Another World in Augmented Reality

It is my first time to experience so many “Augmented Reality”  apps from iOS and it is a totally new experience that I never experience before and I could imagine how will it surprise kids to see these Augmented Reality apps.

I was considering how I can apply them to my future Chinese class. I am still not quite sure if it will work in my class, but I would like to ask my students at least to try to use them to see another “World”.

1.Space Journey app- a space travel

I think most of us are curious about how the space or universe looks like, and some of us even desire for a space traveling like astronauts did. We might not be able to do that now but we do have chance to see how the space journey is thanks to the Space Journey app.

Students will discover the Solar system and explore the Sun,the planets and their satellites in stunning details by themselves or with the teacher’s directions. It is a interactive learning tool for students to comprehend the features of the Solar System in the 3D Augmented Reality. When students are in the Science class, after they have learned some knowledge of the Solar system and then can experience what they have learned by the Space Journey app and it will help them to dig the deeper understanding of what they have learned from the book.

Applying Space Journey app to my Chinese class, I will chose to use it in the 5-12 Grade from 12-18 ages. They have already learned the basic knowledge of the Space, I may ask students to describe how the universe looks like(Big or Small) and what they see in the universe in  Chinese when we learn some topic about the space. I think it will inspire them to express what they have seen in Chinese in an unforced way.

2.Dinosaurs app

It is impossible to see any alive dinosaurs in our world now and we learn them from books, movies and museums.However, we can see “dinosaurs” are running  in our world through Dinosaurs app.

I think this app could be used for any grade in any age. For example, in the history or biology class, the teacher could use this app to let students to discover the dinosaurs by themselves for it is easy to manipulate. It gives them the direct impression to see the dinosaurs and help them understand better about these old animals.

In my Chinese class, I prefer to use this app for elementary students. It may has less chance for me to use this app to teach them about the dinosaurs but I still can use this app to ask them to describe what they have seen from the app and encourage them to use Chinese language to express it. Though their Chinese language is limited, but still they can use the words what they have learned. I can related the Dinosaurs to the topic of animals to let my students to see the big old animals.

3.GWR 2015 app--A magic book out of imagination.

I think if every book will be like the “GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS 2015”, and students will fall in love with reading. In my personal experience in GWR 2015 app, it is my best experience about the Augmented Reality apps. It looks so real when you scan the pages and see the things coming out from the book through the GWR 2015 app. I enjoyed watching a big whale swimming in the sea and tallest man in the world stand in front of you.

In my opinion, this app could be used in the any age or grade. In my Chinese class, I will use the app to teach them some words related to my class. For example, I want to teach them”tall”  and “short” in Chinese, I can use the app to let them see the tallest man from the book. I am sure my students will enjoy it very much in my class.

4.Anatomy 4D app

Through Anatomy 4D app and printed image, it transports anyone who wants to learn about the body into an interactive 4D experience of human anatomy.

This app could be best used in the middle school and high school from 12-18 age,even in the colleges. In the science class, the teacher could use this app to let their students to learn and see the human anatomy.

I really like to see when students see a "human body" on their hand to explore the mystery of the human anatomy by themselves for it is also an interactive app.

I may not use it in my Chinese class for the elementary school students, but I may consider using it to teach human body in Chinese words for high school or abuts.It really depends on their Chinese language level.