Int. J. Technology Enhanced Learning, Vol. 3, No. 5, 2011 Limitless or pointless?: An Evaluation of Augmented Reality Technology in the School and Home Rosemary Luckin London Knowledge Lab, Institute of Education, University of London, 23-29 Emerald Street, London WC1N 3QS, UK E-mail: rose.luckin@gmail.com Danaë Stanton Fraser Department of Psychology, University of Bath, 2 South, Bath BA2 7AY, UK E-mail: D.StantonFraser@bath.ac.uk Abstract: Augmented Reality technology appears to offer great potential to engage learners and to enhance the process of knowledge construction. However, very little work has undergone formal evaluation, resulting in a lack of a deep and systematic understanding of how AR can enhance learning. We report an extensive evaluation of an AR application developed by the BBC for young learners. This evaluation involved over 300 participants in their homes and school classrooms. Our findings support the claim that AR has the potential to promote learning and to motivate children to engage with learning activities. There is evidence that specific skills can be improved, that learners were motivated and challenged through the interactive problem solving activities and that the technology offered many opportunities for collaboration. Developers will however need a rich skill set in order to create applications that offer the necessary learner control, challenging interactivity and experience coherence. Introduction and Background In addition to the early applications of Augmented Reality (AR) to gaming, medical, and engineering applications, there have also been some interesting educational applications, that explore the potential of AR to bridge the learning gap between abstract descriptions and the real world phenomena to which they refer. Previous projects have encouraged children to learn about scientific processes in an ‘ambient wood’ (Rogers, Price, Randell, Stanton Fraser, Weal & Fitzpatrick, 2005) about predator behaviour in the ‘savannah’ (Facer, Joiner, Stanton, Reid, Hull & Kirk, 2004), and about natural disasters such as earthquakes through simulations within a classroom (Moher, Uphoff, Bhatt, Lopez Silva & Malcolm, 2008). The exploration of the physical environment has been a particular focus (see for example, Liarokapis, et al, 2006; Klopfer and Squire, 2008) and the potential of mobile and ubiquitous technologies has commanded attention (see for example, Sandor, and Klinker, 2007). These projects show the potential of AR to enhance the presentation of knowledge across a range of real-world settings and the creation of engaging ways of interacting with simulations: demonstrating the broad potential of this technology across a spectrum of learning activities. However, important challenges must be addressed before this potential can be realized. While a host of AR prototypes have been developed, few have been