Design and evaluation of an AR-integrated STEM-BCG learning kit to foster creative problem solving in secondary chemistry education

Chemistry education faces significant challenges in helping students visualize abstract molecular concepts, creating cognitive barriers that hinder understanding and application of theoretical knowledge to real-world sustainability problems. This study aimed to design an AR-integrated STEM-BCG Learning Kit based on constructivist principles to support creative problem-solving in acid-base chemistry, examine students’ creative problem-solving abilities and academic achievement, and evaluate user experience. Using a quasi-experimental design with 79 eleventh-grade students divided into experimental ( n = 40) and control ( n = 39) groups, the study developed a learning kit with seven components grounded in a comprehensive theoretical framework. Because intact classes were assigned to conditions, the groups differed at pre-test; normalized gain, ANCOVA, and non-parametric tests were used to address this non-equivalence. Results showed that the experimental group achieved larger gains in creative problem-solving skills (pre-test M = 8.82, SD = 1.41; post-test M = 15.94, SD = 1.92; normalized gain=0.63) compared to the control group (pre-test M = 10.54, SD = 1.37; post-test M = 12.28, SD = 1.57; normalized gain = 0.17), with a very large but imprecisely estimated effect size ( d = 2.08, 95% CI [1.53, 2.63]) and larger academic achievement gains (Cohen’s d = 0.87, 95% CI [0.40, 1.33]; normalized gain=0.70 versus 0.50). The two outcomes were correlated ( r = 0.64). Experimental-group students reported positive experiences (M = 4.49, SD = 0.64) and good perceived usability (SUS = 83.25); these self-reports had no comparison condition. This preliminary study suggests that integrating AR technology with BCG principles within a constructivist framework shows promise for supporting students’ creative problem-solving skills and academic achievement in chemistry education in this context. Because the study involved one school, one teacher, one topic, and a five-week implementation of a multi-component package, the findings are preliminary and cannot be attributed to augmented reality alone; replication with an activity-matched comparison condition, blinded scoring, and delayed post-tests is needed.