Technology-Based Learning Through Unity Application in Teaching Spatial Volume of Geometric Shapes for 6th Grade Elementary School Students

© 2022 Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia Article History: Submitted/Received 15 Mar 2022 First Revised 23 Mar 2022 Accepted 5 Apr 2022 First Available online 9 May 2022 Publication Date 01 Jun 2022 ____________________ Keyword: Augmented reality, Learning, Spatial volume. Journal of Software Engineering, Information and Communication Technology (SEICT) Journal homepage: https://ejournal.upi.edu/index.php/SEICT Journal of Software Engineering, Information and Communication Technology (SEICT) 3(1) (2022) 35-44 Amrinada et al., Technology-Based Learning Through Unity Application in Teaching Spatial... | 36 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17509/seict.v3i1.59651 pISSN 2774-1656 eISSN 2774-1699


INTRODUCTION
The rapid development of science and technology necessitates constant updates in the utilisation of technological advancements, especially in the field of education (Mulyani and Haliza, 2021).Education is closely intertwined with the fast-paced technological advancements, often referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Spoettl and Tūtlys, 2020).This demands that we strive to balance and become knowledgeable about technology, harnessing its benefits to the fullest.
One area where technology is being utilized in education is through instructional media.Instructional media plays a crucial role in the teaching and learning process, contributing to its success and objectives.As time progresses and technology advances, instructional media has undergone significant development and introduced new innovative ideas.One such technological advancement used in instructional media is Augmented Reality (AR) technology.
AR is an information and communication technology that connects two-dimensional or three-dimensional (virtual) elements to the three-dimensional (real) world (LaFleur et al., 2013).Augmented reality was discovered by Morton Heilig, a cinematographer, and is now widely used in various applications such as Unity (Algarawi et al., 2018).Unity 3D is a software used for creating various applications such as presentations, websites, and AR experiences.It enables the creation of 3D objects for video games or other interactive contexts such as visualization or 3D animation.
In addition to Unity, Vuforia is also a software used in the creation of interactive instructional media (Okanovic et al., 2022).Vuforia is a software development kit for augmented reality.It is a plugin that integrates with 3D elements.Vuforia works by identifying and tracking target images and simple 3D objects such as boxes in real-time (Barrile et al., 2019).These technologies are widely used in educational contexts, including teaching the concept of spatial volume in mathematics (Amin and Govilka, 2015).
This research focuses on the topic of spatial volume.According to Diwata as cited in (Mu'adz, 2016:19), geometric shapes with volume are three-dimensional objects.In teaching the concept of spatial volume, interactive multimedia utilizing technology can be employed, such as developing a learning application using Augmented Reality (AR).

METHODS
The research utilizes the methodology of the Multimedia Development Life Cycle (MDLC) (Mustika et al., 2017), which consists of the following stages:

Concept
In this stage, the researcher determines the objectives and target users of the application.The application aims to display 3D objects, and the concept includes the following processes: displaying 3D objects, enabling rotation, displaying available features, providing user guidance, and application development (Rachmanto, 2018).

Design
The design process involves creating the design, layout, and program visualisation.In this stage, the researcher designs the concept that will be implemented in the application, including the initial interface, content, AR integration, and final appearance (Nee et al., 2022).

Material collecting
This stage involves gathering materials, content, elements, hardware, and software required for the project.The application utilities tools such as Unity and Android, as well as other necessary components for designing the project (Nguyen et al., 2019).

Assembly
The assembly stage involves the actual creation of the application, following the concept, design, and material collecting stages (Pisano, 1994).

Testing
In this stage, the application is executed and tested to ensure its functionality.The researcher examines whether the AR scenes and application components are working correctly.Through testing, the researcher can determine if the application functions as intended (Henderson and Feiner, 2010).

Distribution
The distribution stage involves packaging the application into a deployable file, ready to be run and demonstrated (Gokhale et al., 2008).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The developed learning application focuses on teaching the concept of spatial volume of geometric shapes, featuring 3D representations of shapes such as cubes, rectangular prisms, pyramids, spheres, prisms, and cylinders (Putra et al., 2021).

Concept
According to (Husniah et al., 2020), the concept for the development of this application includes the following: a. User The application is specifically designed for 6th-grade elementary school students who are learning about spatial volume.It is also intended for users who are interested in visualizing 3D objects.

b. Application Type
The application is designed to run on Android operating systems and utilizes augmented reality technology.

c. Objectives of the Application
The primary objective is to provide a learning medium that stimulates students' interest in learning, with visually appealing content and the implementation of augmented reality technology to display 3D objects.

d. General Specifications of the Application
The general specifications of the application include: (1) development using Unity, (2) creation of 3D geometric shape models using ProBuilder, (3) implementation of p-ISSN 2774-1656 e-ISSN 2774-1699 augmented reality using the Vuforia SDK plugin in Unity, (4) interaction with the 3D objects, allowing zooming and rotation, utilizing the Lean Touch plugin in Unity, and ( 5) displaying the 3D models by detecting target markers through image recognition.

Design
The design of this multimedia application is presented in the application's flowchart as follows:

Material collecting
The next step in application development is to gather the necessary materials for creating the spatial volume application.The materials collected align with the established concept.These materials include backgrounds, buttons, and images used as augmented reality targets (Jhonson and Huang, 2009).

Assembly
According to (Rahman and Tresnawati, 2016), this stage involves the integration of the collected materials.In this stage, the application is developed using Unity Hub Editor software.Canva is used for designing backgrounds, and Visual Studio Code is utilized for coding purposes.

Testing
In this stage, Black Box Testing technique is utilized.According to (Sugiarto, 2018), this testing technique involves running the application and observing if there are any errors or issues present after the development process.The following table presents the testing results:

Distribution
In this stage, the application is saved in a storage medium.Microsoft OneDrive is used as the storage medium to facilitate access and distribution of the application to users in APK format.

CONCLUSION
Based on the results and discussions, it can be concluded that technology-based learning through the Unity application for teaching the volume of spatial structures in 6th grade elementary school provides positive benefits in education.This technology helps to stimulate students' interest in learning by providing attractive visuals and implementing augmented reality technology to display 3D objects.It is expected to assist teachers in delivering the material and enable students to easily learn about the volume of spatial structures.Students can engage in the learning process without feeling bored and utilize technology as a valuable learning tool.

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Coding with visual studio code

Table 2 .
Test result