An Inquiry into the TUI Design Space for Parent-Child Math Engagement at Home

Preschoolers’ early-math development is vital for their later math and academic achievement. Tangible user interfaces (TUI) may support early math as they feature physical objects imperative to math development and multimedia to support engagement. As a potentially meaningful context for TUIs, developmental studies highlight the need to support the home math environment (HME) that covers math-related interactions among parents and children. Therefore, we focus on HME as a design space that has not been investigated in TUI literature. We conducted an observational study involving physical-object based math activities and semi-structured interviews with 13 parent-child dyads. Our findings revealed the multifaceted nature of the HME, where children's agency is valued and providing lasting materials is challenging. Also, we realized that parents juggled their child's demands and the object-based physical activity at once. By reflecting on these findings, we propose design directions for supporting the home-math environment with TUIs

Multisensory Perception and Learning: Linking Pedagogy, Psychophysics, and Human–Computer Interaction

In this review, we discuss how specific sensory channels can mediate the learning of properties of the environment. In recent years, schools have increasingly been using multisensory technology for teaching. However, it still needs to be sufficiently grounded in neuroscientific and pedagogical evidence. Researchers have recently renewed understanding around the role of communication between sensory modalities during development. In the current review, we outline four principles that will aid technological development based on theoretical models of multisensory development and embodiment to foster in-depth, perceptual, and conceptual learning of mathematics. We also discuss how a multidisciplinary approach offers a unique contribution to development of new practical solutions for learning in school. Scientists, engineers, and pedagogical experts offer their interdisciplinary points of view on this topic. At the end of the review, we present our results, showing that one can use multiple sensory inputs and sensorimotor associations in multisensory technology to improve the discrimination of angles, but also possibly for educational purposes. Finally, we present an application, the ‘RobotAngle’ developed for primary (i.e., elementary) school children, which uses sounds and body movements to learn about angles

AUGMENTED REALITY SYSTEMS AND USER INTERACTION TECHNIQUES FOR STEM LEARNING

Learning practices and crosscutting concepts in science, technology, engineering, andmathematics (STEM) subjects pose challenges to young learners. Without external support to foster long-term interest and scaffold learning, children might lose interest in STEM subjects. While prior research has investigated how Augmented Reality (AR) may enhance learning of scientific concepts and increase student engagement, only a few considered young children who require developmentally appropriate approaches. The primary goal of my dissertation is to design, develop, and evaluate AR learning systems to engage children (ages 5-11) with STEM experiences. Leveraging advanced computer vision, machine learning, and sensing technologies, my dissertation explores novel user interaction techniques. The proposed techniques can give learners chance to investigate STEM ideas in their own setting, what educators call contextual learning, and lower barriers for STEM learning practices. Using the systems, my research further investigates Human-Artificial Intelligence (AI) interaction—how children understand, use, and react to the intelligent systems. Specifically, there are four major objectives in my research including: (i) gathering design ideas of AR applications to promote children’s STEM learning; (ii) exploring AR user interaction techniques that utilize personally meaningful material for learning; (iii) developing and evaluating AR learning systems and learning applications; and (iv) building design implications for AR systems for education

Supporting active learning through immersive mixed and virtual reality technologies

As the world economies continue to grow, natural resources are being used at such high rates that may negatively affect future generations. One of the issues is that the general population may know some solutions for reducing energy consumption, for example in transportation, but few may know about sustainable food production and sustainability concepts in a wider context. It can be challenging to create learning tools and learning content to suit the learning needs of the general population. This master thesis explores mixed (MR) and virtual (VR) reality technologies as a support tool for learning sustainability concepts through active learning strategies. The research investigates design choices and their effectiveness in creating immersive learning experiences as well as the user’s perceived experiences of presence and motivation to learn. A human-centered design approach is adopted to create a ‘sustainable future city’ use case focusing on learning concepts of sustainable horticulture such as vertical farming, hydroponic-, aeroponic- and aquaponic systems. The research investigates the state-of-the-art of MR and VR technologies, and looks into perceived levels of presence and motivation in an immersive experience that combines MR and VR as one application. Human-centered design activities taken include interviews with five randomly sampled participants to validate requirements, interests in topics, and technology choices. Further on, design and development tasks were carried out to develop a functional prototype running on Meta Quest Pro head mount device. A mixed method approach was taken for the user testing and evaluation of two design iterations. That involved user observation in UiA’s usability laboratory, questionnaire and in-depth interviews with 10 participants. This study’s findings indicate that key design decisions for the immersive experience included guided exploration, realistic visualization, and hand gesture interactions. Further, there were positive outcomes on both observation and feedback from users as high levels of presence, fun, and interest in the topic were distinguished. Some main specific findings were that while most participants were observed to experience presence as expected, one participant indicated that they had a low sense of presence and were distracted by the environment and unfamiliarity with the technology. This suggests that users can feel low levels of presence even when they are fully involved in the virtual environment, because of the cognitive process required to experience presence. Further regarding motivation, all participants stated they preferred the immersive experience over traditional means such as textbooks, as it made learning more fun and interesting in an active way. The study was limited in scope and sample size, nevertheless it was concluded that overall the design decisions made for the use case were at a large extent effective in supporting active learning, and the designed tool can be easily used by the general population

Supporting active learning through immersive mixed and virtual reality technologies

As the world economies continue to grow, natural resources are being used at such high rates that may negatively affect future generations. One of the issues is that the general population may know some solutions for reducing energy consumption, for example in transportation, but few may know about sustainable food production and sustainability concepts in a wider context. It can be challenging to create learning tools and learning content to suit the learning needs of the general population. This master thesis explores mixed (MR) and virtual (VR) reality technologies as a support tool for learning sustainability concepts through active learning strategies. The research investigates design choices and their effectiveness in creating immersive learning experiences as well as the user’s perceived experiences of presence and motivation to learn. A human-centered design approach is adopted to create a ‘sustainable future city’ use case focusing on learning concepts of sustainable horticulture such as vertical farming, hydroponic-, aeroponic- and aquaponic systems. The research investigates the state-of-the-art of MR and VR technologies, and looks into perceived levels of presence and motivation in an immersive experience that combines MR and VR as one application. Human-centered design activities taken include interviews with five randomly sampled participants to validate requirements, interests in topics, and technology choices. Further on, design and development tasks were carried out to develop a functional prototype running on Meta Quest Pro head mount device. A mixed method approach was taken for the user testing and evaluation of two design iterations. That involved user observation in UiA’s usability laboratory, questionnaire and in-depth interviews with 10 participants. This study’s findings indicate that key design decisions for the immersive experience included guided exploration, realistic visualization, and hand gesture interactions. Further, there were positive outcomes on both observation and feedback from users as high levels of presence, fun, and interest in the topic were distinguished. Some main specific findings were that while most participants were observed to experience presence as expected, one participant indicated that they had a low sense of presence and were distracted by the environment and unfamiliarity with the technology. This suggests that users can feel low levels of presence even when they are fully involved in the virtual environment, because of the cognitive process required to experience presence. Further regarding motivation, all participants stated they preferred the immersive experience over traditional means such as textbooks, as it made learning more fun and interesting in an active way. The study was limited in scope and sample size, nevertheless it was concluded that overall the design decisions made for the use case were at a large extent effective in supporting active learning, and the designed tool can be easily used by the general population

Learning spaces:built, natural and digital considerations for learning and learners

Learning spaces: Built, natural and digital considerations for learning and learner