Immersive AR Interventions to include Students with Intellectual Disabilities: Systematic Instruction or Inquiry Learning?

Augmented Reality (AR) enhances real-world experiences and plays a significant role in various aspects of the development of students with Intellectual Disabilities (ID). This study aimed to investigate the impact of an immersive AR intervention on the learning outcomes and attitudes of six students with intellectual disabilities, focusing on the abstract physics concept of the states of matter. Three students were instructed using a structured inquiry (based on constructivism), while the other three received systematic instruction grounded in behaviorism. A functional relationship between the dependent and independent variables (the two types of interventions) was found. Both interventions resulted high PND effect size scores, demonstrating changes in academic performance between the baseline and intervention conditions. All students retained the learning outcomes and were able to generalize the new content. Moreover, the three students who participated in the inquiry-based approach developed inquiry skills. All students reported a positive experience with the AR intervention, noting that the AR glasses facilitated their acquisition of physics terminology and understanding.