CI-Spy: Designing A Mobile Augmented Reality System for Scaffolding Historical Inquiry Learning
Gurjot Singh, Doug A. Bowman, David L. Hicks, David Cline, J. Todd Ogle, Aaron Paul Johnson, Rosemary Zlokas, Thomas J. Tucker, Eric D. Ragan · 2015
Historical inquiry involves investigating compelling questions by analyzing historical sources to construct evidence-based accounts of the past. However, teaching students to do history is challenging. This paper discusses the design of CI-Spy, a mobile augmented reality system that explicitly teaches inquiry strategies and engages students to practice the doing of history in an augmented real-world context. As a case study for the design of the application, we designed and embedded multiple augmented reality activities within an instructional unit using a local historic site (the Christiansburg Institute, or CI). We conducted a pilot study with elementary students to learn how and to what extent AR technologies can support learning inquiry strategies and processes. After using our system, students demonstrated a greater understanding of inquiry and gained significant insight into the hidden history of CI.