2021 – 2024

Augmented Reality (AR) books offer new opportunities for interaction and engagement, and additional features provide potential to support children’s reading comprehension, yet there is currently very little research in this area.  This project aims to capture and understand children’s (aged 7-10) experiences with AR books, specifically focusing on whether there are benefits to reading engagement and comprehension.  A particular focus will be on understanding whether, to what extent, and how, AR books have potential to support and engage children with below-average reading skills.

Aims:

• To explore how children read/interact with AR storybooks in a classroom setting in real-time.
• To explore to what extent, and how, children perceive the features of AR storybooks as supportive of their reading engagement and comprehension.
• To explore to what extent, and how, teachers perceive the features of AR storybooks as supportive of children’s reading engagement and comprehension.
• To understand teachers’ perceptions of the acceptability and usability of AR books in the classroom.
• To explore to what extent, and how, shared book reading experiences influence the quantity and type of book-talk among children with below-average reading skills.

To learn more about this project you can contact Kawla Alhamad: K.Alhamad@sms.ed.ac.uk

You can also learn more about this project through our BERA Special Issue blogpost: https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/technology-to-support-reading-engagement-should-schools-include-augmented-reality-ar-books-on-their-shelves

You can access the preregistration for the first study in this project, here: https://osf.io/9q678

Project Team:

PhD Researcher: Kawla Alhamad, University of Edinburgh

First Supervisor: Dr Sarah McGeown, University of Edinburgh
Second Supervisor: Professor Andrew Manches, University of Edinburgh

This project was preregistered – information can be found here:

Augmented Reality Books and Reading

Qualitative study: https://osf.io/9q678

Aims:

1) To explore how children read/interact with AR storybooks in a classroom setting in real-time, with an addition focus on understanding similarities and differences between children based on their levels of reading skill.

2) To explore to what extent, and how, children perceive the features of AR storybooks as supportive of their reading engagement and comprehension.

3) To explore to what extent, and how, teachers perceive the features of AR storybooks as supportive of children’s reading engagement and comprehension.

4) To understand teachers’ perceptions of the usability of AR books in the classroom.