Tangible User Interface (TUI) for learning

Description

Tangible learning is a new way for learning, where the learners can be more engaged with their whole bodies. It has 7 benefits:

• Playfulness: Play is important nature of children's lives and promotes their "social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development". TUIs promote playful interactions with physical objects.
• Trial and error: TUIs foster exploration and experimentation in active play with trial and error. TUIs allow children to try different things and easily reverse their actions.
• Sensory engagement: TUIs engage multiple senses, which can aid the constructive learning process.
• Spatial learning: Tangible interaction improves spatial perception through physical embodied interaction, for instance rotating objects with one's hands. Spatial skills are important for everyday tasks, such as tool use and navigation, and are also linked to better performance in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) disciplines. TUIs can also improve spatial memory.
• Social connection: TUIs can be used for learning in groups and enable natural group interaction and discussion. Collaborative tangible learning environments could help children "get over their initial fears in the areas of mathematics and science and even begin to enjoy these subjects".
• Accessibility: TUIs can make learning accessible for children with impairments, for example, visual impairments or learning disabilities.
• Feeling of competence: By being able to directly manipulate objects with their hands, children can gain a sense of competence and autonomy while interacting with technology.

The aim of this project is to learn how to design a TUI for learning and see its effectiveness. For this purpose, we aim to understand the learning from a new perspective: fun, pleasure, playful and hands-on.

You will:

• Do a literature review
• Design a TUI prototype for learning
• Conduct user studies to get the feedback
• (Optional) co-writing a research paper

• An interest in improving learning
• Good communication skills in English
• Have the experience to develop the technical prototype (if you don’t have, I can help you know some basic knowledge about the prototype development)