Looking for a way to energize everyday classroom lessons and make the light bulb go off in your students? Augmented reality apps for education are probably your best bet.
Augmented reality (AR) bridges the gap between the real world and the virtual world, enabling both teachers and students to visualize 3D models and depict real-life scenarios in real-time and in a real environment.
But AR is not a mere gimmick that grabs students’ attention. Instead, augmented reality apps for education can sustain meaningful learning. This technology is not only limited to enhancing the learning experience; it also allows students to come up with their own content.
Teachers considering this exciting technology should look at the following excellent augmented reality apps for education.
1. Quiver
Quiver – 3D Coloring app is arguably the most widely used AR tool for grades K – 5, particularly for improving art skills and creativity.
This augmented reality education app brings coloring pages to “life” by scanning them and activating the AR experience. Students can choose blank Quiver coloring sheets from different categories, including biology, the solar system, geometry, geology, and more.
By coloring the pages and scanning them using a device camera in this AR application, the colored images pop off the page, letting students interact with 3D figures. For best results, coloring should be done with colored pencils, crayons, or oil pastels.
Animated figures in Quiver go beyond the “wow” factor by encouraging creativity through the meditative process of coloring and the inclusion of quizzes, making it one of the highly sought-after augmented reality apps for education.
Students can tap on the Brain icon to take a quiz, the Speaker to hear music or educational voiceover, or the Rainbow to change colors. Check out this video to see Quiver in action.
2. Classroom Alive
Improve early literacy for children age 2 to 8 with a collection of AR educational resources from Alive Studios.
Classroom Alive is a zoo-themed suite comprising educational products covering the fundamentals of STEM, Math, ELA, and Social-Emotional skills.
Young kids get to have fun as they engage with 26 different 3D zoo animals while learning counting, basic numeric skills, and interactive alphabetic charts and shows. Here’s a short video demonstration.
The Math Alive AR kit comes complete with a full school year of lesson plans. Like most other augmented reality apps for education, activating the Alive Studios’ AR experience requires a software download, special cards, and a camera for scanning the cards.
While the AR mobile app is free for iPhones, Androids, and tablets, Alive products are not supported on Chromebooks. Here’s a video that shows Math Alive in action.
Alive Studios’ collection of early educational resources is not limited to classroom use only; it is an essential addition to kids’ at-home and virtual learning, too.
3. Human Anatomy Atlas
Available on App Store and Google Play, the Human Anatomy Atlas app is a great choice for teachers looking to give students a virtual lab experience regarding the human body.
This AR app is best suited for high school kids or higher education students. It goes beyond textbook-level definitions to allowing students to create, save, and share custom interactive 3D models.
With over 10,000 anatomical models, students have a huge databank of body organs, muscle compositions and actions, skeletal structure, and more. But if that’s not enough, additional in-app purchases give access to in-depth and more detailed 3D models and animations.
The app comes with body part descriptions in several languages, including English, French, Spanish, Chinese, German, Japanese, and Italian. Both male and female body anatomy models can be dissected to understand their functions through virtual reality.
Human Anatomy Atlas is a must-have AR app for high school and higher education students who want to study medicine or go into health-related fields.
4. Arloon Plants
There is arguably no better AR app for teaching kids about plants than the Arloon Plants app. Available on the App Store and Google Play, it is one of the most comprehensive augmented reality apps for education when it comes to learning about the parts and structure of plants.
Besides moving plants around in 3D to see and identify different plants, students can water plants, initiate rainfall, and even watch the plants grow in an AR experience.
You may not be able to grow plants in the classroom, but Arloon Plants bring all that to reality in the classroom environment. Here’s a quick video of what you can do with Arloon Plants.
5. AugThat!
The AugThat! app uses AR technology to make education fun and interactive for students and teachers. The app combines 3D models and video lessons into a powerful and highly effective educational resource for educators.
Some of the features of AugThat! Include:
- 360-degree virtual environment: Students can have a 360-degree experience from a regular photograph of any location. With the app installed on a smart device, it can scan the photo and immediately “transport” students to a virtual environment where they can see parts of the environment not captured in the photo.
- 3D models: This brings objects in regular photos to “life,” allowing students to interact with them and increased the rate at which they grasp concepts.
- Animated lessons: AugThat provides assisted learning for students who are deficient or struggling with certain subjects. The app uses grade-specific interactivity worksheets that can be scanned using smart devices. The scanned sheet activates an animated lesson that can be paused or rewind for better understanding.
AugThat! covers core topics, such as math, science, English, and geography, and is best suited for elementary and middle school classes.
Check out the video for a quick demonstration of the different capabilities of the AugThat! app.
Conclusion
While augmented reality apps for education are a great addition to the classroom, it is important not to lose sight of your learning objective. Elevating the learning experience is more crucial than the “wow” factor or entertainment the technology provides.
Also, it is best to try out any AR app before bringing it to class. You want to make sure the app provides the right content for your class before introducing it to students.
