164 research outputs found

    Interactive technologies for preschool game-based instruction: Experiences and future challenges

    Full text link
    This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Entertainment Computing. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Entertainment Computing, vol. 17 (2016). DOI 10.1016/j.entcom.2016.07.001.[EN] According to current kindergarten curricula, game play is an important basis for children development and it is the main driving force when designing educational activities during early childhood. This paper presents a review of the current state of the art of game technologies that support pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children development. Moreover, the most emergent technologies for developing educational games for preschool children are identified and a set of future challenges are discussed. The main goal of this work is to review the state of the art in interactive technologies which will help educators, game designers and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) experts in the area of game-based kindergarten instruction. 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.This work received financial support from Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and funded by the European Development Regional Fund (EDRF-FEDER) with the project TIN2014-60077-R (SUPEREMOS). This work is also supported by a predoctoral fellowship within the FPU program from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports to V. Nacher (FPU14/00136) and from GVA (ACIF/2014/214) to F. Garcia-Sanjuan.Nácher-Soler, VE.; García Sanjuan, F.; Jaén Martínez, FJ. (2016). Interactive technologies for preschool game-based instruction: Experiences and future challenges. Entertainment Computing. 17:19-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2016.07.001S19291

    RFID interactive tabletop application with tangible objects: exploratory study to observe young children’ behaviors

    Get PDF
    International audienceNumerous academic and industrial studies and developments concerning interactive tabletops are paving the way for new educational applications. We have developed an interactive tabletop application equipped with RFID technology. This tabletop, called TangiSense, is based on a Multi-Agent System that allows users to associate information with behaviors to manipulate tangible objects. The application involves the recognition of basic colors. With the application, children are required to manipulate tangible objects. Their task involves recognizing objects that have "lost" their dominant color and placing these objects in appropriate colored areas. A tangible magician object automatically analyzes the filled zones and provides children and their teacher with virtual and vocal feedback. This application has been evaluated in a field study with children 3 to 5 years of age. The initial results are promising and show that such an application can support interaction and collaboration, and subsequently educational situations, among young children

    The play behaviour of young blind children

    Get PDF
    There are very few studies on developmental patterns of play in blind children. Those studies which do exist suggest that their play is not only delayed but also different in both qualitative and quantitative terms. Study 1 of this thesis gathered descriptive, cross-sectional data on the spontaneously-emerging patterns of play behaviour in 16 'educationally blind' children aged 1 year 4 months to 6 years. Study 2 extended Study 1 by gathering further play data and taking measures of concurrent developmental status, thereby allowing differences in play profiles to be related to both chronological age and current stage in cognitive, language, social, gross motor and fine motor development. All eight categories of play commonly found in sighted children were observed in the group of blind children who participated in these two studies: collaborative, exploratory, imitative, repetitive, constructive, functional, receptive and pretend play. However, frequency and duration of engagement varied between children and across age groups, reflecting both differences in individual developmental profiles and the affordance ofthe proffered toys. Many of the play behaviours identified correlated significantly with scores on the developmental measures taken. Children with low scores on sensori-motor understanding, verbal comprehension and expressive language were more involved in exploratory play, and significantly less involved in collaborative, constructive and fantasy play. Although an association between gross and fine motor abilities and functional play behaviour might have been expected, no significant correlations were found with scores on either of the motor measures. In contrast, constructive play, rarely seen in the younger children, was significantly correlated with fine motor abilities, language and social skills.The first two studies observed the children playing mainly with toys which were typically available to them in their nursery/school, and it was noted that certain toys appeared to appeal more to the blind child and to engage them differentially. Study 3 was therefore designed i) to allow a comparative investigation of play patterns when 'standard' versus 'blind-friendly' toys were made available, and ii) to provide longitudinal comparative data over an 18 month period on the development of play in blind versus typically-developing young children. Four 'educationally' blind and 4 typically-developing sighted children, matched for general cognitive status and aged 3 to 6 years, played with toys, books and art materials which either had or lacked tactile, olfactory and musical features. Six categories of play were examined, creative, exploratory, constructive, functional, receptive and pretend play. In all 6 categories, there were differences in play behaviour for both blind and sighted children when play took place under 'standard' or 'blind-friendly' conditions. The blind children typically performed less well in the 'standard' condition, producing less varied play, engaging with significantly less materials, and spending a greater length of time off-task than the sighted children. However, in the 'blind -friendly' condition these differences were not evident.Taken together, these findings suggest that the reported delays in the development of play in blind children may, in part at least, be due to the type of toys used in research studies or to the methods in which materials are presented to the children. Given the important role play is believed to have in development, the findings have implications for both educational practice and theories of atypical development

    Designing technology for young children: guidelines grounded in a literature investigation on child development and children's technology

    Get PDF
    This thesis is about the design of technology for children from five to eight years of age. The majority of available guidelines and principles for design or evaluation of technology support the design of products aimed at adults. The limited guidelines available for design of young children's technology do not focus sufficiently on age-related requirements or they offer high-level advice that is only useful in the planning stages of design. Working from the assumption that knowledge available in the literature provides sufficient information to support this process, my aim with this study was to demonstrate how a dependable and useful set of guidelines for the design of technology for children aged five to eight years could be derived from an existing body of knowledge. Development of the guidelines firstly involved research into the psychological theories of children's development to identify those elements of development and the characteristics of children that may have bearing on children's use of technology. Secondly, the literature on children's development of specific skills such as literacy and mathematics was investigated. The available literature on young children's use of technology was studied next and, finally, the applicability of existing design guidelines and principles for children's products evaluated. Throughout this literature investigation the researcher gathered design-relevant factors that could potentially become design guidelines. Using qualitative data analysis techniques, more than five hundred such data elements were systematically coded, processed, analysed and categorised. The result is three hundred and fifty guidelines organised into a framework of six categories and twenty-six subcategories that integrates the relevant theoretical fields and provides practical support for designers. To demonstrate the credibility and usefulness of the emerging guidelines they were used to do an evaluation and re-design of an existing product aimed at the target group. The thesis reports in detail on the different stages of the research, and systematically takes the reader through the process of deriving guidelines from existing theory and research findings, and integrating them into a useful framework.School of ComputingPhD. (Computer Science

    Kindertivity: Usability and Communicability Strategies for Interactive Surfaces and Pre-Kindergarten Children

    Full text link
    Tesis por compendio[ES] La tecnología multi-táctil se ha convertido en una de las más emergentes tras experimentar un enorme crecimiento desde sus pasos iniciales en los años ochenta hasta su amplia aceptación y uso en la actualidad. Por una parte, la tecnología multi-táctil se basa en el estilo de interacción de manipulación directa el cual proporciona a los usuarios la ventaja de ver los objetos y las acciones de interés, sustituir comandos escritos por acciones de señalado y, además, permite la realización de acciones rápidas, reversibles e incrementales evitando el uso de instrucciones complejas. Por otra parte, diversos trabajos han evaluado las virtudes derivadas de utilizar conjuntamente la manipulación directa con el toque directo mostrando que es posible evitar los problemas inherentes a otras técnicas de interacción como el ratón y el teclado. Por lo tanto, aprovechando la interacción natural e intuitiva proporcionada por la tecnología multi-táctil, ésta parece una forma ideal para dar soporte a la creación de escenarios educativos dirigidos a niños en edad preescolar. Sin embargo, a pesar de la existencia de diversos estudios que evalúan la idoneidad de utilizar el estilo de interacción de manipulación directa, existe una falta de trabajos abordando el uso dispositivos basados en superficies táctiles con niños de una temprana edad. Asimismo, en la actualidad existe una creciente tendencia a diseñar aplicaciones educativas y lúdicas dirigidas a niños en edad preescolar utilizando dispositivos multi-táctiles como los teléfonos inteligentes o las tabletas. Además, diversos informes señalan que los niños son usuarios frecuentes de este tipo de dispositivos y los utilizan incluso antes de ser capaces de hablar. Sin embargo, a pesar de este crecimiento en el uso de la tecnología multi-táctil y su aparente idoneidad para ser utilizado en el desarrollo de aplicaciones educativas para niños en edad preescolar, no existen unas interacciones universales y estandarizadas para preescolares a la hora de utilizar dispositivos táctiles ya que habitualmente sólo se utilizan dos gestos básicos (básicamente, el toque con un dedo para seleccionar y el arrastre con un dedo para el movimiento). Por lo tanto, existe una clara necesidad de llevar a cabo estudios empíricos para contribuir y avanzar en el diseño de aplicaciones que den un soporte adecuado y encaje con las habilidades de los niños en su temprano desarrollo. Por tanto, esta tesis propone, diseña y evalúa diversas estrategias de usabilidad y comunicabilidad adaptadas a los niños en edad preescolar para establecer la base para el diseño y desarrollo de futuras aplicaciones basadas en dispositivos táctiles dirigidas a preescolares. Estas estrategias llevarán a la adecuada definición de guías de diseño que permitirán a los niños aprovechar al máximo la tecnología multi-táctil, harán posible el desarrollo de nuevas y atractivas aplicaciones y, eventualmente, también podrán ayudar al desarrollo cognitivo y motor de los niños.[CA] La tecnologia multi-tàctil s'ha convertit en una de les més emergents després d'experimentar un enorme creixement des dels seus passos inicials als anys vuitanta fins l'actualitat on es àmpliament acceptada i utilitzada. D'una banda, la tecnologia multi-tàctil es basa en l'estil d'interacció de manipulació directa, el qual proporciona als usuaris l'avantatge de veure els objectes i les accions d'interès, substituir comandos escrits per accions d'assenyalament i, a més, permet la realització d'accions, ràpides, reversibles i incrementals evitant l'ús d'instruccions complexes. D'altra banda, diversos treballs han avaluat les virtuts derivades d'utilitzar conjuntament la manipulació directa amb el toc directe mostrant que és possible evitar els problemes inherents a altres tècniques d'interacció com el ratolí i el teclat. Per tant, aprofitant la interacció natural i intuïtiva proporcionada per la tecnologia multi-tàctil, aquesta sembla una forma ideal per donar suport a la creació d'escenaris educatius per a xiquets en edat preescolar. No obstant això, malgrat l'existència de diversos estudis que avaluen la idoneïtat d'utilitzar l'estil d'interacció de manipulació directa, existeix una manca de treballs abordant l'ús de dispositius basats en superfícies tàctils amb xiquets d'edat primerenca. Així mateix, en l'actualitat existeix una creixent tendència a dissenyar aplicacions educatives i lúdiques dirigides a xiquets en edat preescolar utilitzant dispositius tàctils com els telèfons intel¿ligents o les tauletes. A més, diversos informes assenyalen que els xiquets són usuaris freqüents d'aquests tipus de dispositius i els utilitzen fins i tot abans de ser capaços de parlar. Malgrat aquest creixement en l'ús de la tecnologia multi-tàctil i la seua aparent idoneïtat per a ser utilitzada en el desenvolupament d'aplicacions educatives per a xiquets en edat preescolar, no existeixen unes interaccions universals i estandarditzades per a preescolars a l'hora d'utilitzar dispositius tàctils ja que habitualment només s'utilitzen dos gestos bàsics (bàsicament, el toc amb un dit per a seleccionar i l'arrossegament amb un dit per al moviment). Per tant, hi ha una clara necessitat de dur a terme estudis empírics per a contribuir i avançar en el disseny d'aplicacions que donen un suport adequat i s'ajusten amb les habilitats dels xiquets en el seu primerenc desenvolupament. Per tant, la tesi proposa, dissenya i avalua diverses estratègies de usabilitat i comunicabilitat adaptades als xiquets en edat preescolar per tal d'establir la base per al disseny i desenvolupament de futures aplicacions basades en dispositius tàctils dirigides a preescolars. Aquestes estratègies portaran a l'adequada definició de guies de disseny que permetran als xiquets aprofitar al màxim la tecnologia multi-tàctil, faran possible el desenvolupament de noves i atractives aplicacions i, eventualment, podran també ajudar al desenvolupament cognitiu i motor dels xiquets.[EN] Multi-touch technology has become one of the most emergent technologies and has had an enormous growth since its initial steps in the eighties to be widespread accepted and used in the present. On the one hand, multi-touch technology relies on the direct manipulation interaction style which gives users the advantage to view the objects and actions of interest, replace typed commands by pointing actions and to perform rapid, reversible and incremental actions avoiding using complex instructions. On the other hand, several works have evaluated the virtues when joining direct manipulation with direct-touching showing that it solves the problems inherent in other interaction devices, such as those involving mouse or keyboard. Hence, taking advantage of the intuitive and natural interaction provided by multi-touch technology it seems an ideal way to support educational scenarios targeted to kindergarten children. Although several works have assessed the suitability of using the direct manipulation style with children, there is a lack of works addressing the use of touchscreen devices by this specific type of users. Moreover, there is a growing trend of designing educational and playful applications targeted to kindergarten children based on touchscreen devices such as smartphones and tablets. In addition, several reports point out that children use touchscreen devices even before they are able to speak and they are frequent users of devices such as smartphones and tablets. However, despite this growth in the use of multi-touch technology by children and its apparent suitability to be used to develop applications targeted to young children, there is a lack of standardized and universally accepted interactions for young children when using touchscreen devices since only two basic gestures are commonly used (basically, consisting of only one-finger touch for selection and one-finger drag for movement). Hence, there is a need of carrying out empirical studies to help and advance in the design of applications that adequately support and fit with children's development and skills. Therefore, this thesis proposes, designs and evaluates several usability and communicability strategies tailored to children in their early development stage to establish the design and development of future applications targeted to kindergarten children. These strategies will lead to define appropriate design strategies that enable infants to take full advantage of multi-touch technology, would make it possible to develop attractive new applications and, eventually, could also aid children's cognitive and motor development.Nácher Soler, VE. (2019). Kindertivity: Usability and Communicability Strategies for Interactive Surfaces and Pre-Kindergarten Children [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/116833TESISCompendi

    Enhancing Oral Language Experiences in the Pre-Kindergarten Setting

    Get PDF
    The purpose of this study was to investigate how an oral language emphasis benefits pre-kindergarten children in preparation for entry into kindergarten. This study investigated the concept of enhancing oral language activities in the classroom. Growth in the cognitive, social, and emotional areas in pre-kindergarten children was noted
    • …
    corecore