The Role of Tangible Interfaces in Enhancing Children’s Engagement in Learning

This paper presents the results of an exploratory study in which the authors investigated the impact of tangible interface used by children at the elementary school level. Exploration of the viability of graphics tablet and the pen tool was conducted by investigating the children\u27s ease in acclimating to the technology and the effectiveness in engaging them to complete some tasks. Several children were invited to a workshop where they learned and played BatiKids, a game-based learning developed to support children in learning the process of making Indonesian hand-written batik. The qualitative analysis based on the notes and video recording taken on the field observational, and the responses to interview questions to the participants. The results show the main findings and discuss the design implications for a tangible interface in the context of BatiKids

Interfaces tangibles - una nueva forma de interactuar con los smartphones

Las interfases de usuario tangibles (TUI) proponen una forma más natural de manejar un dispositivo. Este trabajo se enfoca en proponer nuevas formas de interacción con los smartphones aprovechando para eso todo el hardware que los mismos tienen disponible. Con hardware no se hace referencia únicamente a la memoria interna, capacidad de almacenaje… sino a un conjunto de sensores y componentes que los mismos tienen. Estos sensores y componentes permitirán enriquecer las aplicaciones e incluso la interfaz de usuario. Si bien es cierto que esto puede favorecer a personas con discapacidades e incluso a quienes no son nativos digitales y no tienen afianzado el manejo de la tecnología, consideramos que el uso de TUI facilita las tareas y el tiempo de ejecución de las mismas lo cual es placentero para todo tipo de usuario que tenga poco tiempo y necesidad de concretar una determinada acción con su teléfono móvil.Eje: Ingeniería en Sistemas Software.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informátic

Interfaces tangibles - una nueva forma de interactuar con los smartphones

Las interfases de usuario tangibles (TUI) proponen una forma más natural de manejar un dispositivo. Este trabajo se enfoca en proponer nuevas formas de interacción con los smartphones aprovechando para eso todo el hardware que los mismos tienen disponible. Con hardware no se hace referencia únicamente a la memoria interna, capacidad de almacenaje… sino a un conjunto de sensores y componentes que los mismos tienen. Estos sensores y componentes permitirán enriquecer las aplicaciones e incluso la interfaz de usuario. Si bien es cierto que esto puede favorecer a personas con discapacidades e incluso a quienes no son nativos digitales y no tienen afianzado el manejo de la tecnología, consideramos que el uso de TUI facilita las tareas y el tiempo de ejecución de las mismas lo cual es placentero para todo tipo de usuario que tenga poco tiempo y necesidad de concretar una determinada acción con su teléfono móvil.Eje: Ingeniería en Sistemas Software.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informátic

Interfaces tangibles - una nueva forma de interactuar con los smartphones

Las interfases de usuario tangibles (TUI) proponen una forma más natural de manejar un dispositivo. Este trabajo se enfoca en proponer nuevas formas de interacción con los smartphones aprovechando para eso todo el hardware que los mismos tienen disponible. Con hardware no se hace referencia únicamente a la memoria interna, capacidad de almacenaje… sino a un conjunto de sensores y componentes que los mismos tienen. Estos sensores y componentes permitirán enriquecer las aplicaciones e incluso la interfaz de usuario. Si bien es cierto que esto puede favorecer a personas con discapacidades e incluso a quienes no son nativos digitales y no tienen afianzado el manejo de la tecnología, consideramos que el uso de TUI facilita las tareas y el tiempo de ejecución de las mismas lo cual es placentero para todo tipo de usuario que tenga poco tiempo y necesidad de concretar una determinada acción con su teléfono móvil.Eje: Ingeniería en Sistemas Software.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informátic

Comparing Graphical and Tangible User Interfaces for a Tower Defense Game

This paper presents the design and test results of a tabletop Tangible User Interface (TUI) for a real-time strategy game. An experiment was conducted comparing the TUI and Graphical User Interface (GUI) versions of the same tower defense game application. The results show that users performed better with the GUI and found it easier to use, but reported more interest and enjoyment with the TUI. Overall, however, preference was split evenly between the two interface types. Analysis of qualitative user feedback provided further insight into these results, and based on this, suggestions are made for future research in the area of Tangible User Interfaces

SmallTalk: Using tangible interactions to gather feedback from children

Gathering opinions from young children is challenging and different methods have been explored. In this paper we investigated how tangible devices can be used to gather feedback from children in the context of a theater performance. We introduce SmallTalk, a tangible survey system designed for use within a theater space to capture what children, aged 4 to 9, thought of a live performance they had just seen. We describe how the system was designed to build on previous feedback methods that had been tried; while at the same time meeting the constraints of the challenging theater context. We present results from seven deployments of SmallTalk and based on these we briefly discuss its value as a method for evaluating the theater performance. We then look at how the results validated the system design and present several design implications that more generally relate to tangible feedback systems for children

Cooperative Learning with Manipulatives and Students’ Performance in Mathematics Problem Solving

The use of manipulatives in teaching mathematics has been identified to have a significant improvement on students’ understanding of mathematical concepts as well as their interest in their studies and subsequently their performance. Studies have examined the impact of this method on students’ performance in mathematics in general little data is available on how cooperative learning with manipulatives learning affects learners’ performance in mathematics problem-solving skills. Hence this study was to assess the effect of cooperative learning (CPL) with manipulatives on students’ performance in mathematics problem-solving skills. The study employed a quasi-experimental research design. A multistage sampling procedure was employed to select eighty Junior High School students from a public school in Asikuma Odoben Brakwa District in the Central Region of Ghana. Mathematics Non-Routine Achievement Test (MNRAT) and an interview guide were used to gather primary data from the participants. Descriptive statistics and an independent t-test at P≤ 0.05 level of significance were used to analyzed the data gathered from the field. The findings of the study indicated that students taught cooperatively with or without manipulatives outperformed students taught utilizing the lecture technique with or without manipulatives and no discernible differences were found between males and females in their performance (with and without the use of manipulatives).  The study therefore recommends that, the use of cooperative teaching and learning strategies integrated with manipulatives should be encouraged and adopted in schools by educational bodies, mathematics educators and teachers through workshops, seminars, in-service training and conferences on the importance and how to employ cooperative teaching and learning strategies with manipulatives to enhance Junior High School learners’ social and interactive participation, critical thinking, logical reasoning, effective communication and problem-solving skills in mathematics Keywords: Cooperative teaching and learning strategy, manipulatives, lecture method, mathematics problem-solving skills, students’ performance in mathematics DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-19-01 Publication date:July 31st 202

The Role of Materiality in Tangibles for Young Children's Digital Art Drawings

The purpose of this study is to explore the role of materiality in tangible interaction design for young children. We specifically target children aged 4 to 6 years old because of societal trend of early exposure to touch screen devices for children. This study compares three types of material (felt, wood, and plastic) for tangibles along with touch-based interaction and how the differences implicate child art creation on an iPad application. Through mixed-methods analysis of twenty-six participants’ experiences, we use data sources of video recordings, drawings, and interview. The main findings looked at the relationship in hardness between digital and physical tools as well as the differences of interactions when using finger-based and stylus pens for physical drawing tools. The findings from this study may be applied to design tangible user interfaces for young children

Exploring how a tangible tool enables collaboration in a multi-touch tabletop game

Abstract. Digital tabletop surfaces afford multiple user interaction and collaboration. Hybrid tabletops that include both tangible and multi-touch elements are increasingly being deployed in public settings (e.g. Microsoft Surface, reacTable). Designers need to understand how the different characteristics of tangible and multi-touch interface elements affect collaborative activity on tabletops. In this paper, we report on a mixed methods exploratory study of a collaborative tabletop game about sustainable development. We explore the effects of tangible and multi-touch tools on collaborative activity. Forty-five participants, in trios, played the game using both versions of the tools. Our analysis includes quantitative performance measures, qualitative themes and behavioral measures. Findings suggest that both tangible and multi-touch tools enabled effective tool use and that collaborative activity was more influenced by group dynamics than tool modality. However, we observed that the physicality of the tangible tools facilitated individual ownership and announcement of tool use, which in turn supported group and tool awareness