“Looking At the Computer but Doing It On Land”: Children’s Interactions in a Tangible Programming Space

Finding design qualities in a tangible programming space

“…This is very similar to standard techniques of low-fidelity prototyping [27], only that the focus was here explicitly on programming and implementation, rather than on general issues related to interface design. The activities normally start out from games and systems running on the computer, and during the activities, the systems often get "reprogrammed" in several variations [11].…”

Transforming Pedagogical Approaches Using Tangible User Interface Enabled Computer Assisted Learning

“…The enactive level is that on which children's cognition is supported by motor action which can be whole body movement or fine motor movement [37][38][39]; vocational students learn logistics through bimanual manipulation while transferring from concrete action to symbol/ic level [28]; and medical students simulate surgery using bimanual manipulation and learn brain concepts while transferring from enactive experience to symbol/ic [40]. Iconic representations were applied by using TUI objects for manipulation [41], or virtual representations for tangible or intangible real life or hypothetical processes, solving real life problems.…”

“…Both iconic representations are also applied in parallel [42]. A TUI can support bridging the gap between theory and practice [28,40] or can facilitate learning and use of computer programming on the iconic level as, for example, when children in pre-school learn computer programming using objects and icons [42,43] and using whole body movement [37]. The symbolic level is connected with intellectual skills and cognitive processing.…”

Rethinking children's programming with contextual signs

“…In our previous research, we have involved children aged 8-12 in making their own computer games [3,4,14], using existing programming tools such as ToonTalk [6]. Figure 2 shows a sketch of a game created by two girls in sixth grade who participated in one such project.…”

“…Our third system (see Figure 7) differs from the other two since it does not only use contextual signs displayed on the computer screen, but also physical blocks and cards that are used for the interaction with the system [3,4]. The system is designed explicitly for groups of children to create dynamic simulations, games, and interactive play worlds that are run on-screen.…”