Augmented Reality in the Unbounded Research Science Laboratories: Improving College Students' Science Competencies

This research aims to investigate the effectiveness of integrating augmented reality (AR) into science laboratory activities in improving prospective teachers’ (PTs) science competencies. This experimental research involved 54 PTs who enrolled in laboratory activities for the Basic Physics Experiment I course, focusing on the topic of heat and temperature, at a University in Ternate city, Indonesia. There are three PTs groups participating in laboratory activities with different strategies: the framework of unbonded research science laboratory activities complemented with AR (URSLA-AR), the same framework without AR (URSLA), and cookbook laboratory activities (CLA). The results showed that the increase in PTs' science competencies was significantly greater in the URSLA-AR group compared to the URSLA and CLA groups. AR technology has been designed into a mobile application package that complements the science laboratory activity module. The findings of the research suggest that educators play a crucial role in developing laboratory activities and selecting those that have the potential for AR technology integration.