Fostering students' digital literacy and academic achievement using augmented reality-enriched inquiry learning

Irwanto Irwanto; Rizkiyah Fajariyah; Elsa Vera Nanda; Irwanto Irwanto; Rizkiyah Fajariyah; Elsa Vera Nanda

doi:10.3934/steme.2026044

STEM Education

2026, Volume 6, Issue 6: 1076-1093. doi: 10.3934/steme.2026044

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Research article

Fostering students' digital literacy and academic achievement using augmented reality-enriched inquiry learning

1.
Department of Chemistry Education, Jakarta State University, Jakarta, Indonesia; irwanto@unj.ac.id, rizkiyahfajariyah@gmail.com, elsavera@unj.ac.id
2.
Bulacan State University, Bulacan, Philippines

Academic Editor: Sasha Nikolic

Received: 03 April 2026 Revised: 17 August 2026 Accepted: 22 September 2026 Published: 19 October 2026

Despite the increasing use of Augmented Reality (AR) in education, there remains a gap regarding its impact on digital literacy and academic achievement in secondary school chemistry, particularly in the context of global warming. This study examined the effect of AR-enriched Questioning-Investigating-Making-Synthesising (QIMS) inquiry learning on the digital literacy and academic achievement of tenth-grade students in chemistry. A total of 72 students (37 males and 35 females) participated in the study, which employed a quantitative approach with a quasi-experimental design. Two intact classes from a public high school in Jakarta during the 2023/2024 academic year were assigned as the experimental and control groups. Data were collected using a digital literacy scale and an academic achievement test and were analyzed using an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The findings revealed that students in the experimental group who were taught using AR demonstrated significantly higher levels of digital literacy and academic achievement compared to those in the control group who received instruction without AR. These results suggest that AR-based learning has a meaningful impact on students' learning outcomes on the topic of global warming. The study highlights the potential of AR-enriched QIMS inquiry learning as an effective teaching method to enhance a student's performance in chemistry education.
- augmented reality,
- digital literacy,
- academic achievement,
- chemistry,
- inquiry learning
Citation: Irwanto Irwanto, Rizkiyah Fajariyah, Elsa Vera Nanda. Fostering students' digital literacy and academic achievement using augmented reality-enriched inquiry learning[J]. STEM Education, 2026, 6(6): 1076-1093. doi: 10.3934/steme.2026044

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Abstract

Despite the increasing use of Augmented Reality (AR) in education, there remains a gap regarding its impact on digital literacy and academic achievement in secondary school chemistry, particularly in the context of global warming. This study examined the effect of AR-enriched Questioning-Investigating-Making-Synthesising (QIMS) inquiry learning on the digital literacy and academic achievement of tenth-grade students in chemistry. A total of 72 students (37 males and 35 females) participated in the study, which employed a quantitative approach with a quasi-experimental design. Two intact classes from a public high school in Jakarta during the 2023/2024 academic year were assigned as the experimental and control groups. Data were collected using a digital literacy scale and an academic achievement test and were analyzed using an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The findings revealed that students in the experimental group who were taught using AR demonstrated significantly higher levels of digital literacy and academic achievement compared to those in the control group who received instruction without AR. These results suggest that AR-based learning has a meaningful impact on students' learning outcomes on the topic of global warming. The study highlights the potential of AR-enriched QIMS inquiry learning as an effective teaching method to enhance a student's performance in chemistry education.

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Authors' biographies Irwanto Irwanto is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry Education at Jakarta State University, Indonesia, and serves as a Research Fellow at Bulacan State University, Philippines. His work centers on virtual reality, augmented reality, game-based learning, and STEM education. He has participated extensively in research initiatives aimed at designing and applying immersive technologies within chemistry education (email: irwanto@unj.ac.id); Rizkiyah Fajariyah is a secondary school chemistry teacher based in Jakarta, Indonesia. She completed her degree in Chemistry Education at Jakarta State University. Her research interests center on the application of immersive technologies to improve chemistry teaching and learning in secondary education; Elsa Vera Nanda is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry Education at Jakarta State University, Indonesia. Her interests encompass organic chemistry, chemistry education, and the integration of technology in chemistry learning

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