This paper is about MusiCushions: Interactive cushions to control external speakers in a living room. The interactive cushions are made of smart and interactive textiles, which acceptance has been profoundly investigated. Several studies have come to the conclusion that the most important feature for acceptance of smart and interactive textiles is the aesthetics of the textile interface. Therefore, this study investigates the question: How is integration of interactive cushions in the home environment affected by design concepts with different levels of explicit interaction and types of use cues? The method used in this study is based on constructive design research (CDR), where the design process consisted of moodboarding, sketching, prototyping and evaluation. Three prototypes were built and tested in two different user observations. The interactive cushions were considered well integrated in the home environment but there is room for improvement of usability. The evaluation showed that visual cues were the most important feature for usability but that there is a trade off between use cues and aesthetics. / Denna studie handlar om MusiCushions: Interaktiva kuddar att kontrollera externa högtalare med i ett vardagsrum. De interaktiva kuddarna är gjorda av smarta och interaktiva textilier, vars acceptans har varit grundligt utforskad i tidigare studier. Flera studier visar att den viktigaste faktorn för acceptans av smarta och interaktia textilier är estetiken av ett textilt gränssnitt. Därför undersöker denna studie frågan: Hur är integrering av interaktiva kuddar i hemmet påverkad av design koncept med olika nivåer av explicit interaktion och typer av use cues? Metoden som denna studie är baserad på är "Constructive design research" (CDR) och design processen bestod av utformande av moodboards, sketcher, prototyper och utvärdering. Tre prototyper var utvecklade och testade i två olika användarobservationer. De interaktiva kuddarna ansågs vara väl integrereade i hemmet, men det finns utrymme för användbarheten att förbättras. Utvärderingen visade också att visuella use cues var den viktigaste faktorn för användbarhet, men att det måste göras en avvägning mellan use cues och estetik då den ena påverkar den andra.

Tangible interfaces and mixed-reality environments have potential to bring together the advantages of physical and virtual environments to improve children’s learning and enjoyment. However, there are too few controlled experiments that investigate whether interacting with physical objects in the real world accompanied by interactive feedback may actually improve student learning compared to flat-screen interaction. Furthermore, we do not have a sufficient empirical basis for understanding how a mixed-reality environment should be designed to maximize learning and enjoyment for children. I created EarthShake, a mixed-reality game bridging physical and virtual worlds via a Kinect depth-camera and a specialized computer vision algorithm to help children learn physics. I have conducted three controlled experiments with EarthShake that have identified features that are more and less important to student learning and enjoyment. The first experiment examined the effect of observing physical phenomena and collaboration (pairs versus solo), while the second experiment replicated the effect of observing physical phenomena while also testing whether adding simple physical control, such as shaking a tablet, improves learning and enjoyment. The experiments revealed that observing physical phenomena in the context of a mixed-reality game leads to significantly more learning (5 times more) and enjoyment compared to equivalent screen-only versions, while adding simple physical control or changing group size (solo or pairs) do not have significant effects. Furthermore, gesture analysis provides insight as to why experiencing physical phenomena may enhance learning. My thesis work further investigates what features of a mixed-reality system yield better learning and enjoyment, especially in the context of limited experimental results from other mixed-reality learning research. Most mixed-reality environments, including tangible interfaces (where users manipulate physical objects to create an interactive output), currently emphasize open-ended exploration and problem solving, and are claimed to be most effective when used in a discovery-learning mode with minimal guidance. I investigated how critical to learning and enjoyment interactive guidance and feedback is (e.g. predict/observe/explain prompting structure with interactive feedback), in the context of EarthShake. In a third experiment, I compared the learning and enjoyment outcomes of children interacting with a version of EarthShake that supports guided-discovery, another version that supports exploration in discovery-learning mode, and a version that is a combination of both guideddiscovery and exploration. The results of the experiment reveals that Guided-discovery and Combined conditions where children are exposed to the guided discovery activities with the predict-observe-explain cycle with interactive feedback yield better explanation and reasoning. Thus, having guided-discovery in a mixed-reality environment helps with formulating explanation theories in children’s minds. However, the results also suggest that, children are able to activate explanatory theory in action better when the guided discovery activities are combined with exploratory activities in the mixed-reality system. Adding exploration to guided-discovery activities, not only fosters better learning of the balance/physics principles, but also better application of those principles in a hands-on, constructive problem-solving task. My dissertation contributes to the literatures on the effects of physical observation and mixed-reality interaction on students’ science learning outcomes in learning technologies. Specifically, I have shown that a mixed-reality system (i.e., combining physical and virtual environments) can lead to superior learning and enjoyment outcomes than screen-only alternatives, based on different measures. My work also contributes to the literature of exploration and guided-discovery learning, by demonstrating that having guided-discovery activities in a mixed-reality setting can improve children’s fundamental principle learning by helping them formulate explanations. It also shows that combining an engineering approach with scientific thinking practice (by combining exploration and guided-discovery activities) can lead to better engineering outcomes such as transferring to constructive hands-on activities in the real world. Lastly, my work aims to make a contribution from the design perspective by creating a new mixed-reality educational system that bridges physical and virtual environments to improve children’s learning and enjoyment in a collaborative way, fostering productive dialogue and scientific curiosity in museum and school settings, through an iterative design methodology to ensure effective learning and enjoyment outcomes in these settings.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:06:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 4702.pdf: 26018415 bytes, checksum: 9c97e5ddef6d5a00a930406e3383b476 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-09-19 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / In the scenario of computational interfaces development, researches efforts aim to offer new ways of interaction that are closer to the natural way which humans interact with the real world. Amongst the diversity of interface modalities, the tabletop tangible interfaces make the link between physical objects and virtual objects, making possible to "grasp" the interface and interact with it physically, also counting on multitouch interactions. However, in the development process of this kind of interface, there is a lack of specification s model that supports, not only the physical objects interaction, but multitouch interactions as well, and that organizes and classifies the specification in a more agile manner, easier to document and implement. Thus, this work presents a new tabletop tangible user interface specification model, TTUI-SM, that classifies and organizes the interface element specification within many components. A diagramatic tool, TTUI-SMT, was developed based on this model, aiming to make the interface specification and development faster, easier and automatized. To validate the model and tool, two studycases were introduced and specified. An experiment was conducted to evaluate both model and tool, resulting in the comprovation, through questionnaires analysis, of the proposed benefits. / No cenário de desenvolvimento de interfaces computacionais, os avanços nas pesquisas buscam oferecer novas formas de interação que se aproximam da forma natural com que o homem interage com o mundo real. Dentre as diversas interfaces avançadas, as interfaces tangíveis de mesa (tabletop), promovem a ligação entre objetos físicos e objetos virtuais, possibilitando ao usuário interagir com objetos digitais por meio do ambiente físico, e também por meio de interações multitoques. Entretanto, o processo de desenvolvimento deste tipo de interface carece de um modelo de especificação que contemple, além das interações por meio de objetos, interações multitoques e que organize e classifique a especificação de uma maneira mais ágil e mais fácil de documentar e implementar. Assim, este trabalho apresenta um novo modelo de especificação de elementos de interface tangível de mesa, denominado TTUI-SM, que organiza a especificação de elementos de interface em diversos componentes. Uma ferramenta diagramática, o TTUI-SMT, baseada neste modelo de especificação, também foi desenvolvida visando agilizar, facilitar e automatizar o processo de especificação da interface e do seu desenvolvimento. Para validar o modelo e a ferramenta, dois estudos de caso foram introduzidos e especificados. Um experimento foi conduzido para avaliar o modelo e a ferramenta e, por meio de questionários, os benefícios propostos foram validados.

For thousands of years, physical objects have been used to represent data, in order to support cognition, communication and learning. Such representations, especially newly computer-supported ones, became the focus of an emerging field called data physicalization. Although most physicalizations are passive (i.e., static), a growing number of active (i.e., dynamic) representations have been recently created. There is still, however, an immense opportunity in exploring interactive data physicalizations. This thesis proposes a tangible artifact (a shovel equipped with orientation sensors) that could be used by visitors of Earth sciences museums. SuperTunnel Simulator calculates a hole through Earth, indicating where in the world visitors would end up if they dug in a certain direction. Feedback from participants indicate such embodied interaction might influence learning by igniting visitors’ curiosity and stimulating hypothesis formulation. Finally, we point to research opportunities in conveying data not through an object’s shape, but through our interaction with it.