A Narrative Review on Augmented Reality in Education

Augmented Reality (AR) is transforming education by integrating digital and real-world elements to create immersive and practical learning experiences. AR offers unique benefits in education, such as enhancing student engagement, facilitating understanding of complex concepts through visualizations, and promoting collaborative learning. However, it also faces significant barriers, including high costs, technological limitations, and a lack of standardized evaluation frameworks. Drawing on examples across STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), humanities, and arts education, this article highlights how AR can effectively enhance learning outcomes. This narrative review synthesizes recent research on AR in education, drawing on empirical and conceptual studies across different educational levels and domains. Additionally, this paper examines the relationship between AR and major learning theories, presenting relevant case studies and the application of AR across various educational domains and target audiences. The review offers practical recommendations for educators, instructional designers, and researchers aiming to integrate AR into formal and informal learning environments, and introduces the ARCADE framework (Align–Rationale–Configure–Activate–Document–Evolve) as an actionable cycle to guide the design, implementation, and reporting of AR-based educational interventions.