The Maker Movement in Education The desire to create is a basic human impulse (Martinez & Stager, 2014). Within the educational setting, it is critical to allow an abundance of opportunities for students to build, explore and create using a range of digital and physical materials (Cohen e al., 2017; Martin, 2015). The Maker Movement…

Games in Education Games-based learning (GBL) allows students’ to engage in traditional and digital games to encourage motivation, achievement and understanding in their academic learning (Barzilai & Blau, 2014; Bourgonjon et al., 2013;). Over the last ten years, there has been much debate over the effectiveness of incorporating games within the classroom. However, many researches…

Virtual Reality Virtual Reality (VR) is a computer-generated 3D simulation of immersive environments. It can provide 360-degree experiences to portray seemingly real-world. VR systems have high levels of immersion, believability and interaction for the users (Minocha, 2015). VR is not a new concept; however, it has only recently become effective in education within the last…

What is Augmented Reality? Augmented Reality (AR) is a “3D technology that enhances the user’s sensory perception of the real world with a contextualised layer of information” (Ibáñez & Delgado-Kloos, 2018). As technology is becoming increasingly accessible in the educational setting, AR, therefore, can be incorporated in the classroom through handheld devices such as iPads….

What is robotics? Robotics is an increasingly utilised and efficient technology used within all stages of the learning environment. It provides new ways of thinking to not only students; however, teachers in challenging effective pedagogy and modern learning. Alimisis, states robotics “enables students to control the behaviour of a tangible model by the means of…

What is Computational Thinking? Shute, Sun & Asbell-Clarke (2017) defines Computational Thinking (CT) as “the conceptual foundation required to solve problems effectively and efficiently with solutions that are reusable in different contexts” (pg. 142). CT is a fundamental skill required for everyone, greatly benefitting individuals from being exposed to these challenges at a young age…

What is Design-based Thinking? Over the years, scholars have provided various definitions to ‘design-based thinking’. Razzouk & Shute (2012) define it as an “analytic and creative process that engages a person in opportunities to experiment, create and prototype models, gather feedback and redesign” (pp. 330). Combining real-world factors in the design process, to produce a…

What is Augmented Reality? Augmented Reality (AR) is an interactive 3D technology that allows individuals to combine the physical world with virtual reality (Cuendet et al., 2012). As technologies continue to expand, AR provides new opportunities to learning and teaching in education, with research supporting the benefits of enhancing student engagement, creativity and motivation (Wu…