A Simple Framework to Develop Pedagogical Augmented Reality Programs: an Application Based on Plants Teaching

Ludovic Hamon,Emmanuelle Richard,Jean-Louis Ferrier,Paul Richard

doi:10.20870/ijvr.2011.10.2.2814

Ludovic Hamon, Emmanuelle Richard + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.20870/ijvr.2011.10.2.2814

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Abstract

An augmented reality Engine for the Construction of Pedagogical Applications (ECPA) is presented with an ECPA menu composed of two (master and slave) sub-menus as the main interface. With simple LUA scripts that allow building the application features, ECPA can be used to easily program different educational applications in a short time. To illustrate the possibilities of ECPA engine, an application called Virtual Plant For Children (VPFC) is created. VPFC allows young people to interact with virtual plants thanks to an interactive L-system for plants growing simulation. A usability test is made to validate our interface and interaction method, in which twenty-four K4-K5 children are instructed to make virtual plants grow by giving them water, heat and light.

Highlights

According to Johnson et al, it is generally argued that the affective factor, encompassing interaction and engagement, is one of the most important advantages that Virtual Reality (VR) and by extension Augmented Reality (AR), have to offer to education [1]
This paper presents a generic AR Engine for the Construction of Pedagogical Applications (ECPA) to develop different programs for a classroom context in particular
This paper presents an augmented reality Engine for the Construction of Pedagogical Applications (ECPA) that allows developing simple low-cost AR applications for classroom using non intrusive interfaces

Summary

Introduction

According to Johnson et al, it is generally argued that the affective factor, encompassing interaction and engagement, is one of the most important advantages that Virtual Reality (VR) and by extension Augmented Reality (AR), have to offer to education [1]. Biological systems require complex modeling that are not adapted to interactive real-time applications. A relevant example proposed by Johnson et al, the NICE project, offered an immersive environment for children, but required intrusive interfaces, and expensive cumbersome equipment that did not fit with a classroom context. Another interesting example was the Garden Alive system by Teajin and Woontack. AR applications using fiducial markers like ARToolkit [3] can give non intrusive interfaces with both semi tangible artefacts and a manipulable representation of a 3D conceptual abstraction in the real world. The graphical representation is composed of a primary stem with leafs and a blue flower, and three sub order stems with leaves and a colored (red, yellow and purple) flower at each extremity (Fig. 9(f))

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