The Role of Tangible Interfaces in Enhancing Children's Engagement in Learning

¹ Department of Computer Science, University of Bremen, Bibliothekstraße 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany
² Department of Creative Multimedia, Electronics Engineering Polytechnic Institute of Surabaya, Jl. Raya ITS-Sukolilo, Surabaya 60111, Indonesia
³ Department of Pervasive Computing Systems, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Vincenz-Prießnitz-Straße 1, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany

^* Corresponding author: rante@uni-bremen.de, hestiasari@pens.ac.id

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an exploratory study in which the authors investigated the impact of tangible interface used by children at the elementary school level. Exploration of the viability of graphics tablet and the pen tool was conducted by investigating the children's ease in acclimating to the technology and the effectiveness in engaging them to complete some tasks. Several children were invited to a workshop where they learned and played BatiKids, a game-based learning developed to support children in learning the process of making Indonesian hand-written batik. The qualitative analysis based on the notes and video recording taken on the field observational, and the responses to interview questions to the participants. The results show the main findings and discuss the design implications for a tangible interface in the context of BatiKids.