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The Science Center to GO: A New EU Funded Project Exploring the Use of Mobile Augmented Reality in Science Education

20 of January, 2010 By: Marcelo Milrad

Science Centers (SC) offer challenging exhibits that enable their visitors to experience hands-on science by actively manipulating the experiments, thus delivering natural ways of active playful learning. Advanced visualization technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) are often used to enrich the experience by displaying computer generated objects that can help to illustrate hidden phenomena. The Science Center to GO (SCeTGo) project brings together experts in science education, computer science and pedagogical evaluators in order to explore novel ways to use mobile AR to support science education. The consortium consists of partners from Germany, Finland, Greece, United Kingdom, Sweden and Romania. This two years project (with start in January 2010) is supported by the EU Life Long Learning program. The overall objectives of the SCeTGo are: a) develop a series of portable exhibits that will illustrate various physical phenomena enabling learners to visualize the invisible through mobile AR technology b) develop a pedagogical framework that attempts to blend informal and formal learning and to situate learning in real- world contexts c) develop advanced pedagogical scenarios that are shaped around a mission guided by a general scientific question d) to pilot, validate and demonstrate the SCeTGo approach in formal & informal educational environments e) facilitate lifelong learning and to improve quality of learning The SCeTGo approach aims at bringing comprehensive and meaningful learning experiences out of the SC into a school’s classroom and/or everyone’s home by. Its portable exhibits - by “fitting into a pocket” and operating with ordinary hardware – will enable learners to experiment whenever and wherever they please. By doing so, the consortium will make full use of the powerful capabilities offered by tailor-made exhibits combined with mobile AR.