A Comparative Study of the Influence of Interactive AR-Based Experiential Teaching on Cognitive Ability in a Chemical Electrolytic Cell Course

The integration of Augmented Reality (AR) and experiential teaching plays a vital role in teaching practice. This research designs and implements an interactive AR-based experiential course about electrolytic cells in chemistry. The influences are also explored on high school students' cognitive ability, including remembering, understanding and applying dimensions, through classroom comparative experiments. 60 high school students of similar level, who participated in the study, were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group used an interactive AR program, and the control group used traditional flash animation. The data was collected through pretest, posttest, interviews and questionnaire surveys. The results show that the experimental group performs better on the applying dimension, while the control group performs better on the remembering dimension, and the two groups performs similarly on the understanding dimension. It is concluded that both traditional teaching with flash and AR-based experiential teaching can improve students' cognitive ability. But experiential teaching based on interactive AR can improve students' cognitive ability better on the applying dimension through hands-on practice.