Tangible user interfaces for children

ABSTRACT

Tangible user interfaces, which provide interactivity using real physical objects, hold enormous promise for children. Exploring and manipulating physical objects is a key component of young children's learning. The educational power of digital technology for children has typically been limited by the fact that users explore and manipulate abstract two-dimensional screen-based representations, and not real physical objects. Embedding interactivity into physical objects, therefore, allows the "best of both worlds" - supporting traditional exploratory play with physical objects that can be extended and enhanced by the interactive power of digital technology. Participants in this SIG are invited to share ideas regarding the design and development of tangible interfaces, and to bring demos or slides/videos showing work in this area. Participants will review as many examples as time allows, and discuss the issues surrounding design and development of such interfaces. A primary goal of this SIG is to foster the development of a community of researchers and practitioners who are focused on designing and developing tangible interfaces for children.

References

1. Crook, C. (1992). Young children's skill using a mouse to control a graphical computer interface. Computers and Education, 19(3), 199--207.
2. Druin, A. Montemayor, J., Hendler, J., McAlister, B., Boltman, A., Fiterman, E., Plaisant, C., Kruskal, A., Olsen, H., Revett, I., Plaisant-Schwenn, T., Sumida, L., and Wagner, R. (1999). Designing PETS: A Personal Electronic Teller of Stories. In Proceedings of CHI '99, ACM Press, pp. 326--329.
3. Hourcade, J. P., Bederson, B. B., Druin, A., & Guimbretièère, F. (2004) Accuracy, Target Reentry and Fitts' Law: Performance of Preschool Children Using Mice, Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, New York: ACM, 11 (4), pp. 357--386.
4. Inhelder, B. & Piaget, J. (1964). The early growth of logic in the child. New York: Harper & Row.
5. Ishii, H. & Ulmer, B. (1997). Tangible Bits: Towards Seamless Interfaces between People, Bits and Atoms. In Proceedings of CHI '97, ACM Press, pp. 234--241.
6. Lane, A. & Ziviani, J. (1997). The suitability of the mouse for children's use: A review of the literature. Journal of Computing in Childhood Education, 8(2/3), 227--45.
7. Montemayor, J., Druin, A., Chipman, G., Farber, A., & Guha, M. L. (2004). Tools for children to create physical interactive StoryRooms. Computers in Entertainment: Educating children through entertainment Part II, 2(1). http://www.acmcie.org.
8. Piaget, J. (1962). Play, dreams, and imitation in childhood. New York: Norton.
9. Resnick, M. (1998). Technologies for Lifelong Kindergarten. Educational Technology Research and Development, vol. 46, no. 4.
10. Revelle, G. (2004) Very young children and media: How young is too young and why? National Association for the Education of Young Children's 2004 Annual Conference, Anaheim, CA.
11. Revelle, G. & Strommen, E. (1990). The effects of practice and input device used on young children's computer control. Journal of Computing in Childhood Education, 2(1), 33--41.
12. Scarlatos, L., and Landry, S. (2001). Experiments using tangible interfaces to enhance collaborative learning experiences. In Proceedings of CHI 2001, ACM Press.
13. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
14. Zuckerman, O., and Resnick, M. (2003). System Blocks: A physical interface for system dynamics learning. In Proceedings of the 21st International System Dynamics Conference.

Index Terms

• Human-centered computing

  • Human computer interaction (HCI)

    • Interaction devices

      • Haptic devices

      • Touch screens