Abstract:

This work presents the design and development of an augmented reality (AR) educational pill aimed at improving the learning of key concepts in the Heat Transfer course within the Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Technologies Engineering (GITI) at the Universitat Politècnica de València. The initiative arises from the need to strengthen students’ understanding of phenomena such as conduction, convection and radiation, whose direct observation in the laboratory is often limited or not intuitive for second-year GITI students. The initiative is embedded within two Educational Innovation and Improvement Projects: “Immersive Classroom” (PIME/24-25/418) and “Revaluation of Laboratory and IT Practices in GITI” (PIME/24-25/426), which strengthens its institutional alignment and viability.

The AR pill is integrated into the Heat Transfer course and is conceived as a brief, autonomous and interactive resource that students can consult before, during or after the laboratory session, with a particular focus on its use during the practice itself. Its content combines three-dimensional models, informative overlays and dynamic visualisations that simulate the evolution of heat fluxes on the experimental setup. This approach seeks to create a clearer connection between theoretical knowledge and practical experience, enabling a more accurate interpretation of experimental results.

The development process was structured into three phases: didactic definition, technical design and preliminary validation. The first phase involved identifying the concepts that pose greater difficulty and the laboratory situations that could benefit from AR enrichment. The second phase focused on producing the digital content and optimising the visualisation for mobile devices. Finally, the AR pill was tested with a pilot group of students, assessing perceived usefulness, ease of use, level of interaction and contribution to conceptual understanding.

The results of this validation indicate that AR enhances the visualisation of abstract phenomena, increases motivation and improves students’ preparation for the laboratory session. Students also valued its ability to guide the interpretation of experiments and support autonomous learning.

This experience demonstrates the potential of AR educational pills as an effective complement to experimental teaching and provides a solid foundation for their future application in other engineering-related laboratory practices.

Keywords:

Augmented reality, educational pill, heat transfer, engineering.