Conventional Approach and Augmented Reality Textbook in Science

As a developing country that is moving towards becoming a developed country Malaysia needs more human resources and expertise in various fields related to science and technology. Unfortunately there is a downward trend in the number of students pursuing the science stream at the secondary school level. Lack of motivation identified as the reason behind the downward trend of students pursuing science related higher education and career. This paper introduces an enhanced science textbook using Augmented Reality (eSTAR) that is intended to motivate students to be interested in science. The eSTAR was implemented to provide a supplement to the conventional science teaching and learning methods in the secondary schools. A learning performance study with a control group was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the eSTAR for science learning among a sample of 140 Form Two secondary school students. Overall the results show that the students benefited from the use of the conventional and eSTAR learning approaches.