Improved education through AR
THE QUESTION
Can augmented reality improve educational outcomes for school children in Mexico?
LOCATION: Mexico
SECTOR: Education
TECH: Augmented Reality
TIMELINE: September 2022 - March 2023
PIONEERS: Rodrigo Felix Montalvo, Roberto Velez
PARTNERS: C Minds
IDEA STAGE: Discovery
The Challenge
Mexico is the country with the worst score on the OECD Education Index, with considerably low scores in literacy, math, and science. About 50% of children in Mexico do not meet the most basic standards, a reality worsened by the pandemic. This global contingency forced schools to close and led to alternative education methods that were often qualified as inadequate by topical experts. As a result, 2% of primary students dropped out between 2019 and 2020, followed by 5% the next year. It is thought that children who stayed in school throughout the pandemic suffered up to a 3-year gap in their education in Mexico.
The Idea
This discovery fund explored the potential application of augmented reality (AR) for educational purposes, assessing its influence on enhancing learning outcomes among primary school students in Mexico. The end solutions that the team explored were interactive classroom-centric AR solutions, to be tried within primary schools via smartphones and/or tablets that will improve student’s engagement and learning outcomes.
The proposed impact of this initiative is two-fold: firstly, it aims to significantly enhance student engagement and learning outcomes by leveraging the immersive and interactive nature of AR technology. Secondly, the successful integration of AR into primary education has the potential to revolutionize traditional teaching methods, making learning more accessible, engaging, and effective. It is expected that learnings from the discovery phase would serve
the Mexican education ecosystem and the Latin American region and contribute findings to global discussions on the topic, making Mexico a thought leader in this topic. In order to maximize the advantages and potential of AR within Mexico's educational sphere, it is essential to translate the findings of this preliminary and inclusive research into practical applications. This should be accompanied by further research efforts and the implementation
of local pilot projects, ensuring a comprehensive and impactful integration of AR technology.
What was done during the Discovery Fund phase?
In the Discovery Fund phase C Minds’ Eon Resilience Lab team focused on two main questions: to what extent can AR improve educational outcomes by improving children’s engagement and interest? To what extent can AR-based education solutions be scaled in Mexico?
To answer these questions, the British Embassy in Mexico and C Minds’ Eon Resilience Lab held a series of conversations with 19 experts, practitioners, and professionals in the field. Specifically, the organisations carried out a) five interviews, b) an online roundtable discussion with five participants on the technical challenges for scaling an AR education solution, c) an in-person roundtable conversation with ten participants to discuss AR’s potential to impact primary education and d) a presentation event hosted by the British Embassy in Mexico.
Key Metrics
The problem
The dropout rate for 6-14 year-olds rose by 6% from 2015 to 2020, marking a 74% overall increase.
In 2018, 80% of primary students didn't meet math, reading, and writing expectations of the "Planea" test.
Socioeconomically disadvantaged children were 53% less likely than advantaged peers to reach satisfactory reading levels (compared to OECD's 29%).
COVID-19 worsened the situation with school closures of up to 53 weeks, resulting in a 2% dropout rate for the 2019-2020 school year and 5% non-enrollment the following year, based on INEGI data.
The solution
Findings included consultations with 19 experts, practitioners, and professionals in the field and were shared in a high profile event hosted by the British Embassy.
What have we learned?
Through the Discovery Fund, C Minds’ Eon Resilience Lab gained a number of key learnings which are important for the design of solutions. They found that it was important to:
Create locally targeted solutions to address Mexico’s context disparities by working with the local community and stakeholders, especially teachers.
Develop offline and low-end device solutions to tackle the varying levels of infrastructure, connectivity and accessibility.
Align to pedagogical strategies to ensure a maximum positive impact on education. Most existing solutions do not do so.
Align with the governments' educational strategies and agendas in order to contribute to teachers' and students’ official work plans.
Support teacher education and training so they can effectively integrate and
accompany the children’s adoption of the solution.Create and implement responsible solutions that protect children’s online privacy and
security, recognising their digital rights.
Several studies were analyzed in addition to the insights mentioned by the experts, and it was concluded that AR can support in: Increase student engagement and interest, personalized learning, strengthen soft skills and does not need much investment. It it is emphasized that it should not be considered as just another tool in a broad set of educational resources, and not as a silver-bullet solution to address the country's educational challenges.
What happened next?
The team of C Minds’ Eon Resilience Lab has pushed the conversation with different key players and has continued to build interest with investors and other stakeholders through the findings of this pilot. They are currently exploring further funding sources that will enable them to continue to investigate the feasibility of such a solution and to design and build it.
They are also building the team that will be part of this pilot and have made connections with educational technologists, AR developers, curriculum specialists, and primary school educators, who will all work collaboratively to design, create, and integrate the AR solutions into the classroom environment.