Augmented reality‐based virtual manipulatives versus physical manipulatives for teaching geometric shapes to preschool children

Abstract

The aim of the current study is to compare the effect of virtual and physical manipulatives on preschool children’s understanding of geometric shapes. A quasi‐experimental research design was employed where children in the experimental group used tablet computers to access Augmented Reality (AR)‐based virtual manipulatives, while children in the control group used physical manipulatives. The instruction lasted for a period of four weeks at a public primary school in Turkey with 72 children aged five and six years old. Comparison of their understanding of geometric shapes was based on their scores from pre‐test and post‐test measures of the Geometric Shape Recognition Task instrument. Analysis of the collected data revealed no statistically significant difference between the groups in the circle recognition task, while statistically significant differences were found between the groups in the recognition tasks for triangle, rectangle, and square shapes in favour of the experimental group. In addition to this, although there was an increase in the total scores of both groups, the results showed a statistically significant difference in test scores in favour of the experimental group. The current study also showed that the children had difficulty in categorising geometric shapes when their attributes were changed, therefore providing different forms of geometric shapes to children is very important for improving their conceptual understanding.

The Use of Augmented Reality for Solving Arithmetic Problems for Preschool Children

“…This finding is in accordance with previous studies (e.g. [8] [16]) showing that there are high levels of motivation among young children when they are first exposed to AR technology.…”

“…Meanwhile, recent studies have explored AR and its influence on mathematics education in early childhood, including the learning of subitizing and equipartitioning [15] and geometry [16]. The main purpose of these studies was to examine whether it was possible to improve the relative mathematical skills of children through the use of AR technology.…”

“…The main purpose of these studies was to examine whether it was possible to improve the relative mathematical skills of children through the use of AR technology. For instance, Gecu-Parmaksiz and Delialioglu [16] compared the traditional method (i.e. physical manipulatives) to AR based virtual manipulatives in teaching geometry for preschool-aged children.…”

Measuring Spatial Ability and Geometric Thinking Level of Prospective Elementary School Teachers Using the Rasch Model

“…In addition, the use of multimedia can affect spatial abilities (Heo & Toomey, 2019). Some of the media that are often used in learning geometry are tangram (Bergstrom & Zhang, 2016;Moursund, 2007), geoboard (Mudaly & Sibiya, 2018;Trimurtini, Safitri, Sari, & Nugraheni, 2020), android-based media (Bektiningsih, Nugraheni, & Sari, 2020), geogebra (Başara, 2020;Klemer & Rapoport, 2020;Topuz & Birgin, 2020) electronic module (Suastika & Wahyuningtyas, 2020), augmented (İbili, Çat, Resnyansky, Şahin, & Billinghurst, 2019) and virtual reality-based media (Gecu-parmaksiz & Delialioglu, 2019).…”

Augmented Reality Plant & Animal Cells: Design and Evaluation of an Educational Augmented Reality Application

“…Although numerous studies have indicated that AR promotes enhanced learning (Abbasi, Waseem, & Ashraf, 2017;Akçayır & € Okçe Akçayır, 2017;Amaia, Inigo, Jorge, & Enara, 2016;Billinghurst & Duenser, 2012;Bratitsis, Bardanika, & Ioannou, 2017;Chen, Ho, & Lin, 2015;Li, van der Spek, Hu, & Feijs, 2017;Martinez, Benito, Gonzalez, & Ajuria, 2017;Umer, Nasir, Khan, Ali, & Ahmed, 2017), many educational AR applications suffer from usability issues, especially when their design does not account for the physical and cognitive skills of the target age group (Radu, MacIntyre, & Lourenco, 2016). Researchers have explored educational AR applications to help children learn mathematics and science literacy (Dunleavy, Dede, & Mitchell, 2009), teaching geometric shapes to preschool children (Gecu-Parmaksiz & Delialioglu, 2019), and even to support young students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (Lumbreras & Ariel, 2018) and Dyscalculia (Avila-Pesantes et al, 2018). Common challenges include physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional development, motor abilities, spatial cognition, attention, logic and memory, and other disability issues (Radu & MacIntyre, 2012;Lin et al, 2018).…”