Practical Use of Edutainment Systems for Science Museums with XR Technology

Abstract

AbstractIn recent years, various services using XR technology have been developing within commercial and public institutions, including the entertainment industry, to use technology to provide children with enjoyable experiences. Science museums, however, cannot rely simply on entertainment value, as they need to combine entertainment with content that contains educational themes. Educational XR systems generally involve the use of a smartphone or tablet terminal used to capture footage of markers or objects, after which moving images and/or 3D-models are shown on the terminal display. Through observing and interacting with this content, children can deepen their understanding of a given theme or idea. While such systems provide new and exciting opportunities for the activities that can be offered to children, implementing and operating them requires significant costs for science museums. In addition, as for the types of experiences that the XR system can provide, these can be difficult to understand without concrete experience, which can tend to lead into more passive use of the system such as simply observing content. In this paper, in order to offer solutions to these problems, we introduce XR+Crafting content that combines XR technology with creative activities. Through its use of XR technology, the XR+Crafting system proposed in this paper can not only reduce implementation and operation costs, but can also shift the relationship between children and the technology into one that is more active. This paper will also introduce an example of an interactive XR system that incorporates creative activities for children that can be used as content by science museums using XR technology. Building on these suggestions for practical use, we will provide guidelines for the implementation, design, and operation of XR technology at science museums using the XR+Crafting system.KeywordsScience museumARMRWorkshop