Rafigh: A Living Media System for Motivating Target Application Use for Children

Digital living media systems combine living media such as plants, animals and fungi with computational components. In this dissertation, I respond to the question of how can digital living media systems better motivate children to use target applications (i.e., learning and/or therapeutic applications)? To address this question, I employed a participatory design approach where I incorporated input from children, parents, speech language pathologists and teachers into the design of a new system. Rafigh is a digital embedded system that uses the growth of a living mushrooms colony to provide positive reinforcements to children when they conduct target activities. The growth of the mushrooms is affected by the amount of water administered to them, which in turn corresponds to the time children spend on target applications. I used an iterative design process to develop and evaluate three Rafigh prototypes. The evaluations showed that the system must be robust, customizable, and should include compelling engagement mechanisms to keep the children interested. I evaluated Rafigh using two case studies conducted in participants homes. In each case study, two siblings and their parent interacted with Rafigh over two weeks and the parents identified a series of target applications that Rafigh should motivate the children to use. The study showed that Rafigh motivated the children to spend significantly more time on target applications during the intervention phase and that it successfully engaged one out of two child participants in each case study who showed signs of responsibility, empathy and curiosity towards the living media. The study showed that the majority of participants described the relationship between using target applications and mushrooms growth correctly. Further, Rafigh encouraged more communication and collaboration between the participants. Rafighs slow responsivity did not impact the engagement of one out of two child participants in each case study and might even have contributed to their investment in the project. Finally, Rafighs presence as an ambient physical object allowed users to interact with it freely and as part of their home environment

Tracking Visible Features of Speech for Computer-Based Speech Therapy for Childhood Apraxia of Speech

At present, there are few, if any, effective computer-based speech therapy systems (CBSTs) that support the at-home component for clinical interventions for Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS). PROMPT, an established speech therapy intervention for CAS, has the potential to be supported via a CBST, which could increase engagement and provide valuable feedback to the child. However, the necessary computational techniques have not yet been developed and evaluated. In this thesis, I will describe the development of some of the key underlying computational components that are required for the development of such a system. These components concern camera-based tracking of visible features of speech which concern jaw kinematics. These components would also be necessary for the serious game that we have envisioned

Colossal classroom adventure: Developing interactive fiction for English language learners

The purpose of this project is an act of exploratory research to develop a text based interactive adventure for non-native English speakers to hone their extensive reading skills in American English. The history of text based gaming will be used to establish a guide over the potential pitfalls unique to the genre. Then the uses of games in an educational context will be established to show the differences in teacher motivation toward the creation and use of gaming in education. Second Language Acquisition and ESL reading specific research will be used to create a set of guidelines for the text and presentation in the game. Details of the game are presented to detail the plot, educational justification and technical specs. Finally, I will explore how this information could be used to assist teachers in the game creation process

The effect of different scripting methods on the process and outcomes of game-based collaborative language learning

Abstract. There has been growing interest in game-based language learning but instead of communicative skills, it mainly targeted vocabulary and grammar which are superficial linguistic skills. On the other hand, collaboration has also been seen as pedagogically beneficial though there is still a question as to what extent teacher’s support in the form of scripting is optimal. Addressing the gaps, this mainly quasi-experimental study was implemented in an English as a second language lesson to examine whether or not role assigning (microscripting) in a game-based collaboration would yield superior results than the condition without such method (macroscripting). To be specific, a narratively rich role-playing game (RPG) was utilized in the game-based learning phase due to its compatibility for language learning, proceeded by literature circle collaboration which had been renowned for its capability to foster not only reading skill but also the affective dimension of learning. Inferential statistics showed that groups treated with microscripting achieved superior reading comprehension, collaborative learning interest and empathy scores. Meanwhile, content analysis revealed that groups assisted by macroscripting could reach higher levels of knowledge construction in their collaboration. Findings, discussion and conclusion in this study have extended the field of game-based collaborative language learning and brought implications for similar future research

Agential Fantasy: A Copenhagen Approach to the Tabletop Role-Playing Game

In 1974, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson published the world’s first commercial role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons. The tabletop roleplaying game provoked a new form of textual engagement: it entangled the fantastic tales of early 20th Century pulp fiction with the practice of play. The tabletop role-playing game initiated new perspectives on how classic texts could not only be read but also played. Our contemporary world is becoming increasingly gamified: digital media applications (from mobile phones to the personal home computer) have embedded game elements, structures, processes, and lexicons in our modern lives. Tabletop role-playing was a herald for, and catalyst, of this contemporary phenomenon. Espen Aarseth notes that tabletop role-playing games can be considered as an early from of the “cybertext,” a text that requires “non-trivial” effort for its engagement, and is “the oral predecessor to computerized, written, adventure games.”The project of this dissertation offers an approach of examining and understanding the practice of tabletop role-playing through Karen Barad’s concept of agential realism. Agential realism is based on concepts of Niels Bohr’s “Copenhagen Interpretation” of quantum phenomenon and its premise that nothing can be observed without changing what is observed. Agential realism requires us to accept and acknowledge our complicity in the creation, physical and sociocultural, of the realities which surround, bound, and interpellate us. This dissertation complicates the notion of singular authorship of isolated texts and realities by examining all the relationships necessary to produce a tabletop roleplaying game text. The first chapter of this dissertation introduces the concepts of agential realism while the second offers the historical context for the emergence of tabletop role-playing games. The third chapter analyzes the affective and aesthetic inspirations for Dungeons & Dragons to consider the conditions for the emergence of the first commercial tabletop role-playing game and how it would reconfigure the pulp and classic mythologies that inspired it. In the fourth chapter, I examine the rules for Traveller, an early science fiction tabletop role-playing game directly inspired by the practice of Dungeons & Dragons play, to consider how the procedural mechanics of games impact their authorship. The fifth chapter analyzes another mode of authorship for the role-playing game by analyzing its actual play; in this chapter, I examine specific game sessions from a campaign of the tabletop role-playing game, Call of Cthulhu. Throughout these chapters, we understand how the tabletop role-playing game text, like our physical and sociocultural realities, exist within states of radical possibility. Each mode of authorship, through a text’s inspiration, mechanical construction, and subjective interpretation are observations that fix the tabletop role-playing text into a specific manifestation – thought it may exist within any a priori of an observation. This dissertation advocates for an approach to consider realities, within and beyond the games we play, not as isolated moments of objective experience, but as the inevitable consequences of entanglements with all the authors (and players) that share them

UNDERSTANDING THE OCCUPATION OF PLAY: A MIDDLE EASTERN REVELATION A PRELIMINARY EXPLORATION INTO ARAB PARENTAL VALUES AND CHILDREN’S ENGAGEMENT IN PLAY IN KUWAIT

Feddah Musaed Ahmad: Understanding the Occupation of Play: A Middle Eastern Revelation A Preliminary Exploration into Arab Parental Values and Children’s Engagement in Play in Kuwait (Under the direction of Ruth Humphry) The constructs and meanings of play in diverse cultures are insufficiently represented in research. As a result, researchers frequently misconstrue the cultural and ethnic differences observed in children's play, and therefore, misinterpret child behavior and trajectories for development. Individual development occurs within socio-cultural and historical contexts based on the experiences, beliefs, values, and expectations of a given cultural milieu. The purpose of this research study is to investigate parental expectations based on how they interpret and understand the effects of play on children in Arab regions. To provide this backdrop, this research study is based in a predominantly Muslim country influenced by its religious teaching (Maktabi, 2016; Wheeler, 2000). Making sense of how play is represented in this population will provide a foundation for further research into how play connects to child development. As an initial step, this study seeks to (a) understand Arab parents’ conceptualization of their children’s play based on their cultural values and expectations and (b) explore and observe Arab children’s play, engagement, and interactions. Adopting multiple qualitative techniques—conducting interviews with parents, using photo-elicited methods, and naturalistically observing children in school environments—will enrich the understanding of play as an occupation. The research study might generalize to Arab (Gulf) populations due to the many cultural values derived from Islam in this region. The findings revealed a variation in themes based on parental expectations and child observations. In both research phases it suggested that children are shaped by cultural practices, and play was regarded as a developmental process of coming to observe, interpret, and understand skills needed to improve adaptive functions in becoming a valuable adult in society.Doctor of Philosoph

Arts Integration in Elementary Curriculum: 2nd Edition

This open textbook was revised in 2018 under a Round Eleven Mini-Grant for Revisions. Topics include: Arts Integration Music Visual Arts Literary Arts Performing Arts Physical Education and Movement A set of lecture slides for the textbook are also included as an additional file. Accessible files with optical character recognition (OCR) and auto-tagging provided by the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation.https://oer.galileo.usg.edu/education-textbooks/1002/thumbnail.jp