Augmented Reality to Study Human Anatomy

Many educators and developers all over the world research about the factors that influence a virtual school and student’s efficiency learning. Furthermore, the growing interest for research on alternative methods of education in Medical Schools, led to the use of videos and podcasts during the e-learning process. The traditional anatomy curriculum has been challenged since the early 80s and educational technology has attracted great interest with the introduction of many innovations such as virtual anatomy courses and dissections, three-dimensional (3D) atlas etc. application, which uses augmented reality (AR) for smart devices. Augmented reality could be a growing field of technology where reality is modified and enhanced by sights and sounds generated by a computer. AR makes the prevailing reality more meaningful because it allows interacting with it. Augmented reality features a great potential to be utilized in the classroom because it changes the way students interact with the world, enhances student engagement, and makes the learning of their subject content a fun. When incorporated into education, AR motivates students to explore and, during this way, learn. It expands student’s horizons and fosters their creativity and imagination. Hence the proposed system uses augmented reality for displaying 3D view of anatomical structures which are printed in textbooks’ in two-dimensional (2D) view. The proposed system is mainly developed for secondary and higher secondary students so as to give them a basis knowledge of an actual anatomical structure, how it looks in the real world which before was difficult to understand from a 2D perspective.