Digital scavenger hunt with augmented reality, GPS and Beacons
KIDS interactive designed and developed, on behalf of SWE Stadtwerke Erfurt, an interactive app scavenger hunt through the centre of Erfurt in which school classes in small groups can playfully, interactively experience various educational topics on an iPad throughout the municipal utilities of Erfurt.
The students are guided per GPS to the stations and receive instructions and information from a virtual moderator on objects which must be scanned, behind which digital content is hidden. So, store fronts, rubbish skips, electrical substations, logos, city maps and even the figure of the KIKA mascot “Bernd, the bread” are sought out by the students and scanned with the iPad.
The world of knowledge app is used as project within the framework of instruction. School-related topics such as the environment, water supply and disposal, recycling and renewable energy production are discussed. The students playfully learn a lot of useful information regarding the infrastructure of a city and how it functions. The search for the correct augmented reality markers and the progression to the next station are framed in a substantive, thematically appropriate way with mini-games such as image matching games or quiz questions. A series of animations and video sequences provide interesting information and connections such as the mechanics of a bio-gas power plant and even makes the virtual visit of the underground district heating network possible with the help of a 360 degree video.
In addition, the students must also get creative themselves and come up with headlines and reports from the future, make photos and create visions and ideas for inventions and innovations which meet the environmental challenges of the future. On the tour, which takes different paths for each of the teams, it is important to solve the tasks posed well and collect as many knowledge points for them as possible.
The competitive nature of the app tour, the experience in the group and the technological opportunities of the game allow the app to bind, excite and motivate the target group to distinguish themselves with subject matter. The project is available to all school classes within the region, supplemented by additional material to accompany instruction. In the Erfurt children’s and youth library a total of 10 iPads with the SWE app tour can be borrowed free of charge for the app tour.
