Make or Shake

"I just let him cry...

“…There has been an accompanying focus on tangibles and other ways technologies become embedded and used in the learners' environment as a way to accomplish this (see e.g., [7,34,56,86,112] for reviews and proposed frameworks). As an example of these approaches, tangible and mobile interfaces enabled situated learning in nature [119], museums [82], as well as engaging with computation in classrooms [1,67]. Such possibility space for the design of situated, embodied learning is moreover steadily expanding with the emergence of conductive fabrics, soft and stretch sensors, and the increasing power and decreasing size of on-board computational capabilities (e.g., [93,144,146]).…”

Inclusive Computing in Special Needs Classrooms

“…This enables us to analyze the effects of combining different learning tasks using the same interface form factor. Specifically, they can be assembled from a flat printed circuit board sheet [17] ( Figure 2A). They can then be pre-programmed with sensor-actuator effects to be explored through guided discovery ( Figure 2B).…”

“…In recent years, a variety of physical and tangible toolkits for learning computing have also been created. These come in many shapes and forms, from blocks that users can connect to create simple computational programs [5,14,35], to reprogrammable microcontrollers and systems-on-a-chip [3,4,42], to interfaces enabling discovery-based exploration of abstract hardware and systems concepts [17,29,40]. These toolkits often teach a range of computing concepts that extend beyond programming, including the functionalities of electronic hardware, and the connections between hardware and software.…”

“…Based on these findings, when collaboration between peers is the goal, there appears to be much potential for using physical interfaces to teach abstract concepts. To date, many studies have also pointed to the ability for physical and tangible interfaces to foster higher levels of collaboration in general (e.g., [14,17]). However, these effects are often attributed to the form factor of the interface itself, without detailed explanation of the effect of the task type and materials on interaction.…”

“…By drawing on previous research on tangible and physical interfaces, as well as on the literature about mixed special needs groups, we designed and conducted a series of learning sessions during a school term using a physical toolkit-the Magic Cubes [8]-in a SEN classroom for students aged [16][17][18][19]. The design of the sessions emphasized providing appropriate conceptual scaffolding as well as a range of learning tasks through a variety of discovery-based and coding activities.…”