2. Execute - Building Phylogenetic Relationships through Bio-Inspired Inquiry and AR

2.2 How Augmented Reality Supports the Learning Objective

The main objective of this unit is to help students understand phylogeny as a system of relationships, not a linear hierarchy. Augmented Reality (AR) supports this objective by allowing learners to construct, manipulate, and visualize phylogenetic trees in three-dimensional space.
Through AR-based activities, students can:

• place organisms relative to one another,
• visualize branching points as common ancestors,
• test different tree configurations based on evidence,
• observe how changes in data affect the overall structure.

This transforms phylogenetic trees from static diagrams into interactive scientific models.