UNS — A group of Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta students introduced an Augmented Reality Game Puzzle as an innovative learning method for elementary school (SD) students. The program was also promoted to improve students’ learning spirits amid the pandemic. The program was promoted as a response toward the Covid-19 pandemic that has changed many activities in the education system, prompting the transformation from offline to the online learning process. The group observed the ineffectiveness of the online learning system in which students learn independently without assistance from their teachers, especially for the fifth grade of the elementary school in a natural science course. The existing learning method through reading and figure examples in the textbook is considered insufficient to help students in learning objects’ physical shapes.
Considering the issue, the UNS student group takes that supporting media is needed to help the students comprehending the materials, especially in the human digestive system. Augmented Reality Game Puzzle was designed with various benefits, including the opportunity to have real-time interaction among users. The program also has the ability to portray a three-dimensional object of the digestive system in a device monitor.
“AR (Augmented reality) Game Puzzle is appropriate to be adopted as educational media that support SD students learning process. (The system) also offers puzzle games that could increase students’ learning spirit and reduce their boredom during the learning process, especially in natural science topics,” Rifa’i Abdul Karim, the creator, explained.
Rifai also explained the operational method that requires users to log into the application, scan the available market, and 3D objects and information will appear when the scanning process is completed. He also mentioned that teachers showed great enthusiasm to try the program for their students because students would be delighted with the application. “This is what made our team’s spirit grow to create this application,” he added.
Faiz Ahnaf Eka Putra, another group member, stated that the creation of this application aims to create a direct interaction between user and 3D object as an initial step for the user to explore further the 3D object they are attracted to. The program is also designed under a good media aspect, from the learning materials, interface, navigation, and program reliability. “We try to continuously develop this application so that in the future it can be applied to increase SD student’s spirits to learn,” Faiz added.
The Team is a Student Creativity Program (PKM) on Creative Innovation (KC) that consist of Rifa’i Abdul Karim (Informatics and Computer Engineering Education), Faiz Ahnaf Eka Putra (Informatics and Computer Engineering Education), Alvin Kurniawan (Informatics and Computer Engineering Education), Lidya Zaela Wijaya (Soil Science), and Farah Apit Tantri (Physics Education), and was supervised by Dwi Maryono, S.Si., M.Kom., a faculty member of Informatics and Computer Engineering Education Program. Humas UNS
Reporter: Rangga
Editor: Dwi Hastuti