EDUCON 2013

Swiping fingers on a screen is not enough! Dusting off toy blocks to build new

gaming experiences through mobile apps

Pablo Garaizar, Oscar Peña & Jon Ander RomeroDeustoTech -‐ Deusto Ins=tute of Technology, University of Deusto

IEEE EDUCON 2013, Berlin, Germany

Outline

Overview

Current technological approaches to improve kids learning

Proposed approach

3DU Blocks library

A prac=cal example: 3DU Blocks Music

Conclusions and future work

Overview

Christmas 1990

Christmas 2013

Kids play habits are changing

Making educational approaches evolve

hMp://www.flickr.com/photos/chrstphre/7084649221/

Making educational approaches evolve

hMp://www.flickr.com/photos/dhbatesbunch/5773727529/

Gaming as an educational approach

Current technological approaches to improve kids learning

Millions of mobile educational apps

hMp://andtwinsmake5.blogspot.com.es/2011/10/top-‐ipod-‐ipad-‐kid-‐game-‐apps-‐october.html

Augmented reality

hMp://proto-‐knowledge.blogspot.com.es/2012/02/vision-‐of-‐classroom-‐of-‐future.html

A more affordable approach

Dust off your toy bricks!

hMp://www.flickr.com/photos/smartgrafixuk/5587026132

And let your kids a mobile device (supervised)

hMp://www.flickr.com/photos/angermann/8375781442/

Blocks as TUIs using 3DU Block’s library

hMp://phonegap.com/

Mul=-‐pla[orm devices thanks to web standards

Bricks arrays (of any dimension) are converted to digital representa=ons, allowing different game experiences to be designed and developed

Sensors? RFID? No, just image processing

Practical example: 3DU Blocks Music

Musical applica=on for kids


Bricks layout as associa=ons

Color instruments

Posi=on tone

Kids can make simple melodies with physical objects


Normal mode


Freestyle mode


Posi=ve flow through the levels

Tips for success in the game

Encourage crea=vity

Conclusions and future work

Develop new gaming experiences

3DU Blocks game suite

Improve performance in poor lightning condi=ons

Deeply test the impact of different toy block-‐based games on learning processes

Some references

Timothy S. McNerney (2004) From turtles to Tangible Programming Bricks: explora=ons in physical language design. Pers Ubiquit Comput (2004) 8: 326–337

Milgram, P and Kishino, FA (1994). A taxonomy of mixed reality visual displays. IEICE Transac=ons on Informa=on Systems, E77-‐D(12)

Piaget, J (1953). How children form mathema=cal concepts. Scien=fic American, 189(5), 74-‐79

Bruner, J (1966). Toward a Theory of Instruc=on. New York: WW Norton.

Keen R. 2011. The development of problem solving in young children: a cri=cal cogni=ve skill. Annu Rev Psychol.62:1-‐21.

Thank you

All rights of images are reserved by the original owners*, the rest of the content is licensed under a Creative

Commons by-sa 3.0 license.

*see references in each slide

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EDUCON 2013