Developing technology supported guidance material for 8th grade acid and base subject and investigation of its effectiveness

Together with the 21st century, the developments in science and technology find out new opportunities in education. One of these is Augmented Reality (AR) Technology. The main purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a guide material prepared via augmented reality technology for grade 8 Acids and Bases subject on the academic achievement of students and to examine the effectiveness of the research process via the interviews conducted. The study used a single-group experimental design. The quantitative data of the study was collected via the Acid and Base Achievement Test (ABAT) and the qualitative data was collected via semi-structured interviews and AR-aided activities. The study was conducted with 17 grade 8 students (10 female, 7 male) receiving education in a secondary school in the Central Anatolia Region during the 2019-2020 academic year. The augmented reality-aided activities prepared with the guess-observation-explanation (GOE) model were applied to the study group within the course hours spared for the subject. The ABAT was applied to the study group as pretest-posttest and the impact of the activities was checked. Opinions of the teachers and students regarding the application were received via the interviews and their opinions regarding the AR activities were determined by making quotations. The data acquired via the ABAT was analyzed using SPSS 23.0. At the end of the research, it was determined that the activities prepared with technology support affect the success of the students positively. As a result of the evaluation made on the responses given to the activities, both misconceptions in the literature and new misconceptions were found. The interviews conducted with five students showed that students often prefer the use of augmented reality applications in the class and in this way their learning becomes more permanent. On the other hand, the class teacher plans to use augmented reality applications for the next subjects in the class. In line with the results obtained, it has been suggested that researchers should be prepared for the obstacles that might arise from infrastructure services for future research.