Vicente Nacher

Multi-touch gestures for pre-kindergarten children

Abstract The direct manipulation interaction style of multi-touch technology makes it the ideal mechanism for learning activities from pre-kindergarteners to adolescents. However, most commercial pre-kindergarten applications only support tap and drag operations. This paper investigates pre-kindergarteners׳ (2–3 years of age) ability to perform other gestures on multi-touch surfaces. We found that these infants could effectively perform additional gestures, such as one-finger rotation and two-finger scale up and down, just as well as basic gestures, despite gender and age differences. We also identified cognitive and precision issues that may have an impact on the performance and feasibility of several types of interaction (double tap, long press, scale down and two-finger rotation) and propose a set of design guidelines to mitigate the associated problems and help designers envision effective interaction mechanisms for this challenging age range.

Improving Pre-Kindergarten Touch Performance

Multi-touch technology provides users with a more intuitive way of interaction. However, pre-kindergarten children, a growing group of potential users, have problems with some basic gestures according to previous studies. This is particularly the case of the double tap and long pressed gestures, which have some issues related to spurious entry events and time-constrained interactions, respectively. In this paper, we empirically test specific strategies to deal with these issues by evaluating off-the-shelf implementations of these gestures against alternative implementations that follow these guidelines. The study shows that the implementation of these design guidelines has a positive effect on success rates of these two gestures, being feasible their inclusion in future multi-touch applications targeted at pre-kindergarten children.

Interactive technologies for preschool game-based instruction: Experiences and future challenges

Abstract According to current kindergarten curricula, game play is an important basis for children development and it is the main driving force when designing educational activities during early childhood. This paper presents a review of the current state of the art of game technologies that support pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children development. Moreover, the most emergent technologies for developing educational games for preschool children are identified and a set of future challenges are discussed. The main goal of this work is to review the state of the art in interactive technologies which will help educators, game designers and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) experts in the area of game-based kindergarten instruction.

Exploring Visual Cues for Intuitive Communicability of Touch Gestures to Pre-kindergarten Children

Pre-kindergarten children are becoming frequent users of multi-touch technology and, according to previous studies they are able to perform several multi-touch gestures successfully. However, they do not use these devices supervised at all times. Consequently, interactive applications for pre-kindergarteners need to convey their underlying design intent and interactive principles with respect to touch interaction. In this paper, we present and evaluate two approaches to communicate three different touch gestures (tap, drag and scale up) to pre-kindergarten users. Our results show, firstly, that it is possible to effectively communicate them using visual cues and, secondly, that an animated semiotic approach is better than an iconic one.

Tangibot: A tangible-mediated robot to support cognitive games for ageing people—A usability study

Abstract The ever increasing elderly population requires a revision of technology to make it usable and meaningful for them. Most applications take into account their reduced physical and cognitive abilities in order to provide assistive services, but this paper focuses on building technology to improve these capacities through cognitive games. We present Tangibot, a tangible-mediated robot aimed at enabling more intuitive and appealing interactions. A usability study conducted on subjects at three different levels of cognitive impairment (none, mild, and severe) reveals that it is usable and engaging for users with no or mild cognitive impairment, and even though it is less usable for persons with severe impairment, it triggers positive emotional reactions among them, which makes it promising for their use in therapeutic activities.

Design and evaluation of a tangible-mediated robot for kindergarten instruction

Entertainment technology increases childrens engagement in educational activities designed to develop abilities ranging from collaborative problem-solving and cognitive attention to self-esteem. However, little research has been done on designing educational and entertaining interactive technology for kindergarten children (up to 5 years old). Furthermore, most of the work in this area has considered traditional input devices such as the mouse and keyboard, which are not suitable for these very young children. More recently, other more intuitive means of interaction (touch and tangible interfaces) and advanced educational artifacts such as robots have emerged. In this work we therefore present a joint collaboration between technologists and kindergarten instructors to design and evaluate a technological platform using a mobile robot for kindergarten instruction, as well as an intuitive and user-friendly tangible user interface. The results obtained suggest the platform is not only usable by kindergarten children, but it also allows them to be fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In addition, the instructors reported that the system was well accepted and praised its versatility in use as a supporting tool for their everyday classroom activities.

Toward a General Conceptualization of Multi-Display environments

Combining multiple displays in the same environment enables more immersive and rich experiences in which visualization and interaction can be improved. Although much research has been done in the field of Multi-Display Environments (MDEs) and previous studies have provided taxonomies to define them, these have usually consisted of partial descriptions. In this paper we propose a general taxonomy that identifies the key dimensions to tackle when developing MDEs and a classification of previous studies, with the aim of helping designers to identify the key aspects that must be addressed when developing the next generation of MDEs.

Evaluating the Accuracy of Pre-kindergarten Children Multi-touch Interaction

The direct manipulation interaction style of multi-touch technology makes it ideal for pre-kindergarten children. Recent studies have shown that these challenging users are able to perform a set of basic multi-touch gestures. However, little is known about the accuracy that they can achieve. This paper evaluates the performance of pre-kindergarten children when accuracy is required in the termination phase of these gestures and points out that a mechanism for dynamically adapting the accuracy level could help children in their motor skills development.

From Tabletops to Multi-Tablet Environments in Educational Scenarios: A Lightweight and Inexpensive Alternative

This work introduces a Multi-Display Environment (MDE) based on handheld devices to build tabletop-like experiences in an affordable, scalable, and simple way to foster collaboration in educational settings.

Evaluating the Usability of a Tangible-Mediated Robot for Kindergarten Children Instruction

The use of robots as an educational tool is particularly interesting because of their potential to support collaboration, their capability to trigger physical activity and their inherent attractiveness. However, despite their many benefits, few works have considered the use of robots with children aged under 6 years and those which are targeted at these very young children do not fully exploit the technology, since the designed robots are fixed in one spot and do not support collaborative and cooperative instruction. This paper therefore evaluates the usability of a tangible-mediated robot with eighty-six kindergarten children (2 to 6 years old) which was designed for collaborative kindergarten instruction. The results obtained proved the suitability of the proposed platform for children from the age of 3 years and lays the foundation for developing new learning activities based on this technology for early childhood instruction.