Title: Promoting collaborative innovation and disciplinary integration in maker education through augmented reality: a design-based research

Authors: Xu Han; Yayun Liu; Hongzhu Li; Zhenying Fan; Heng Luo

Addresses: Faculty of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei Province, 430079, China ' Faculty of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei Province, 430079, China ' Baomin Elementary School of Shenzhen, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, 518101, China ' Jingui Middle School of Zhengzhou, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, 450000, China ' Faculty of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei Province, 430079, China

Abstract: Maker education in China's K-12 schools is facing several problems such as disconnection between theory and practice, shallow application of the maker spirit, and shortage of educational resources. To address those problems, this study proposed an innovative instructional model for maker education, which was enabled by augmented reality (AR) technology and was informed by the theories of collaborative learning and disciplinary integration. After three iterations of design, evaluation, and revision, the study empirically refined the proposed model of maker education and validated a set of instructional design principles, including relevant task context, general inquiry sequence, diverse scaffolding, flexible collaboration strategies, and extended instruction time. The study results indicated that AR can be used as a adhesive to integrate subject content from various disciplines, and thus can inspire creative thinking and collaborative inquiry for students. The study concluded with six validated instructional design principles for conducting AR-supported maker education in elementary school.

Keywords: maker education; augmented reality; design-based research; DBR; disciplinary integration; collaborative inquiry.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2022.122066

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2022 Vol.31 No.3, pp.307 - 329

Received: 03 Nov 2020
Accepted: 15 Apr 2021
Published online: 08 Apr 2022 *

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