Abstract:

We have built an Augmented Reality Sandbox (from now AR Sandbox) based on a designed by the USC California, open software and accessible hardware. This installation placed in the MEDIALAB Usal of the University of Salamanca, Spain, can be used as an educational resource for mathematics and natural sciences.

At the initial point of this interdisciplinary project we asked whether the Augmented Reality (AR) technology could be useful to teach difficult and abstract concepts of different fields, like, physics, mathematics or geology. Also, we considered the building of the installation to be a project in itself in which the students use different knowledge like computers, technology or programming languages.

Our AR Sandbox has an important feature which makes it unique. Usually AR experiences use a screen or a mobile device, but in our AR project, the interface is real sand. Because of that, students can interact with the sand with their own hands, there are no specific instructions so they must decide what to do at any moment, and observe the result of their acts.

Students can experiment changing the shape of the sand and experimenting the changes in the topographic map. The computation of contour lines is made in real time and the evolution of the map is continuous.

The AR Sandbox is especially suitable to teach contents related to geology and earth sciences. This, can be used as an educational tool to explore the importance of water, erosion, mountains or the evolution of the landscape. The possibility to create water from “rain” or to form bodies of water can be used to teach the students the importance of water in the shaping of the landscapes. In geology, a teacher must explain that the shape of the terrains was created by a variety of processes, like erosion, tectonics and glaciation. The location of water is very influenced by the shape of the lands and this distribution determines the ecosystem around the world. This tool can help teachers to explain all these processes and concepts, and the most important it is a dynamic tool, students can modify the sand and see all the process from the beginning.

From this project, we continue designing tools based on AR to teach different sciences concepts. Currently, we are developing a tool in which we will use AR to obtain information of a biological display. Using a IR camera, from different plants we can see the deficit of different essential chemicals to their health and analyse their growing and necessities.

Keywords:

Augmented Reality, Interdisciplinary, Educative Innovation, Sandbox.