Once the decision was made to design AR modules for SCOLLAm, the first issue encountered was deciding which subjects to cover. First grade pupils have few formal subjects and everything they learn they learn through play. It was necessary to develop modules that were educational while being fun. We gave ourselves a difficult objective - to make Mathematics, the bane of every first grade pupil, more approachable and interesting. We therefore covered it with two modules - one for geometry and one for basic arithmetic. The second subject covered was Nature and Society, through an adaptable module able to cover different topics in that subject.

The pupils looked forward to working on tablets and the teachers were eager to try out the developed lessons. So as to not impact the school’s curriculum with the experiments, the content of the AR-enriched lessons was always based on the curriculum. After collecting the necessary information and designing the modules, development began. Thanks to Ivica and Neven, all doubts and issues encountered during development were quickly resolved. Two AR modules for Mathematics were developed - AR.Math and AR.Geometry - as well as AR.Curious covering Nature and Society topics.

AR.Math teaches students about basic arithmetic - addition, subtraction, multiplication and division while AR.Curious ask students to recognise the correct object in their environment which answers the question posed. These modules have in common the method of answering the question. Each potential answer has a code attached that needs to be scanned to answer. If the response is correct, a green check mark appears while if it is incorrect a red cross appears. But there are differences. AR.Math keeps the pupils in place because the potential answers are a set of paper numbers given out to each pupil at the beginning of the class. On the other hand, with AR.Curious the answers are put on toys and other objects distributed throughout the classroom, requiring students to find an answer, come to it and scan it. AR.Geometry helps to learn about geometric bodies and shapes - similarly to AR.Math, from the workdesk of the student.

We performed the experiments one per school hour occasionally in the period between March and June 2016. Even our arrival at school was typically heralded by cries of “Tablets! Tablets!”. Although we initially worried that there would be usability issues with the technology considering that we were dealing with 7 to 9 year olds, it turned out that they were already well acquainted to it from their daily non-school life. Therefore, only minimal instructions were needed.

All of the lessons are intended to reinforce and review the material taught in the previous week. Therefore, before beginning the AR experience, a short recap is given through digital lesson slides. Student interest was high, with very low numbers giving up before the allotted time. As expected, the AR.Curious module, which motivates the movement of the student throughout the class proved to be better than AR.Math in motivating them to work.

When leaving the classroom the students always asked us when we will return and often they were full of ideas what they wanted us to prepare for next time. The interest was not with just the students - the teachers as well liked the way it was done and as well asked us often when we will come again.

The SCOLLAm project continues and “our” pupils from Primary School Trnjanska continue to learn with tablets.