PhD Proposal: Augmented Reality Systems to Engage Children in Everyday STEM Experiences

Talk
Seokbin Kang
Time: 
12.19.2018 14:30 to 16:30
Location: 

AVW 3450

Learning practices, crosscutting concepts, and knowledge in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects pose challenges to young learners. Without external support to foster long-term interest and scaffold learning, children’s eagerness and curiosity to investigate STEM ideas could not stay. While prior research has investigated how Augmented Reality(AR) may enhance learning of scientific concepts and increase student engagement, only a few considered young children who require more developmentally appropriate approaches.The primary goal of my dissertation is to design, develop, and evaluate interactive AR learning systems to engage children (ages 5-11) with STEM experiences. Using AR, computer vision techniques, and sensing technologies, my dissertation focuses on user interactions that harness personal data and objects in everyday life. This can give learners chance to investigate STEM ideas in their own setting, what educators call contextual learning, and making learning experience more relevant to their interests and life. Specifically, there are four major objectives in my research including: (i) gathering design ideas of AR applications to promote children’s STEM learning; (ii) exploring user interaction techniques that utilize personally meaningful material for learning; (iii) development and evaluation of AR learning systems and applications; and (iv) building design guidelines of AR systems for children’s STEM learning.In my preliminary work, I have designed, developed, and evaluated two system prototypes: (i) SharedPhys that makes use of learner’s live physiological data such as heart rate to support collaborative learning of human body systems and inquiry; and (ii) Rainbow that allows children to build physical prototypes and experiment with them to learn about complex systems. User studies with these prototypes demonstrated the feasibility of such user interaction techniques, and enumerating design ideas for future research. For example, with Rainbow, children were engaged in representing and testing their ideas through physical prototyping.Building on the preliminary work, I propose to conduct a formative study to better understand the design space and explore designs of AR to engage children in math learning. In addition, I plan to develop and evaluate a mobile AR learning tool named ARMath that allows children to discover mathematical problems in life and engage with solving the problems through tangible interaction

Examining Committee:

Chair: Dr. Jon E. Froehlich Dept. rep: Dr. David Jacobs Members: Dr. Tamara Clegg