Review of AR Circuits

The product I will be reviewing is an augmented reality app called “AR Circuits.” It is produced by Explorental LLC and sells in the iOS app store for $2.99. The price of the app is for the software download to your device. The way that the system works is that the user goes to the website of the game developer. From the website, the user downloads and prints square component cards. The cards are labeled different parts of a circuit (i.e. wire, bulb, battery, switch, ect.). Once the cards have been printed and cut the user then arranges the cards to make a complete circuit. With the app open on the mobile device, the user points the camera at the cards laid out on the table. The app then recognizes the cards and an augmented image of each component “pops-up” on the user’s screen. If the user has created a complete circuit, then the lightbulb will be lit on the screen. If the user has included a switch in their circuit, they may click the switch on the screen in order to make the circuit open or closed. Opening and closing the switch will make the lightbulb turn on and off on the screen. It took some time to get comfortable with working with this app. At first it was difficult to lay out the cards and get the camera to read all of the components. As we know, if one component is not being read by the device, then the circuit will not work. This is an issue because the main idea I would want to reinforce with this app would be that students can successfully put a circuit together. I would not want that idea to get lost in students trying to get the app to read each component card. After some time exploring the cards and the app I became more competent with the placement of the cards and was able to make more and more complicated circuits. I really like the fact that students can make a series or parallel circuit and test how turning a switch on and off affects each bulb. Being able to trace the flow of electricity is a vital skill for 5th grade students in Texas to have. It is a concept heavily tested on year end assessments and with increasing rigor. After I got comfortable with the placement of the cards I was able to explore the app more and discovered some other interesting features. I found that clicking on the battery will allow you to increase the voltage being put out, clicking on the bulbs can increase or decrease the resistance, and there is a card labeled “conductors” where students can cycle through various objects and test if they are conductors or insulators. Overall, I would say that this is a very good application of augmented reality in an educational setting. It hits the skill that the students need to have and makes the teachers life easier by not having to pull all of these materials in real life.