Conceptual / Empirical work - 2009
January / February Redesign of scenarios: The first set of studies indicated themes to be further investigated, and highlighted the influence of some design decisions on children's comprehension and interpretation of phenomena. The scenarios were redesigned according to the findings, for the second round of studies. As the discrete mode did not appear to have significant benefits, these studies focused on the co-located setup. The following changes were made:
- Extending our findings on collaboration (paper accepted to the 8th International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning - CSCL'09), we investigated the effect on collaboration of two sources of light through providing two torches for interaction (instead of one).
- To address findings on correspondence and metaphorical mappings and ability to transfer concepts to real contexts (paper accepted to the 8th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, IDC'09), common everyday objects were introduced in the scenario, to help students to make links to how light behaves in the real-world. Rough objects were also redesigned (using purpose built objects with irregular surface), as sponges used in the first studies evoked strong associations with their physical properties that were not relevant to the concept being illustrated.
- Representing absorption remained a challenge, and the physical objects were redesigned as opaque boxes with sliding lids that allowed children to see what was happening 'inside'.
- To extend instances of refraction, transparent round objects were added to illustrate the differences in the trajectory of light according to the shape of the object and therefore the angles between light rays and objects' surfaces. Opaque round objects were also introduced which reflected light, and although their behaviour was similar to that of the rectangular objects, actions performed with round shapes (e.g. rotating) had different effects on the reflected light beams.
- The light scenario was further enriched with the introduction of filters. These comprised real plastic filters standing on a base, that enabled children to investigate their physical properties by looking through them, but also see the digital representations depicting what happens to light as it travels through different coloured filters.
Left: examples of the new objects: rough, real-world, box and round shape. Right: a blue filter
To extend our investigations of whole-body interaction, adjustments to these scenarios were also made. The wiimotes were hidden inside opaque cylinders to avoid direct association with the Wii videogame and its related interaction. New graphical representations were designed that showed acceleration (detected from the wiimotes) being plotted according to data along the three axes generated from the accelerometers.
The visual representations for acceleration
Development of framework (on going): The representation framework was revisited after the data analysis, with special attention given to the following categories: (i) intentionality: was found to relate to analysis of interaction, and needs to somehow address the effect of unexpectedness on learning; (ii) representational correspondence: it is not clear whether it refers to digital representations or conceptual ambiguity; (iii) action correspondence: categories of movement and manipulation were replaced by symbolic and literal so that it fits under the broader category of metaphorical mappings. Movement and manipulation are types of actions rather than kinds of mappings with real contexts.
March Redesign of activities: The second round of studies involved children who had already formally learned about light in school. Specific tasks and activities were provided. A reverse order repeated measures design was used to investigate the effect of having an extra torch on collaboration (i.e. half of the groups started with two torches and swapped to one, while the other half started with one torch and then was given a second one). Pre and post-tests were administered to all participants, and a control group, to investigate learning outcomes of the relevant concepts.
April - June Running studies: Studies were undertaken with 22 children aged 13-14 years (6 groups of 3
children and 1 group of 4 children). Children were from Year 9 classes, and had already learned about light in school, although their teachers considered the topic problematic.
We took a hypotheses-testing approach, encouraging pupils to predict what kind of phenomena would happen and then explore the interface to find out, also reporting back to the
reseacher. The physical objects were introduced in turn so that such exploration would go through general topics: (i) how we see colour: reflection, absorption and colour (with opaque objects);
(ii) the influence of shapes and materials: reflection off smooth and rough objects; transmission and refraction (with transparent objects and square vs. round shapes); (iii) real-world objects
(to investigate generalisations and concepts transfer); (iv) how filters work (as an additional concept being introduced in the scenario). Children were interviewed, in their groups, after the tabletop
sessions. They were asked questions about learning content as well as the general experience.
Parallel studies on whole-body interaction were also undertaken. Children were asked to associate their movements with the cylinders to the visual representations shown on a computer screen.
In a second phase, they were given skateboards, ramps and a swing to which they could attach the cylinders to produce different kinds of movement.
July / August Transcription and analysis: All videos from the tabletop sessions were transcribed and analysed. Transcriptions included descriptions of children's actions as well as their dialogues.
September / October Reporting findings: Findings from the second round of studies were integrated with our previous findings. A joint analysis of the tabletop and the wiimotes studies was performed, showing how specific aspects of the interaction with each system (namely, spatial organisation, manipulative or gestural interaction, and input/ output coupling), influenced the kinds of learning opportunities promoted. Findings indicated that when a number of physical actions are involved in the interaction with a system, and particularly when the system's feedback primarily depends on action, the action-representation links must be carefully designed to allow and promote conceptual reflection. These findings [PDF] were presented at the 4th International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction - TEI'10.
November / December Scenarios for physics of motion: To investigate aspects of 'physicality' and the role of physical manipulation and enactment in interpretation, two iteratively designed scenarios are being developed on the physics of motion for the tabletop application and an augmented, stand-alone object for the embedded approach (of the location parameter of the representation framework).
Project Team
Sara Price (PI, IoE), George Roussos (PI, Birkbeck), Jennifer Sheridan (Research Officer, IoE) and Taciana Pontual Falcao (Research Associate, IoE), Steven Chapman (Physics Advisor, IoE).
Project Support
This project is supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant number EP/F018436.
Project Progress
Photo Blog
Click an image to see more images of our project.
Conceptual / Empirical work
Read about the conceptual development of our project.Click here for details.