Investigating the effects of augmented reality supported modelling based teaching on the students academic achievement and 21 th century skills in the our body systems unit

This study aims to investigate the effect of augmented reality supported modeling based teaching on students' academic achievement and 21st century skills in the Our Body Systems unit. The study employed a quasi-experimental design with a pretest-posttest control group, which is one of the quantitative research methods. The study sample consisted of 75 sixth-grade students from a public middle school affiliated with the Ministry of National Education during the 2024-2025 academic year. The students were divided into an experimental group and a control group. Convenience sampling was used to select the sample, and the experimental and control groups were determined through simple random assignment. The experimental group received lessons using augmented reality supported modeling based teaching, while the control group received the "Our Body Systems" unit suitable for the science curriculum. The "Our Body Systems Unit Achievement Test" (OBSUAT) and the "Comprehensive 21st-Century Skills Scale" (C21CSS) were administered as data collection tools. T-tests were conducted in the quantitative analysis of the data, and arithmetic mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentage values were used. Additionally, Shapiro–Wilk and ANCOVA analyses were performed. Twenty students participating in the study were administered in an interview form, and the qualitative data obtained were analyzed using content analysis. The study, based on an analysis of data obtained from the OBSUAT in the sixth grade "Our Body Systems" unit, determined that students in the experimental group, which received augmented reality supported modeling based teaching, performed better academically than students in the control group. The analysis of data from the C21CSS concluded that reality supported modeling based teaching improved all measured 21st century skill factors: critical thinking and problem-solving; social responsibility and adaptability; collaboration; media literacy; information, communication, and technology viii literacy; creativity and innovation; entrepreneurship and self-management; and communication and leadership. Analysis of the student interview form data revealed that this instructional approach increased learning motivation and participation in lessons, as well as facilitating understanding by concretizing abstract concepts. The results from the interview forms support those from the quantitative analyses.