Novel Interaction Game for Kids - Coursework Example

? Novel Interaction Game for Kids [School Overview Tangible Interactions refers to innovative forms of human interactions based on the physical manipulations of everyday objects (Ishii and Ullmer, 1997). Tangible interaction encompasses the use of physical tokens as user interfaces and provides physical manipulation of things which are common to people in order to create a Tangible User Interface. The formed Tangible User Interface basically refers to a given interface whereas people interact with digital components and information by use of the physical environments. The interfaces are built on the intuitive knowledge of the objects of the physical world that people have. The objects themselves are used to provide the tangible interaction. Tangible interactions make use of the close relationship between the physical real affordances and the digital objects and thus provide initiative interfaces which promote supportive and collaborative activities as well as double-handed interactions which give its uses a sense of directness. The approach provided by the tangible interaction is that which stresses on the physical representation of data, materiality and also tangibility of user interfaces, the entire body interaction and the integration of the intuitive interface and the interaction of users in real physical contexts. Unlike the conventional learning methods, tangible interaction improves learning and offers significant advantages in learning environments. This is so because the frameworks that are adopted by the tangible interfaces guide learners and designers towards activities that encourage better and more profound learning. These interactions are therefore better in certain situations and in these situations help young learners enhance their knowledge. Better educational interaction requires a platform that enables learners to interact with the physical objects and things that they are used to during the learning process. This maintains the similarity of the learning process and actualizes it with the normal world making the learning process not only real but also adaptive (Hornecker & Eva, 2009). Tangible interactions also use an interface which remains interesting and easy to use. Such interfaces will always capture the attention and concentration of young kids and help them concentrate on their learning for longer. This is so because the platform is interactive and therefore involves them directly. The novel interaction game developed makes use of tangible interaction techniques to enhance learning among young people. It provides them with an interactive interface which makes use of physical phenomena and obstacles to promote learning. Basically, the game lets kids identify different continents at the beginning of the game and gets harder as the game progresses. For instance, it asks kids questions like to identify Europe (continent) using graphical interface and the kids are expected to interactively select the right continent displayed on the screen. This helps provide the kids with a better learning experience which is also practical. Method The novel interaction game for kids was designed using an intuitive interface whose aim was to encourage kids on learning concepts using interactive learning. This was chosen as an advanced and advantageous way of promoting the learning activity of kids. Contrary to the conventional learning methods, tangible interactive learning was formulated as a way of fully engaging kids in the learning process and improving their concentration during learning activities. The design of the tangible interaction interface was designed to let kids identify questions and tasks themselves. The identification process was designed to make use of the kids’ visual ability and enable them relate the program’s features to the physical world. The physical objects and images which have been used in the program were chosen to make the learning experience real and imaginable to the kids. This was a selected as a way of promoting their learning. The fact that the program is interactive and interacts with the kids was also considered as a good way of interactively involving the kids during learning and thus helping them concentrate more in the learning process. This starts right from the beginning of the program when the summary of continents is displayed on the screen for about 2 minutes at the start of the program and afterwards the kids are given a chance to interact with the program by answering each question using graphical objects displayed like the map of Africa. Based on a sample of 10 kids who were given a chance to use the program, it was recorded that the kids could concentrate for longer hours and considered the game enjoyable while achieving the learning objectives. This also had complete shift of the kids’ attitude towards learning and made the whole process interesting and smooth. The program’s design was also designed to increase the difficulty levels as each question is answered. This acts as a way of identifying the levels of kids and also a way of evaluating their progress in an interactive way. On successful answering of a question, the program was also designed to show the kids congratulatory image which encourages them to proceed with the learning experience using the program. The rationale behind the adoption of the tangible interaction in educational interaction is to aid in the advancement of kids’ learning experience. This is so for several reasons. Most kids do not usually have a long lasting concentration and will therefore lose attention with the simplest form of interruption. Kids also tend to understand and remember more using visual forms of learning that uses realistic physical representations. This is the approach that the program has taken in handling the learning hindrances of kids; to give them an interactive learning interface that will make them interact with the computer throughout their learning experience so as to capture their concentration and also make the learning experience interesting for them. The novel interaction game for kids is therefore a program that has been designed to promote learning among kids using its tangible interactive features. Game Concept My research on using tangible objects to promote learning included several considerations that were aimed at proving the significance of the method to general learning. The concept of this game involved letting the kids shift from their conventional learning methods and adopting the tangible interactive methods in learning specific concepts as given by the program. The program therefore engages kids in an interactive learning using tangible and visual objects that emulates real physical objects. This kind of interface will allow the kids learn using reliable methods which generally promotes their learning experience. The research was based on learning methods of kids and their trends of learning. During the research, I found out that many kids normally lose their concentration while learning. The research clearly showed that kids usually prefer graphical objects and learning methods that use representations of the real physical objects and thus the need to develop a tangible and interactive learning game. Being that the kids also like games, I realized that kids learn more using interactive games than other conventional methods. The novel interaction game that I created was specifically designed for young kids. This was the best age group for the program and would be productive for them. Kids like interactive learning which involve them throughout the learning process. This is the approach that the program uses. The program also uses tangible objects. These helps the kids concentrate more and learn in an interesting environment. This helps in engaging the children and inspires them to learn more. This is so in that on completion of one question, the program encourages the kids to continue learning. Even upon failure, it encourages the kids to try to learn the concepts and continue with the learning. This promotes interactive education. The program is also expected to give a better user experience which contradicts the conventional methods of other learning methods. The use of tangible objects in interactive learning among kids is an idea that is able to promote learning among kids. The incorporation of tangible methods in learning experience not only enhances the learning process but also makes the learning experience more exciting to the kids. Prototype Description The prototype design of the program is as illustrated in the figure below. The interface of the program involves graphical representations of continents in an interactive interface that provides kids with a better learning experience. The kids are presented with questions about continents that use real representations that kids will be able to remember well. The interface on launch first provides the kids with a brief explanation and review of the continents. This is displayed for a couple of minutes after which the first question is displayed on the screen. When the question is successfully answered, the kid is shown a congratulatory image and encourages continuing with the questions whose level of difficulty increases gradually. The kids interactively answer the questions on the screen which also encompasses tangible objects to promote the learning experience. Tangible interactions provide better interactive learning experience than other methods of interaction. The method support face to face collaborative activities which allows several users to collaborate efficiently in an advanced but friendly learning environment. The tangible interface also promotes cognitive sensitivity which enhances a kid’s concept learning ability. Tangible interactions also encourage enactive-mode of reasoning which also promotes empirical abstractions related to the sensory motor schemes. It has also been shown that unlike other interactive learning techniques, tangible learning environments allows for a playful mode of learning among children. This is a natural way of learning that promotes in-depth learning among the kids. The addition of the tangible objects in the game has therefore promotes the game and made it more beneficial to the learning of t the kids. User Evaluation The user evaluation was done in order to determine the efficiency and appropriateness of the program in achieving its goals. This was to determine whether the program indeed promotes learning among kids and is a better method of learning for them. A group of 20 kids undertook the evaluation and assessed the program in learning. They were given the program to use it in learning about the continents and at the end a questionnaire was used to obtain feedback from them. The selected children used the program for few weeks (2 weeks) in learning. At the same time, other 10 children were also instructed to learn about the continents using their own books. The trend and consistency of both the groups was monitored progressively. It was found out that those kids who used their books had lower consistency in learning about the continents. Many of them would fall asleep during their learning period and even get swayed by others to quit the learning. Their cognitive responses were also found to be slower than those who used the program. For those who used the program, it was also found out that they enjoyed their learning and concentrated more on the activity. This group of kids was able to successfully learn and achieve their objectives unlike their counterparts who used only books. They were also always motivated to continue learning. Discussion of Results The kids who used the program were able to successfully achieve their objective of learning about the continents having been awarded an added advantage by the program. Interactive learning and using the tangible objects therefore promotes learning among kids. This ensures their concentration, creativity and interest in learning new concepts. Kids require similar learning techniques which are interactive and use real physical objects to represent educational concepts. Conclusion Interactive education has been proven to have an advantage in learning, especially among kids. The novel interaction game for kids makes use of tangible interactions to promote interactive education. This is very beneficial to a child as it promotes learning and makes it interesting. Kids are usually unable to concentrate for long hours when presented with several paragraphs of texts only in their learning materials. They need a kind of learning which is interactive and uses real physical objects which are tangible and this actualizes learning and makes it appear real to the kids. This is the concept that this program entails. The program, novel interaction game for kids, first enables kids to interact with the computer using an interactive interface whereby they answer questions and are provided with interactive feedback. It provides an interactive platform where kids constantly get questions and answers them progressively. This provides a better way of having kids concentrate in a learning activity that takes the form of a game. While designing the program, I chose not to include audio in its interactive interface. The audio ought to have been that which reads out instructions and provides audible feedback to the kids. This is something that I missed in the design of my program. I have discovered that including the audio would have improved the authoritativeness of the program and made it capture attention of children more. This is because it would have obliged the participating kids to continue with their learning as long as the audio is played back. This could have acted as a way of also attracting attention from already distracted kids. Given more time and efficient audio recording materials and resources, I would incorporate audio sounds of instructions and notifications that go hand-in-hand with the program as a way of enhancing its functionality. References B. Ullmer and H. Ishii., 1997, "The Metadesk: Models and Prototypes for Tangible User Interfaces," Proc. 10th Ann. ACM Symp. User Interface Software and Technology (UIST '97), pp. 223-232. Hornecker, Eva, 2009, Tangible Interaction. Retrieved 13 May 2013 from http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/tangible_interaction.html Read More