DESIGNING AND DEVELOPING AN INNOVATIVE TEACHING TOOL: THE MATERIAL SCIENCE AUGMENTED REALITY APP

The augmented reality Material Science app was conceived by lecturers from the University of Canterbury to provide students with a tool to visualize and understand the basic concepts of the subject. The app has undergone several prototypes, and the last version of the app allowed to explore: the interatomic distance between atoms; crystal structure of Iron, Gold, Lead, and Cobalt; and, imperfections (only vacancies). The goal of this thesis is to improve the current version of the app through the Design-Thinking approach. The methodology used aims to address users' needs and motivations. During the work thesis observations, surveys and interviews were conducted to gather data to identify user needs and gaps in the development of the app. There were created student personas that describe the frustrations and goals of the potential users of the app. The software used for the technological development of the Material Science app were Unity and Vuforia. An evaluation test was done after the implementation of the new features to evaluate the impact they have on the learning experience and to obtain an overall value of usability using the SUS questionnaire. The thesis concludes by presenting a Business Model Canvas that would assist in establishing future steps for the development of AR Material Science.