Using Augmented Reality to Enhance Students’ Representational Fluency: The Case of Linear Functions

Abstract

Using multiple representations is advocated and emphasized in mathematics and science education. However, many students have difficulty connecting multiple representations of linear functions. Augmented Reality (AR) may affect these teaching and learning difficulties by offering dynamically linked representations. Inspired by this, our study aims to develop, implement, and evaluate an AR-based multi-representational learning environment (MRLE) with three representations of linear functions. The data were collected from 82 seventh graders from two high-performing classes in an urban area in China, through a pre-test, a post-questionnaire, and follow-up interviews. The results reveal that students were satisfied with the AR-based MRLE, which assisted in enhancing their understanding of the real-life, symbolic, and graphical representations and connections among them. Regarding students’ interactions with multiple representations, apparent differences in learning sequences and preferences existed among students in terms of their representational learning profile. In sum, learning in the AR-based MRLE is a complex interaction process between the mathematics content, forms of representations, digital features, and students’ representational learning profile.