Designing augmented reality tangible interfaces for kindergarten children

Abstract

Using games based on novel interaction paradigms for teaching children is becoming increasingly popular because children are moving towards a new level of inter-action with technology and there is a need to children to educational contents through the use of novel, attractive technologies. Instead of developing a computer program using traditional input techniques (mouse and keyboard), this re-search presents a novel user interface for learning kindergarten subjects. The motivation is essentially to bring something from the real world and couple that with virtual reality elements, accomplishing the interaction using our own hands. It's a symbiosis of traditional cardboard games with digital technology. The rationale for our approach is simple. Papert (1996) refers that "learning is more effective when the apprentice voluntarily engages in the process". Motivating the learners is therefore a crucial factor to increase the possibility of action and discovery, which in turn increases the capacity of what some researchers call learning to learn. In this sense, the novel constructionist-learning paradigm aims to adapt and prepare tomorrow's schools to the constant challenges faced by a society, which is currently embracing and accelerating pace of profound changes. Augmented reality (Shelton and Hedley, 2002) and tangible user interfaces (Sharlin et al., 2004) fitted nicely as a support method for this kind of learning paradigm. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.