AR Qaida: AR Assisted Multi-level Interactive Framework for Smart Learning of Early to Primary School Children

Integration of technology into education improves teaching and learning. Augmented Reality (AR) technology has received a lot of attention due to its vast potential for a variety of applications. Many subjects can be difficult to convey in a classroom or comprehend from a 2D textbook for school-aged children. This is because school-aged children need a lot of attention to become more enthusiastic and satisfied in their classes. AR applications with educational elements provide an exciting and unique learning experience. This is accomplished by blurring the boundaries between the real world they are in and the virtual world they perceive on the screen. This paper proposes an AR-based e-learning framework "AR Qaida" involving 3D interaction to meet specific goals for learning divided into levels and subjects, aiming to provide interactive, immersive learning for early-primary school children. This framework consists of 5 levels, each aiming at a specific subject: English alphabet learning (Level 1), Urdu letters (Level 2), Mathematics (Level 3), Solar System Visualization (Level 4), and Frog Dissection (Level 5) for early to primary school children’s education (age 5-14). This framework was developed utilizing Vuforia marker-based AR and Unity 3D, deployed on mobile phones. We further conducted a study on 20 participants, using the SUS survey. Younger children were assisted in using the framework and filling out the survey. AR Qaida framework achieved a SUS score of 73.85 demonstrating that the framework is useful and acceptable. We did a t-test to identify how gender affected the results. A two-tailed p-value of 0.9793 indicates that the observed difference in means is not statistically significant. It is inferred from the t-test results that there is no substantial disparity between genders in this study.