actionable feedback

Could not exit the game to change the game mode when playing find the correct -> Add a pop-up menu and gather all the functional buttons there including an exit button
Although taping to choose a molecule was intuitive after playing through find the correct, students still did multiple taps to feel confident. -> Design a multiple tap confirmation feedback (on-screen or in AR)
One of the students managed to induce a crash by spamming reset. -> Review implementation and block button spamming
More equations, more contents -> Add more contents to the reaction balancing
When they look at all of the cards at the same time, 3-4 molecules are visualized and others are blinking. -> due to environmental reflection, review if it is necessary or add a control allowing user to disable it
Many equations are balanced from the start. -> Generate random multipliers for the equations at the beginning of the task
Game mode based on periodic table -> Review the current design or create a new design to fit periodic table
Make the game more colorful -> Polishing
Devices are hot and battery consuming fast -> Study AR application performance tuning

Find the correct

More than 90% of the students could pass all the levels of the game

12 out of 16 students found the game easy (1 out of 5 points), the rest found the game fairly easy (2 out of 5 points)

Most of the students like this game mode (12 out of 16 students with positive feedback)

Reaction balancing - on screen vs AR models

Students thought the on-screen design is easier to understand
More students prefer on-screen design (11/16) than the AR design
Most of the students who prefer on-screen design think it is easier and simpler to use
One of them replied it is because the molecule AR models become boring after completing several times
Students who prefer AR design think it has a better visualization and is more interesting
Brainstorm about the design of reaction balancing is necessary

Students Quotes

- "This game has a lot of potential (energy, that can be transformed to kinetic energy what can be transformed to thermal energy, to warm the hearts of little kids on the path of learning)."

- "This seems to be more immediate and interesting"

- " it is simpler to balance, when you can visually see the molecules."

This blog post was written by Roland.

01.04 - First Futuclass AR test session with students

Kristen, Arnold and apprentice Roland from UT have been working on a side project - molecule visualisation and reaction balancing in Augmenter Reality. Prototype version of the app is ready and had it's first test session in a regular public schools regular natural science class.

Summary

AR application has potential. Students liked the lesson and described it being interesting and fun, a lot more engaging than sitting and listening to the teacher. Brought out one specific game mode as their favorite. Natural science teacher said she'd use this app in her class. Problems we had during the test session were technical and are solvable.

General

10 students from 7th grade and 1 chemistry teacher took part of the lesson - 11 testers in total (7x Android, 4x Iphone)
Lesson was hosted on Zoom: everybody had their web cameras on for testers and teacher being able to track progress, help and make notes
It was Futuclass AR ver. 0.07 that was tested, previous versions have been tested internally by Kristen and Arnold
Teacher did a reflection round asking about what were the interesting fact that each of the students learned when playing the "Find the correct" mode.
Lesson was hosted in a stress free online chemistry lesson with a teacher that has good trust and relationship with her students. Meaning students aren't afraid to speak out.

iOS vs. Android

2/7 Android users were not able to run the app. Google Play store gave an issue that the app is not compatible with their phone. One of them had Samsung A5. So probably both of them had older Android OS than Futuclass app requires (8.1) .
2/7 Android users had serious tracking issues. One of them uses Xiaomi Redmi 9 and the other one Samsung A71. Examples:
- - Showed only one molecule although two or several were in the focus area. Playing with the angle and phone distance didn't help.
  - Molecules were located in random places around the display area, not on top of their marker cards.
  - Molecules didn't go away when markers were out of visual area.
3/7 Android users were able to run the app without any problems - 43% of testers
4/4 Iphone users had no issues with the app: tracking worked perfectly and everything ran smoothly - 100% of testers

Actionable feedback

"Find the correct" asks for the same molecule too often (H2, Fe, S were mentioned).-> Make the pool larger
Students who have a phone that isn't compatible with the app feel left out -> Define what is the criteria for the phone and OS beforehand
Some Android phones tracking in the app is very poor -> Improve tracking
It is hard to measure educational impact and make notes if there are technical problems during the lesson -> If we' d like for ideally working test session then test in schools that have iPads available (TERA for example)
Some molecules are missing the fun facts -> Add fun facts for every molecule
"Find the correct" mode was this test groups favourite -> Develop levels for this game mode, increase pool size
Same fact is presented multiple times if you get the same molecule -> Multpile facts per substance

Students Quotes

- "This way of studying is a lot better than just sitting and listening"

- "Much cooler than textbook and TV"

- "I liked that I got to know a fact about every molecule in Find the right game mode"

- "I really like that I can see molecules!"

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