Week 5 - Osmo Pizza Co (Augmented Reality)

Welcome back! This week we will be exploring AR using Osmo Pizza Co.

AR looks at a real-time view of a real-world environment that has been augmented by adding virtual computer-generated features (Carmigniani & Furht, 2011). Osmo Pizza Co is a money puzzle game that can be played on an iPad where a small mirror is placed on the camera to allow students to ‘virtually’ run a pizza store (Akhter & Jambocus, 2020). Students are required to provide a holistic pizza store experience providing customers with their exact preferences and charging accordingly.

The NSW Mathematics syllabus MA2-AR-02 requires stage 2 students to "interpret problems involving money" (NESA, 2022). Thus, Osmo Pizza Co is beneficial as it incorporates Mathematics for Stage 2 learners through a constructivist approach as students engage in a hands-on, experience developing their mathematical skills. As students’ progress through the game, the levels become more challenging. AR is beneficial to incorporate in the classroom, specifically Mathematics lessons as it supports complex concepts by incorporating visual experiences to communicate abstract problems to learners who may struggle. AR has the potential to re-invent teaching as students have a hands-on, physical interaction in the classroom increasing motivation and learning (Bower et al., 2014).

Osmo provides students with an opportunity to run a business and fosters creativity as students need to serve as many customers as possible whilst remembering orders in a limited time frame and thus observation and organisation skills are developed. Students build on their addition and subtraction skills as they are required to provide change to customers using as many or as little notes or coins as possible. Students choose how to distribute money, increasing their mathematical creativity. This technology uses a behaviourist approach, as students are provided with feedback according to how they make the pizza (Woollard, 2010). For example, if students put the wrong toppings on, they will receive a grumpy review, if the pizza is correct, the customer will be ecstatic.

While there are many benefits to using this technology in the classroom there are also some limitations. AR in the classroom is costly, and as such students may have limited accessibility to utilise this technology (Kakkar, 2020). Additionally, the currency used in the game is not Australian and uses coins and notes that are not the equivalent of Australian money and denominations students are used to, which may result in confusion.

Zapworks is an AR based content creation platform, that allows students to create an immersive world and customise AR experiences fostering creativity in the classroom. The Zapworks application did not work on both my personal email and my Macquarie email. I tried on multiple devices and Safari and Chrome. I spoke to David in our tutorial to address this issue and he said it was okay. Thank you.

References:

Akhter, A., & Jambocus, N. (2020). OSMO-Real Play, Real Learning!.

Bower, M., Howe, C., McCredie, N., Robinson, A., & Grover, D. (2014). Augmented reality in education – cases, places and potentials. Educational Media International, 51(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523987.2014.889400

Carmigniani, J., & Furht, B. (2011, January 1). Augmented reality: An overview. SpringerLink. Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4614-0064-6_1

Kakkar, R. (2020, July 25). Pros and cons of virtual and augmented learning experiences. YourStory.com. Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://yourstory.com/2020/07/pros-cons-virtual-augmented-learning-experiences

NSW Education and Standards Authority (2022). Mathematics K-10 syllabus: Content. NSW Curriculum. https://curriculum.nsw.edu.au/learning-areas/mathematics/mathematics-k-10-2022?tab=content

Wollard, J. (2010). Psychology for the classroom: Behaviourism. Routledge.