Students’ Acceptance of Mobile Augmented Reality Applications in Primary and Secondary Biology Education

Abstract

Augmented reality is often indicated as a usable educational technology that can be integrated into biology classes to overcome the shortcomings of traditional teaching (such as lack of visualization of abstract teaching content, students’ low participation and interest in classes, and their insufficient understanding of complex topics). Mobile applications with augmented reality experience mode have the potential to be used in online, blended/hybrid, and in-person teaching, which is particularly important during emergencies. This study’s purpose was to determine primary and secondary school students’ acceptance of augmented reality content in commercial mobile applications that can be used as a supplement in biology teaching. A total of 188 students (from schools included in this research) completed the online questionnaire. The results showed that the majority of students perceived mobile augmented reality applications as useful and easy to use, had a positive attitude, and expressed intention to use this educational technology if given the opportunity. The importance of prior evaluation regarding educational usability and performance is highlighted since technical quality (of used mobile applications) had a strong positive effect on perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. There were no statistically significant differences between female and male and primary and secondary students, but students with prior experience with augmented reality rated perceived usefulness higher. Despite positive results, we need to raise our concerns regarding the reliability of using mobile augmented reality in biology education due to the lack of usable free content and the frequent cancellation of authoring tools and applications.