TUIs vs. GUIs : comparing the learning potential with preschoolers

In an effort to better understand the learning potential of a tangible interface, we conducted a comparison study between a tangible and a traditional graphical user interface for teaching preschoolers (In Portugal, children enter preschool at the age of three and they attend it till entering school, normally at the age of six) about good oral hygiene. The study was carried with two groups of children aged 4 to 5 years. Questionnaires to parents, children’s drawings, and interviews were used for data collection and analysis and revealed important indicators about children’s change of attitude, involvement, and preferences for the interfaces. The questionnaires showed a remarkable change of attitude toward tooth brushing in the children that interacted with the tangible interface; particularly children’s motivation increased significantly. Children’s drawings were used to assess their degree of involvement with the interfaces. The drawings from the children that interacted with the tangible interface were very complete and detailed suggesting that the children felt actively involved with the experience. The results suggest that the tangible interface was capable of promoting a stronger and long-lasting involvement having a greater potential to engage children, therefore potentially promoting learning. Evaluation through drawing seems to be a promising method to work with preliterate children; however,it is advisable to use it together with other methods.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT

A Curriculum Unit on Programming and Robotics

The Tangible Kindergarten project studies how, when given age-appropriate tools, young children can actively engage in computer programming and robotics in a way that is consistent with developmentally appropriate practice. This research project explores the creation of novel human computer interaction techniques to support learning with technology in early elementary school, with a focus on kindergarten. Since many modern graphical user interfaces are not designed with the developmental needs of such young learners in mind, they are generally ill-suited for use in early elementary school classrooms, especially for computer programming activities. To overcome this problem, this research project has created a tangible-graphical hybrid programming language specifically for young children, the Creative Hybrid Environment for Robotics Programming, or CHERP

Designing internet of tangible things for children with hearing impairment

Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) are a new, non-traditional way to interact with digital information using a physical environment. Therefore, TUIs connect a physical set of objects that can be explored and manipulated. TUI can be interconnected over the Internet, using Internet of Things (IoT) technology to monitor a child''s activities in real-time. Internet of Tangible Things (IoTT) is defined as a tangible interaction applied to IoT. This article describes four case studies that apply IoTT to children with cochlear implants and children whose communication is sign language. For each case study, a discussion is presented, discussing how IoTT can help the child development in skills such as: social, emotional, psychomotor, cognitive, and visual. It was found that IoTT works best when it includes the social component in children with hearing impairment, because it helps them to communicate with each other and build social-emotional skills

Playful E-textile Sonic Interaction for Socially Engaged and Open-Ended Play Between Autistic Children

Research on the potential benefits of technology for autistic children is an emergent field in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), especially within the Child-Computer Interaction Community. This thesis contributes a design approach grounded in theories of play, cognitive development, and autism to expand the discourse on methodological guidelines for performing empirical studies with non-verbal autistic children and to extend the design space to cater to the socio-emotional and sensory needs of this population. The thesis reveals how sonic e-textile Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) can be used effectively to mediate children’s social participation in playful activities. This is demonstrated through developing three explorative field-studies conducted at a specialist school based in North-East London where two sonic e-textile playful TUIs, namely Mazi and Olly, have been created and tested with three groups of autistic children aged between 5-10. The three studies ran over the period of three years and were designed to investigate the potentials of TUIs as shareable toys during leisure and recreational activities to a) support social and playful interactions among peers and b) provide opportunities for self-regulation. The key contributions of this thesis are the designs of two tangible user interfaces, which offer a set of design approaches to guide researchers through creating shareable and playful tangibles for non-verbal autistic children; a framework for analysis and a thorough evaluation process that other researchers could use to assess the efficacy of playful TUI designs for nonverbal autistic children; and an in-depth discussion about the research process, which offers a new perspective about holistic designs and evaluation of technologies that aim to scaffold play in groups non-verbal autistic children

Tangible user interfaces : past, present and future directions

In the last two decades, Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) have emerged as a new interface type that interlinks the digital and physical worlds. Drawing upon users' knowledge and skills of interaction with the real non-digital world, TUIs show a potential to enhance the way in which people interact with and leverage digital information. However, TUI research is still in its infancy and extensive research is required in or- der to fully understand the implications of tangible user interfaces, to develop technologies that further bridge the digital and the physical, and to guide TUI design with empirical knowledge. This paper examines the existing body of work on Tangible User In- terfaces. We start by sketching the history of tangible user interfaces, examining the intellectual origins of this field. We then present TUIs in a broader context, survey application domains, and review frame- works and taxonomies. We also discuss conceptual foundations of TUIs including perspectives from cognitive sciences, phycology, and philoso- phy. Methods and technologies for designing, building, and evaluating TUIs are also addressed. Finally, we discuss the strengths and limita- tions of TUIs and chart directions for future research

TUIs vs. GUIs: comparing the learning benefits for kindergarten children

Tese de mestrado em Tecnologia e Arte Digital (área de especialização em Tecnologias e Sistemas de Informação)In recent years numerous examples of tangible interfaces have been developed targeting the educational domain, however their impact on learning is not clear when compared to educational software based on a graphical user interface. Most evaluation studies on the benefits of tangible interfaces for learning are rather informal and there are very few empirical studies comparing tangible and graphical interfaces. The evaluation methodology of technology for very young children, 4 to 5 years old, poses some additional challenges given their limited ability of verbal or written expression; the majority of assessment methods are generally suitable for use with older children. In an effort to better understand the learning impact of a tangible interface we conducted a comparison study between a tangible and a graphical user interface for teaching kindergarten children about good oral hygiene. The study was carried with two groups of children aged 4 to 5 years. Questionnaires to parents, children drawings’ and interviews were used for data collection and analysis, and revealed important indicators about children’s involvement and preferences on the interfaces. The questionnaires showed a remarkable change of attitude towards tooth brushing for the children that interacted with the tangible interface; particularly children’s motivation increased significantly. Children drawings’ were used to assess children’s degree of involvement with the interfaces. The drawings from the children that interacted with the tangible interface were very complete and detailed suggesting that children felt actively involved with the experience. Regarding the methodology used, drawing intervention seems to be a promising method to work with pre-literate children; however it is advisable to use it together with other methods, since the evaluation of drawings is rather subjective and can depend on various internal and external factors. The results suggest that the tangible interface was capable of a stronger engagement and impact on children.Nos últimos anos têm sido desenvolvidos inúmeros exemplos de interfaces tangíveis visando o domínio educativo; no entanto o seu impacto na aprendizagem não é ainda claro quando comparado com software educativo baseado em interfaces gráficas. Os estudos comparativos sobre os benefícios da utilização das interfaces tangíveis versus interfaces gráficas são quase inexistentes, sendo que a maioria é bastante informal. A metodologia de avaliação com crianças dos 4 aos 5 anos de idade coloca desafios adicionais devido à sua limitada capacidade de expressão verbal e escrita; para além disso grande parte dos métodos de avaliação é geralmente adequada a crianças mais velhas. Com o intuito de compreender melhor o impacto das interfaces tangíveis na aprendizagem, foi realizado um estudo comparativo entre uma interface tangível e uma interface gráfica, desenvolvidas com o intuito de sensibilizar as crianças para uma boa higiene oral. O estudo foi realizado com dois grupos de crianças com idades compreendidas entre os 4 e os 5 anos. A recolha e análise de dados foi realizada através de questionários distribuídos aos pais das crianças, desenhos feitos pelas crianças após a sua interacção com as interfaces, assim como entrevistas; revelando-se indicadores importantes sobre a experiência das crianças e as suas preferências acerca das interfaces. Os questionários mostraram uma mudança notável de atitude em relação à lavagem dos dentes, no grupo de crianças que interagiu com a interface tangível; particularmente a motivação aumentou significativamente. Os desenhos do grupo de crianças referido revelaram-se muito detalhados e completos sugerindo que as crianças se sentiram activamente envolvidas na experiência. Relativamente à metodologia utilizada, a análise dos desenhos mostrou ser um método promissor para trabalhar com crianças desta faixa etária, no entanto, é aconselhável utilizá-lo juntamente com outros métodos, dado que a interpretação dos desenhos é bastante subjectiva podendo depender de vários factores internos e externos. Os resultados do estudo sugerem que a interface tangível possibilita um envolvimento mais forte das crianças

Serious interface design for dental health: Wiimote-based tangible interaction for school children

This paper describes a camera-based approach towards creating a tangible interface for serious games. We introduce our game for dental health targeted at school children which implements the Nintendo WiiMote as infrared camera. Paired with a gesture-recognition system, this combination allows us to apply real-world items as input devices. Thereby, the game tries to address different aspects of dental hygiene along with the improvement of children's motor skills. In our focus group test, we found that tangible interfaces offer great potential for educational purposes and can be used to engage kids in a playful learning process by addressing their childlike curiosity and fostering implicit learning

Beyond representations: towards an action-centric perspective on tangible interaction

In the light of theoretical as well as concrete technical development, we discuss a conceptual shift from an information-centric to an action-centric perspective on tangible interactive technology. We explicitly emphasise the qualities of shareable use, and the importance of designing tangibles that allow for meaningful manipulation and control of the digital material. This involves a broadened focus from studying properties of the interface, to instead aim for qualities of the activity of using a system, a general tendency towards designing for social and sharable use settings and an increased openness towards multiple and subjective interpretations. An effect of this is that tangibles are not designed as representations of data, but as resources for action. We discuss four ways that tangible artefacts work as resources for action: (1) for physical manipulation; (2) for referential, social and contextually oriented action; (3) for perception and sensory experience; (4) for digitally mediated action