How Can Augmented Reality Enhance Early Childhood Education?

Guest post: Amanda Ebbott

Hello everyone! My name is Amanda, and I'm majoring in Early Education at Grove City College. Recently, I had the incredible opportunity to work with some amazing kids through my Technologies of Instruction course. During our time in the preschool, we introduced the children to educational and entertaining activities using augmented reality. If you were anything like me a few weeks ago when Dr. Fecich first mentioned AR and had no idea what it stands for, don't worry! I'm here to explain it to you.

What is Augmented Reality?

Augmented reality is a technology that involves scanning a mobile device over an image, which leads to the viewing of a video, an animation, a game, or another image. This technology can be used in classrooms to present educational content in an interesting and fun way. There are several apps available that use augmented reality to teach kids, such as Popar Toys, Daqri, Quiver, and Chromville. We used the Quiver app to bring various animals and creatures to life during our preschooler's class, and it was great fun for everyone involved!

Are you wondering why augmented reality should be a part of your child's classroom? Well, you're in the right place. With augmented reality, any classroom can become more engaging for students and provide them with a learning experience that extends beyond the classroom walls. This technology is especially helpful for visual learners and allows for interactive lessons, the use of portable and affordable learning materials, and a higher retention rate. Even if you're not using AR for educational purposes, there are plenty of fun activities you can do with it, like bringing pictures to life.

We are so blessed to have the knowledge to create all of this amazing technology, and we can do so many wonderful things with it. Building the brains of the future generation is just one small way.