Restructuring activity and place: Augmented reality games on handhelds

Human activities are constrained by interconnected and overlapping factors of: biological abilities, time, space, and social narratives. I focus on how the interplay between two of these factors, space and narratives, can be mediated with cultural tools of locative technologies such as Augmented Reality games and GPS units. In order to understand how place-based pedagogies affect learning and how locative technologies, like Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Augmented Reality Games on Handhelds (ARGHs), help connect learners to cultures of place I examine experiences with place-based video games in a deep woods camping environment. Drawing together research in sociocultural learning, design, embodiment, environmental education, experiential education, human geography, and video games, this paper demonstrates how ARGHs can restructure a learning activity to (1) better connect learners to place, (2) increase and mediate their physical activity and social interactions, and (3) help enculturate them into a community of practice.