Investigating the use of digital manipulatives for storytelling in pre-school

Prova tipográficaResearch has identified a need for design of interactive products for children, as well as long-term studies that investigate the effects of its use in the classroom environment. Following the design and development of a digital manipulative system for storytelling, which involved preschool children and teachers, the investigation presented here reports findings from a four-month evaluation of the system that was carried in a Portuguese preschool involving 24 pairs of children. During the four months the researchers were able to observe children’s interaction with the digital manipulative system that was not biased by the novelty of the system or by time constrains. The gathered data showed that children used the digital manipulative system to create stories and play language games, which are activities that foster the development of oral language and emergent literacy, and are formally targeted in the preschool curriculum. The system provided challenge and adventure, motivating children to collaboratively explore and create narratives, empowering each child to actively participate in the task.CIEC – Research Centre on Child Studies, IE, UMinho (FCT R&D unit 317), Portuga

Designing a tangible interface for collaborative storytelling to access 'embodiment' and meaning making

This work presents an ongoing study of the design and development of a physical interface that addresses storytelling. The current prototype is the result of several design iterations with four to five years old preschoolers and six preschool teachers. The interaction model was motivated by findings from research on tangible user interfaces as well as embodied cognition. Although research in these areas has revealed potential benefits of the use of physical interfaces, until now no extended in depth study of a prolonged use in the classroom of such interfaces has been carried. This work proposes to carry such an investigation, observing a group of preschoolers interacting with the interface for a period of six months.(undefined

Around the table: Are multiple-touch surfaces better than single-touch for children's collaborative interactions?

This paper presents a classroom study that investigated the potential of using touch tabletop technology to support children's collaborative learning interactions. Children aged 7-10 worked in groups of three on a collaborative planning task in which they designed a seating plan for their classroom. In the single-touch condition, the tabletop surface allowed only one child to interact with the digital content at a time. In the multiple-touch condition, the children could interact with the digital content simultaneously. Results showed that touch condition did not affect the frequency or equity of interactions, but did influence the nature of children's discussion. In the multiple-touch condition, children talked more about the task; in the single-touch condition, they talked more about turn taking. We also report age and gender differences

TOK : a tangible interface for storytelling

We present the design of the first prototype of TOK - a tangible interface for children to create their own stories. Based on data collected with two groups of five years old preschoolers we present our findings regarding the interaction design of the system. The picture cards have shown to generate ideas, acting as input for the creation of stories, promoting creativity while proposing a framework that supports and guides the construction of logical structures. This is a first step in an effort to build a toolkit of tangible interfaces allowing children and teachers to build their own digital enhanced learning activities.FCT-QREN-COMPETE-U

TOK: developing a tangible platform for storytelling

This paper describes a first study of a tangible interface, consisting of a platform and a set of picture cards that children can use to create stories. The handling of the picture cards has shown to be highly motivating and engaging, helping children to build a storyline creating logical relations among different characters and objects. The interface works like an experimental space where children can play with the language and simultaneously reflect over it, individually or in a collaborative process. We present the design of the first prototype and the data collected with two groups of five years old preschoolers and report our findings regarding the interaction design, as well as a reflection over future work.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - projeto PTDC/CPE-CED/110417/2009 "Developing the next Generation of Hybrid Learning Materials

A digital manipulative for embodied "stage-narrative" creation

This paper presents a study of the use of a digital manipulative developed to promote creative narrative construction and storytelling. The study was carried with 27 groups of preschoolers, of five years of age, who interacted with the digital manipulative during free-play time, during a period of six months. The study sought to assess aspects of children’s embodiment of the narratives, and how they shaped the creation of stories. We observed that by using the digital manipulative, children’s narrative construction occurred in two levels, as children shared the stage, (controlling the characters, the location, the props, and the nature elements) and simultaneously performed on this stage. The sharing of the input devices (blocks) gave children equal control of the performance and orchestration of the story, while promoting and supporting peer collaboration. We conclude that the digital manipulative enables the performance of what we call embodied stage-narratives, promoting children’s imagination and creative thinking, as well as fostering early literacy skills and metalinguistic awareness.Fundação para a Ciência e TecnologiaCIEC – Research Centre on Child Studies, UM (FCT R&D 317

MapSense: multi-sensory interactive maps for children living with visual impairments

We report on the design process leading to the creation of MapSense, a multi-sensory interactive map for visually impaired children. We conducted a formative study in a specialized institute to understand children’s educational needs, their context of care and their preferences regarding interactive technologies. The findings (1) outline the needs for tools and methods to help children to acquire spatial skills and (2) provide four design guidelines for educational assistive technologies. Based on these findings and an iterative process, we designed and deployed MapSense in the institute during two days. It enables collaborations between children with a broad range of impairments, proposes reflective and ludic scenarios and allows caretakers to customize it as they wish. A field experiment reveals that both children and caretakers considered the system successful and empowering

Mechanisms for collaboration: a design and evaluation framework for multi-user interfaces

Multi-user interfaces are said to provide “natural” interaction in supporting collaboration, compared to individual and noncolocated technologies. We identify three mechanisms accounting for the success of such interfaces: high awareness of others' actions and intentions, high control over the interface, and high availability of background information. We challenge the idea that interaction over such interfaces is necessarily “natural” and argue that everyday interaction involves constraints on awareness, control, and availability. These constraints help people interact more smoothly. We draw from social developmental psychology to characterize the design of multi-user interfaces in terms of how constraints on these mechanisms can be best used to promote collaboration. We use this framework of mechanisms and constraints to explain the successes and failures of existing designs, then apply it to three case studies of design, and finally derive from them a set of questions to consider when designing and analysing multi-user interfaces for collaboration

MapSense: Design and Field Study of Interactive Maps for Children Living with Visual Impairments

We report on the design process leading to the creation of MapSense, a multi-sensory interactive map for visually impaired children. We conducted a formative study in a specialized institute to understand children’s educational needs, their context of care and their preferences regarding interactive technologies. The findings (1) outline the needs for tools and methods to help children to acquire spatial skills and (2) provide four design guidelines for educational assistive technologies. Based on these findings and an iterative process, we designed and deployed MapSense in the institute during two days. It enables collaborations between children with a broad range of impairments, proposes reflective and ludic scenarios and allows caretakers to customize it as they wish. A field experiment reveals that both children and caretakers considered the system successful and empowering