Integrating Mobile Mixed Reality to Enhance Learning Before, During, and After Physical Field Trips

Abstract

Physical field trips have long been used in education, but virtual field trips are increasingly being used to enhance them. This article focuses on the use of mixed reality to enhance a physical field trip before, during, and after the field experience as part of a project in teacher professional development. The context is a field trip to a landfill site, where students learn about waste management, recycling, and sustainability. Building on several different themes from the literature to create a single model of pre-, intra-, and post-field trip digital learning activities, three scenarios are outlined: One where a virtual field trip is used prior to a physical field trip to prepare students for their visit, a second where an augmented reality experience is used during the physical field trip, and a third where students build on their experience of virtual reality to create their own virtual tours. The article highlights how mobile mixed reality offers new ways to deepen the field trip learning experience through student- and teacher-created digital artifacts.

A Radical Approach to Curriculum Design

“…The different project themes, combined with the affordances of augmented reality, encouraged exploration of the world outside the classroom. More contemporary work in the area (Harron et al 2019, MacCallum & Parsons 2022) advocate for stronger pre and post structured activities for fieldwork which offers a blend of physical and virtual reality. Spirals three and four demonstrated that alternative technologies could be used to provide the focus for the learning activity.…”

The Role of Field Trips in Teacher Education for Teaching Social Studies in a Developing Country

“…Field trips also provide practical insights into effective teaching strategies such as utilizing primary sources and promoting critical thinking. Active participation in these trips equips pre-service teachers with pedagogical experiences that enhance their ability to create engaging lessons and foster inclusive learning environments (MacCallum & Parsons, 2022).…”

“…Detjen, Pfleging and Schneegass, (2020) revealed that none of the participants in their research were adequately prepared for real-life encounters during field trips. To enhance students' preparedness for field trips, teachers need to engage students effectively in pre-and post-field trip learning activities (Boeve-de et al, 2019;MacCallum & Parsons, 2022).…”