Turning your book into a game: improving motivation through tangible interaction and diegetic feedback in an AR mathematics game for children

Augmented reality game-based learning has become an emerging trend in the field of education as it has the potential to increase children’s learning motivation for subjects such as mathematics. However, to achieve the benefits for children effectively, AR serious games need to be appropriately designed, especially in respect to their novel interactions and representation paradigms. In this paper, we report on an exploratory experiment to investigate how different interaction techniques (digital screen-touch interaction vs real-world tangible interaction) and different feedback mechanisms (non-diegetic feedback vs diegetic feedback) affect 7-8-year-old children’s motivation for mathematics learning. Our results show that diegetic feedback led to the game being considered significantly more enjoyable, as well as inducing greater feelings of competence and autonomy; screen-touch interaction versus tangible interaction did not change motivation directly, nor did we find interaction effects between the presentation and interaction modes. By analyzing the results and based on previous studies, we identify recommendations for designers to develop motivating serious AR games for children.