Augmented reality sandbox: a platform for educative experiences Sergio Álvarez Sánchez Facultad de Educación Universidad de Salamanca seralsa@usal.es Teresa Martín-Garcia MediaLab USAL Universidad de Salamanca Edificio I+D+i+34 923294500 Ext. 3286 teresam@usal.es Laura Delgado Martín Dpto. Didáctica de la Matemática y de las CC. Experimentales Universidad de Salamanca. Paseo de Canalejas 169 -37008 Salamanca laura@usal.es Fernando Almaraz-Menéndez Director of Digital Production and Innovation Universidad de SalamancaEdificio I+D+i+34 923294500 Ext. 3268 falmaraz@usal.es Miguel Ángel Gimeno-González MediaLab USAL Universidad de Salamanca Edificio I+D+i+34 923294500 Ext. 3286 gimeno@usal.es Camilo Ruiz Dpto. Didáctica de la Matemática y de las CC. Experimentales Universidad de Salamanca. Paseo de Canalejas 169 -37008 Salamanca camilo@usal.es ABSTRACT In this paper, we describe the implementation of an Augmented Reality Sandbox as a platform for educative experiences. Usually,the traditional Augmented Reality experiences, where the interface is a screen of a mobile devices, here the interface is real sand. It can form real landscapes where a virtual layer of information is displayed. We constructed the Sandbox from open source software and with accessible hardware. In this paper we discuss the special features of this installation, we evaluate the bottlenecks toward its implementation in real classrooms and the contents that can be teach together with the expected benefits. CCS Concepts • Computing methodologies• Computer graphics • Graphics systems and interfaces • Mixed / augmented reality Keywords Augmented Reality; Education; ICT in education; earth sciences, mathematics education. 1. INTRODUCTION Augmented Reality (AR) is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment where a virtual layer of information is added by computer-generated sensory inputs. In the AR, the attributes of reality are augmented using different technologies, allowing a richer experience with real objects. The objective of AR is to provide one or more layers of virtual information to real objects to expand the information we can access or the ways we can interact with it [1-3]. The explosion on the use of mobile and electronic devices has expanded the use and implementation of the AR in many areas including video games, learning and education. The use of AR in education has been done leveraging the availability of mobile phones and tablets in schools all over the world. Most of the AR experiences until today are made using these type of devices which determines, in great length, the kind of experiences and the ways to interact with this augmented reality. These AR experiences using mobile devices can be broadly categorized in two types [4]: The first category include AR experiences which are location aware. The second category include those where the camera is the main sensor used to produce the experience. In the first category, the extra layer of virtual information is linked to the location provided by the GPS, WIFI networks or other geolocalization method in the device. The information from these sensors is linked to a map providing the exact location of the user. Based on the location, different information or content is delivered to the user creating the virtual layer to the real world. The purpose is to make the student explore different locations learning more about the places he or she visits with the help of the mobile device [5]. The pokemonGo game, which became famous in the summer of 2016, is a very good example of experiences of this first category. It uses the location of the player to discover virtual creatures and motivates the exploration of the city. This game has brought the attention of the media due to large number of users (more than 500 million in September of 2016) and due to its very efficient way to engage users into that experience. More importantly, the game has drawn the attention of the public to the potential of the AR technology. In the second category of experiences, the camera is used to add a virtual layer on top of the shape of real world objects. The camera is used to identify objects and the screen of the mobile device present the virtual layer which contains rich information or new ways to interact with the object [6]. Again, the fundamental idea is to use AR to help in the exploration of the surroundings in a real context. Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from Permissions@acm.org. TEEM'16, November 02-04, 2016, Salamanca, Spain © 2016 ACM. ISBN 978-1-4503-4747-1/16/11...$15.00 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3012430.3012580