Flashcard Augmented Reality as an Interactive Solution in Swimming Learning in the Digital Era

Swimming is an essential life skill that promotes physical fitness, safety, and confidence, especially for elementary school students. However, learning swimming techniques in schools is often constrained by limited facilities, lack of instructional time, and the abstract nature of swimming concepts when presented theoretically. To address these challenges, this study explores the use of Augmented Reality (AR) flashcards as an innovative and interactive learning tool to improve students' understanding of basic swimming concepts. This research adopts a quasi-experimental design involving 25 students from Muhammadiyah Alam Surya Mentari Elementary School in Surakarta. The AR flashcards were developed to visualize swimming techniques in 3D animation, allowing students to engage with the material interactively through mobile devices. Pre-test and post-test assessments were conducted to measure the effectiveness of the media. In terms of score range, the minimum score improved from 40 in the pre-test to 70 in the post-test, while the maximum score increased from 75 to 100. This indicates not only a general improvement across all participants but also that the lowest-performing students made considerable progress. These findings strongly support the effectiveness of the learning intervention in enhancing swimming skills among elementary students. The results show a significant improvement in students’ conceptual understanding of swimming after using the AR flashcards. This suggests that AR-based flashcards can serve as an effective educational solution, especially in contexts where practical swimming sessions are limited. The integration of AR technology into physical education can enhance engagement, motivation, and comprehension among young learners in the digital era.