An embodied interaction analytical framework : in games that promote teamwork

Orientadora: Dra. Luciane Maria FadelTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Artes, Comunicação e Design, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Design. Defesa : Curitiba, 20/05/2022Inclui referências: p. 205-219Resumo: Esta tese tem como foco a interação corporificada em jogos que promovem o trabalho em equipe. A base teórica desta pesquisa é construída na literatura sobre o trabalho em equipe, espaços narrativos, a teoria do fluxo, a suspensão de descrença, a criação ativa da crença, a agência, a robótica educacional e também a interação corporificada. Os dados foram coletados durante jogos de robótica centrados em um tapete de competição especificamente desenvolvido para esse propósito. Esse tapete de competição com a temática de uma fazenda foi desenvolvido usando o método do duplo-diamante como o cenário principal para quatro jogos de robótica. Os jogos foram estruturados em formato de workshop. Um total de dezesseis workshops foram realizados de setembro a dezembro de 2019 em Curitiba e São Paulo, onde os dados foram coletados por meio de gravações e de um questionário. O método do Close Reading é utilizado em dois momentos desta pesquisa. Primeiro, como método de análise do objeto de design (tapete de competição) criado para o workshop e, em seguida, como método de análise das gravações e das interações extraídas dos jogos de robótica. Durante essas atividades, os jogadores se movimentavam constantemente pelo espaço físico. Os resultados destacaram este movimento e a "crença compartilhada" que gerou uma dinâmica de ações. Estas ações misturavam realidade física e visões sociais para fomentar interações com outros atores e objetos, como o tapete, os computadores e os robôs. Além disso, os resultados indicam que a maioria das interações corporificadas ocorreram tanto no Ambiente quanto nas Molduras Espaciais. Os gestos observáveis foram categorizados em quatro etapas: planejamento, execução, celebração/feedback, e gestos ligados a momentos de reflexão/análise. Um método de interpretação dessas expressões corporais dentro de cada etapa do jogo foi desenvolvido usando cartões coloridos. Estes cartões organizaram os dados aplicados ao desenvolvimento de um Framework analítico que apoia e fomenta as atividades de trabalho em equipe. O Framework Analítico de Interação Corporificada destaca a interação humano-objeto que fomenta a interação humano-humano para incentivar e praticar o trabalho em equipe por meio da colaboração e da liderança.Abstract: This thesis focuses on the embodied interaction in games that promote teamwork. The theoretical foundation of this research is built on the literature about teamwork, narrative spaces, flow theory, the willing suspension of disbelief, created belief, agency, educational robotics, and embodied interaction. Data were collected during robotic games explicitly designed to have a field mat environment as the center of the action. A field mat with a farm theme was the primary setting for four robotic games. It was developed using the double-diamond method. These games were structured as a workshop. A total of sixteen workshops were conducted from September to December of 2019 in Curitiba and São Paulo, where data was collected through recordings and a questionnaire. The Close Reading method is used in two moments of this research. First, it was used to analyze the design object (field mat) created for the workshop. Second, it was applied to scrutinize recordings and analyze interactions of the robotics games. Players had to move around the physical space during the robotics games constantly. The results highlighted this motion and the shared belief that generated a dynamic of actions. These actions mixed physical reality and social views to foster interactions with other actors and objects, such as the mat, the computer, and the robot. In addition, the results indicate that most of the embodied interactions took place in both the Setting and the Spatial Frames. The observable gestures were categorized as planning, execution, celebration/feedback, and gestures connected to moments of reflection/analysis. A method of interpreting body expressions in these four game stages was developed using colored cards. These cards organized the data applied to developing an analytical framework that supports and fosters teamwork activities. The Embodied Interaction Analytical Framework highlights human-object interaction that foments human-human interaction to encourage and practice teamwork through collaboration and leadership

Design and Development of a Real-Time Bio-Sensing System Assessing Student Mental Workload and Engagement

Ο εντοπισμός του επακριβούς επιπέδου προσήλωσης και εμπλοκής των μαθητών με το περιεχόμενο διδασκαλίας στην τάξη είναι ένας από τους πιο μεγαλεπήβολους στόχους των ερευνητών της εκπαιδευτικής και επιστημονικής κοινότητας. (Lang, 1995, Grossberg, 1987). Σχετικές διεπιστημονικές ερευνητικές προσπάθειες προσαύξησης ενδιαφέροντος και εντοπισμού της αποτελεσματικότητας των διδακτικών πρακτικών βασίζονται σε τυπικές μελέτες από τον χώρο της ψυχολογίας, της παιδαγωγικής, της παιδοψυχολογίας και της ψυχοφυσιολογίας. Νέες τεχνολογίες έχουν εισάγει διαγνωστικές συσκευές δανεισμένες από τον χώρο της ιατρικής με σκοπό να εκμεταλλευτούν τις δυνατότητες μετρήσεων βιολογικών σημάτων τα οποία αποτελούν επιβεβαιωμένες εκφράσεις ψυχοφυσιολογικών καταστάσεων οι οποίες μπορούν να μεταφραστούν σε εκδηλώσεις διέγερσης και διάθεσης. Οι ιατρικές συσκευές απαιτούν εργαστηριακό περιβάλλον λόγω των αναγκών χρήσης ηλεκτροδίων, κινητικών περιορισμών, συγχρονισμού και ομοιομορφίας των στοιχείων που προκύπτουν και γι’ αυτό τον λόγο δεν μπόρεσαν ποτέ να αποδόσουν μια προσιτή λύση εφαρμόσιμη ευρύτερα σε εκπαιδευτικό περιβάλλον. Στην παρούσα μελέτη, αναλύονται οι επιδόσεις μιας ειδικά κατασκευασμένης ηλεκτρονικής συσκευής, σχεδιασμένης ώστε να εξεταστούν οι δυνατότητες να εξαχθούν δείκτες ψυχοσωματικών εκφράσεων του χρήστη, με την δυνατότητα να χρησιμοποιείται εύχρηστα στην τάξη χωρίς ηλεκτρόδια και επηρεασμούς από προσαρτήσεις. Το ολοκληρωμένο σύστημα μέτρησης και αποτύπωσης συμπερασμάτων είναι βασισμένο σε μοντελοποίηση συμπεριφορών αλλαγής του καρδιακού παλμού και της ειδικής διηλεκτρικής αγωγιμότητας του δέρματος σε πραγματικό χρόνο. Η συσκευή χρησιμοποιεί οπτικούς και διηλεκτρικούς αισθητήρες επαφής και έχει μελετηθεί σε αντιπαραβολή με διαβαθμισμένα περιβάλλοντα προκλητών καταστάσεων νοητικής φόρτισης. Σειρές πειραματικών διαδικασιών εφαρμοσμένες σε διαβαθμισμένα σενάρια πρόκλησης ψυχοσωματικών διεγέρσεων έχουν ολοκληρωθεί για επικύρωση, μελέτη επιδόσεων και λειτουργία του συστήματος ακόμη και σε σύγκριση με εμπορικό προϊόν. Πειραματικά αποτελέσματα δείχνουν αξιόλογους συσχετισμούς του μοντέλου και των επιδόσεων του συστήματος με τις αναμενόμενες αποκρίσεις με ενθαρρυντικά ποσοστά ακρίβειας.Facing the challenge of improving adaptive interaction in educational technologies scientists and educators have turned their focal point in diverse areas ranging from educational, teaching and behavioural psychology to cognitive, affective and perceptual neuroscience. The introduction of digital technologies and interactive media tools in education has shown improved learning efficiency, much higher memory activation and assimilation than verbal teaching, notably due to enhancing motivation achieved by employing approaches attracting student’s attention. Excelling aspects of audio visual presentation proved highly valuable particularly in classes with multi ethnic groups of students, as for example consistency between definitions and objects which were verbally and visually defined, eliminating possible misconceptions caused by mishearing or misinterpretation by the learner. Taking it all one step further as to how an educational system could be even more efficient, a new element would be needed revealing a credible judgment of learning scores and effectiveness of the learning process instantaneously as for example inner levels of activation and satisfaction. In fact, this could be made possible using existing technologies if subconscious neurophysiological responses of a learner could be ascertained and inferred to psycho-somatic conditions as they occur. A system including bio-sensing, data analysis and processing in real time able to provide quantified markers of psychosomatic states of a learner would help enormously in next generations of educational practice. Incorporating data of student engagement and active involvement could help to deduce the interest of a learner, which is known to improve sensitisation in implicit, incidental and also in classical learning. Experimental settings used in previous studies attempting to incorporate physiological responses and interpretations into responsive educational settings have faced major obstacles. Operational issues caused by the requirements of the devices used for the acquisition of physiological signals such as electrodes and movement restrictions have reduced the progress of such settings to laboratory environments. In such settings as described above, the effects of wiring harnesses and sensory components produced an additional psychological burden on the participants. Consequently, the need to approach the physiological data acquisition from a new angle with seamless and unnoticeable operation is apparent. The challenge to design, develop and validate a system that being minimally obstructive and literally unnoticed by the user would uncover combined subconscious expressions of a learner was the primary objective of this research. Physiological data of Heart Rate and Skin Trans-Conductance (Electro-dermal Response) elected as vitally important and highly appropriate to produce the input of data required to evaluate a behavioural concept model. The behavioural assessment model entailed vector classifiers producing directional interpretations of measurements. Directional information (Gradient response) has been derived by comparison of measurements to previously measured values in real time. Assessing the effectiveness and accuracy of the adopted model to deduce attention and engagement of a learner in real time formed the second major objective. For this purpose, a series of relevant experimental methodologies have been employed. Data produced using formal personality assessments have also been investigated in conjunction with those derived from physiological responses in order to identify personality related particularities. The final part of this work has been supplemented by propositions and suggestions with regards to various applications of the system in accomplishment of the initial aims

Evoking and Measuring Arousal in Game Settings

Serious games seem to be more effective if the participant feels more involved in the game. The participant should experience a high sense of presence which can be obtained by matching the level of excitement to the level of arousal a participant experiences. The level of arousal should be measured at runtime to make the game adaptive to the participant's physiological state. In this paper an experiment is presented that has as main goal to see whether it is possible to evoke arousal during different types of computer games and to monitor the physiological response. Using three online games, participants reported different levels of stress and understanding between games. Furthermore, an increase of skin conductance was found as well as a decrease in heart rate for the most difficult to understand game. © 2014 Springer International Publishing

Η επίδραση ψηφιακών παιχνιδιών ελεύθερης διάδρασης στις αφηγηματικές δεξιότητες μαθητών Δημοτικού Σχολείου: Μαθησιακά αποτελέσματα και διδακτική αξιοποίηση

Με αφετηρία την ερευνητική υπόθεση ότι η παιγνιακή εμπειρία εξαρτάται από τον βαθμό της ελευθερίας επιλογής που προσφέρουν τα ψηφιακά παιχνίδια, η παρούσα διδακτορική διατριβή, μέσα από μια σειρά πειραματικών προσπαθειών, επιχειρεί (α) να διερευνήσει και να αποσαφηνίσει τα πρωτογενή χαρακτηριστικά των ψηφιακών παιχνιδιών από τα οποία προκύπτουν οι βαθμοί προκαθορισμένης ή όχι δομής και διάδρασης, (β) να μελετήσει τον ρόλο των χαρακτηριστικών αυτών στην παραγωγή διασκεδαστικού (fun) και μαθησιακού (learning) δυναμικού των ψηφιακών παιχνιδιών, (γ) να εξετάσει τη σχέση μεταξύ της παιγνιακής εμπειρίας και του είδους του ψηφιακού παιχνιδιού, αν δηλαδή το ψηφιακό παιχνίδι εστιάζει περισσότερο στη διάσταση του game (ψηφιακά παιχνίδια δομημένης διάδρασης) ή στη διάσταση του play (ψηφιακά παιχνίδια ελεύθερης διάδρασης), (δ) να διαμορφώσει ένα μοντέλο βαθμονόμησης της ελευθερίας επιλογής, ώστε τα ψηφιακά παιχνίδια να μπορούν να ταξινομηθούν με αντικειμενικό τρόπο σε διαβαθμίσεις ενός συνεχούς από παιχνίδια περισσότερο ελεύθερης σε παιχνίδια περισσότερο δομημένης πλοκής και διάδρασης, και (ε) να διερευνήσει την επίδραση των ψηφιακών παιχνιδιών ελεύθερης διάδρασης στις αφηγηματικές δεξιότητες μαθητών Ε΄ Δημοτικού σε σχέση με ψηφιακά παιχνίδια δομημένης διάδρασης. Τα ευρήματα των ερευνών, οι οποίες διεξήχθησαν για τις ανάγκες της διδακτορικής διατριβής, παρέχουν σημαντικές ενδείξεις που μας επιτρέπουν, επί της αρχής, να συμπεράνουμε ότι (α) τα ψηφιακά παιχνίδια ελεύθερης διάδρασης δημιουργούν θετικότερη παιγνιακή εμπειρία σε σύγκριση με τα ψηφιακά παιχνίδια προκαθορισμένης πλοκής και διάδρασης, (β) η έννοια της ελευθερίας επιλογής μπορεί να μετρηθεί ποσοτικά και ποιοτικά στα ψηφιακά παιχνίδια προκειμένου να αποτιμηθεί ο βαθμός ελευθερίας τους και μπορούν να ταξινομούνται σε διαβαθμίσεις ενός συνεχούς φάσματος από τις απόλυτα ελεύθερες δραστηριότητες έως τις απόλυτα δομημένες και με προσχεδιασμένους στόχους δραστηριότητες και (γ) η χρήση ψηφιακών παιχνιδιών ελεύθερης διάδρασης επιδρά θετικά ως προς τη γλωσσική συνοχή και τη νοηματική συνεκτικότητα των αφηγηματικών κειμένων που παράγονται από μαθητές σχολικής ηλικίας, πάντα σε συνδυασμό με παρεμβατικά προγράμματα φιλαναγνωσίας και διδασκαλίας τεχνικών παραγωγής αφηγηματικών κειμένων, με την οποία οι μαθητές εξοικειώνονται με τα δομικά χαρακτηριστικά των αφηγηματικών κείμενων. Τα αποτελέσματα της παρούσας διδακτορικής διατριβής αποτελούν το έναυσμα για μελλοντικές ερευνητικές προσπάθειες, που θα στοχεύσουν στη διερεύνηση της επίδρασης των ψηφιακών παιχνιδιών ελεύθερης διάδρασης στην παραγωγή διαφορετικών κειμενικών ειδών, π.χ. περιγραφικά, επιχειρηματολογικά, πραγματολογικά κείμενα, αλλά και την αξιοποίηση των ψηφιακών παιχνιδιών ελεύθερης διάδρασης ως μια ισχυρή αφόρμηση, για μεγαλύτερο παρακείμενο (paratext) ή παρακειμενικότητα, που παράγουν οι παίκτες γύρω από την εμπειρία τους με τα παιχνίδια, διερευνώντας εάν αυτό μπορεί να οδηγήσει σε μεγαλύτερη και ποιοτικότερη παραγωγή λόγου.Beginning with the research hypothesis that players' experience depends on the degree of freedom of choice offered by digital games, this doctoral dissertation, through a series of experimental efforts, attempts (a) to examine and clarify the primary features of digital games which predetermine the concept of game structure in free-form and formally-structured digital games, (b) to study the role of these features in the production of fun and learning potential of digital games, (c) to examine the relationship between players' experience and different forms of digital games, (d) to formulate a model for the assessment of freedom of choice, so that different digital games to be placed at various points on an axis between free creativity and rule-bound complexity and (e) to examine the impact of free-form digital games on 5th grade primary school students’ narrative skills compared to formally-structured digital ones. The findings of these researches indicate that (a) free-form digital games create a more positive gaming experience compared to formally-structured ones, (b) the concept of freedom of choice in digital games can be measured quantitatively and qualitatively in order to arrive at typologies that will allow to place different digital games at various points on a continuum between free creativity and rule-bound complexity and (c) the use of free-form digital games has a positive effect on primary school students’ narrative skills, in terms of linguistic cohesion and semantic coherence, always combined with intervention programs for reading as well as teaching techniques for the production of narrative texts. The results of this doctoral dissertation enable future research efforts, which will aim to examine the effect of free-form digital games on the production of different textual genres, as well as the use of free-form digital games as a motivator for the production of greater paratext around their gaming experience, exploring whether this can lead to greater and higher quality of text production