A team of Bournemouth University (BU) academics have brought dinosaurs to life for a local primary school using augmented reality.
Kingsleigh Primary Schools is based a few miles away from BU’s Talbot Campus and this term, the Year 2 students have been doing dinosaurs. In November Professor Matthew Bennett spent a morning in the classroom answering questions and using the PalaeoGo! augmented reality app to bring dinosaurs to life in the classroom.
Professor Bennett’s visit also launched a design competition with the students – they were tasked with designing and colouring a T. rex with the winner chosen and announced in December.
PalaeoGo is a Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) project which showcases augmented reality as a means of enhancing visitor experience at museums, or in this case as an educational tool. What better way to get excited about dinosaurs than to see a pterosaur flying around your classroom?
Professor Bennett said “This was really enjoyable, one of the best outreach activates I have done. It was set up beautifully by the Year 2 teaching team at Kingsleigh led by Jenny Weller. During my visit we launched a colouring and design competition with the children. We gave them an outline of T. rex and asked them let their creative spirits run free. The winning design was brought to life by a BU animator, Cameron Kerr.”
You can see the winner’s animation below and the PaleoGo! team might use the rendered T. rex in future app developments.
The PalaeoGo! team is also part of Dinosaurs at Christmas at the Winchester Science Centre that runs untill 6 January 2020. You can download the bespoke app that the team developed for the Centre here, and take part in the dinosaur hunt which features a T. rex with a Santa hat. There are also lots of other fun dinosaur activities taking place as part of the event.
