CyberPLAYce—A tangible, interactive learning tool fostering children’s computational thinking through storytelling

Publication date: Available online 7 February 2019Source: International Journal of Child-Computer InteractionAuthor(s): Arash Soleimani, Danielle Herro, Keith Evan GreenAbstractThe learning environment plays a critical role in a child’s life, affecting both cognitive development and effectiveness in work or play. As the boundary between physical and digital worlds blurs, there is a need for new digital tools and physical environments to support the everyday, cyber-physical interactions of children. This paper presents a Research-through-Design example of CyberPLAYce, a tangible, interactive, learning construction kit for children supporting storytelling and computational thinking (CT). The construction kit facilitates and enhances child-to-child, child-to-machine, and child-to-environment interactions through semi-structured play. It offers young students the opportunity to materialize their ideas through the construction of cyber-physical story algorithms allowing them to physically alter story segments while constructing and enhancing the storyline. The CyberPLAYce research places an emphasis on the importance of employing tangible learning tools in order to enhance children’s active engagement. We focus on the motivations for CyberPLAYce, its participatory design, and results of an empirical study concerning CT with 8-12 year-old storytellers in a classroom setting. Results from the study suggest that cyber-physical activities afforded by CyberPLAYce cultivate engaged ...

Source: International Journal of Child Computer Interaction - February 8, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research