UNDERSTANDING STUDENT ENGAGEMENT WHILE USING AN AUGMENTED REALITY SANDBOX

Augmented reality (AR) sandboxes are becoming more and more prevalent in undergraduate geology lab settings. This tool is useful in helping students develop a three dimensional understanding of topographic maps and the landforms they represent. Geoscience education researchers have already begun exploring how the use of these tools impacts student learning and spatial thinking skills, and this study aims to build on that by examining student engagement. Technology in the form of skin biosensors allows researchers to measure skin conductance (or electrodermal activity - EDA) as a proxy for student engagement. This works by measuring minute changes in skin perspiration, which correspond to sympathetic nervous system arousal. This study used wrist sensors to monitor the engagement of students exposed to different instructional treatments of an AR sandbox in an Earth System Science lab course. This data was supplemented by the use of eye tracking glasses during the activity as well as one on one interviews conducted after the lab. During the lab intervention, three different treatments of the sandbox were used by different groups of students: an unstructured lab, a semi-structured lab, and a structured lab. The EDA data was then used to compare student engagement during the three treatments and the eye tracking data was used as dynamic video to understand how students interacted with the sandbox and with each other. Statistical analysis of the EDA data for the 93 students that participated in the research study suggests that the use of an AR sandbox increases student engagement, and regression modeling supports a relationship between spatial reasoning skills as well as social and collaborative interactions with engagement.