Influence of motivation and academic performance in the use of Augmented Reality in education. A systematic review

Abstract

The recent technologies rise today as a tool of significant importance today, especially in the educational context. In this sense, Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that is achieving a greater presence in educational centers in the last decade. However, Augmented Reality has not been explored in depth at the Secondary Education stage. Due to this, it is essential to analyze and concentrate the scientific research developed around this educational technology at that stage. Therefore, the aim of this research is to describe the influence that Augmented Reality shows on the motivation and academic performance of students in the Secondary Education stage. In relation to the methodology, a systematic review of the literature has been conducted using the Kitchenham protocol, where several factors have been analyzed, such as subjects, activities, and electronic implementation devices, together with the effects on motivation and student's academic performance. The Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases have been used to search for scientific papers, with a total of 344 investigations being analyzed between 2012 and 2022. The methodological stages considered were the formulation of research questions, the choice of data sources, search strategies, inclusion and exclusion criteria and quality assessment, and finally, data extraction and synthesis. The results obtained have shown that the use of AR in the classroom provides higher levels of motivation, reflected by factors such as attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction, and reflects better results in the tests carried out on the experimental groups compared to the control groups, which means an improvement in the academic performance of students. These results supply a fundamental theoretical basis, where the different teachers should be supported for the incorporation of AR in the classroom, since how this educational technology has been shown offers great opportunities. Likewise, the development of research in areas not so addressed can further clarify the generality of AR based on its influence on learning. In addition, the fields of natural sciences and logical-mathematical have been the most addressed, managing to implement their contents through object modeling. In short, this research highlights the importance of incorporating Augmented Reality into all areas and educational stages, since it is a significant improvement in the teaching and learning process.