Reading Blocks
Final Project for Physical Computing
Overview
A tool to assist in learning sentence structure. Using tangible objects, users can navigate stories by assembling sentences in correct order to trigger animations.
Video Documentation
For this project, I decided to work on an educational tool for children that can improve engagement in the process of learning. Because of my previous experience teaching children with Autism spectrum disorder, I’ve wanted to find ways to modify the educational material to be more engaging to any child, moving the content outside of pure screen-based interactions or traditional textbooks.
For this project, I prototyped a block puzzle game to build sentences. The user would interact with screen-based tasks through physical objects. These physical objects are blocks placed in the order that the task implies. After the children position the blocks this will trigger an animation on the screen or the next step to complete.
Process
Ideation
The context of the use of this object would be a relation with an instructor and one child. The user could be a child around 5 to 10 years of age, where some subjects are less complex and could be simplified.
The first exploration of the content was related to science as the image shows below. However, later on, to take advantage of the ‘sequence’ interaction that the system has, I decided to work on building sentences, where the order is intrinsically important.
Technology
I decided to use the RFID readers because they give me the possibility to make the technology invisible to the interaction, and the user be more concentrated on the action. The RFID reader is inside the box and the RFID tag is inside the block. Although there is 1 inch of wood between the sensor and the tag, the reader has no problem receiving the number of the tag.
One of the problems that I encountered with the technology was that I tried to use multiple RFID readers unsuccessfully.
To read more about the process of research about RFID, you can see this previous post or check out this Instructable tutorial.
Here is how to connect the RFID to the Arduino.
PINOUT:RC522 MODULE Uno/Nano MEGA
SDA D10 D9
SCK D13 D52
MOSI D11 D51
MISO D12 D50
IRQ N/A N/A
GND GND GND
RST D9 D8
3.3V 3.3V 3.3V
After ideating the interaction and testing the technology, I started prototyping possible interactions of the game. This part of the process was tested in class.
Some of the insights that I have from the first playtesting:
Insights
- One interaction invites a playful approach (vertical) and the other a more puzzle approach(horizontal).
- Take advantage of the sequence interaction to strengthen the content.
- Maintain uniformly shape of blocks.
- Consideration of a robust design; Make space in the interaction for error and correction.
User flow
After testing possible interactions, I decided to work with the horizontal object with blocks. The sequence that the user inserts the block is more intuitive and related to learning subjects as reading, and reading comprehension. With this insight, I started to explore possible exercise examples and user flow for the interaction.
Paper prototyping
I constructed different length sentences with different sizes of the block and box to test the affordance commodity of the sizes and the complexity of sentences.
After prototyping content and tangible interaction, I started sketching the user flow of the application.
This helps me also to generate a clear path and goals for the coding part of the project.
Also, sketch a simple tool to test rapidly different colors with the images.
System Considerations
System Overview
For this project, I worked with Arduino using P5 Serial Control to send the reading to a P5*js Sketch.
Error tolerance
One of the things that I consider important for this prototype is to make space for error tolerance. Although a couldn't code all the mistakes that a user can make creating the sentence, the user is able to remove the blocks or words form the sentences that he or she is building.
If the sentence is not correct the animation would not be completed. The animations are made in After Effects.
Animation, Hint, and Rules
The animation is a visualization of the sentence that the user has to build. In the app, there are two buttons one gives the user a hint of what the sentence is related to (as the left image is shown below). The second button is to give a quick summary of how to play the game (right image below).
To build in more visibility into the system, I also implemented three circles on the top that represent the number of tasks and the stage that the user is in.
Fabrication
Before building the box and blocks I wanted to test one more time the interaction, this time having in mind the proportion of the objects. For this, I use the same technology implemented and paper foamboard.
The fabrication was a mix of hand woodworking and digital fabrication for the more precise part as writing the word on wood. The wood selection is a mix of wood from the local store and some reusable pieces of wood that I brought from Puerto Rico.
Functional Prototyping and User Testing
Having a functional system allowed me to test with more certainty how a user would more interact more realistically with the interface and object.
Some of the observations that I encounter:
Observations
- The user needs more visibility about how to insert the blocks.
- What blocks to use needs to be more visible.
- The person inserts and removes the blocks more rapidly than I thought.
Implementations of feedbacks after testing.
Fabrication
After this user testing, I decided to make some changes to the interface and box. In a thin wood layer, I laser cut a visible path about how to place the blocks in the box. This simple change immediately generates more visibility about how to interact with the box.
Interface
In this version at the beginning of the app, the user has a sentence that immediately shows how to use the blocks. The hint now works as a clue more than an instruction.
In the last version of the application, after the build sentences page start, the user can see what color of blocks should use for this sentence. Before the testing, this was a hidden “Hint”.
Conclusion
For future work, I would like to continue exploring how to improve the interaction to be more intuitive, make the app more tolerant of errors and test a different version of interaction with multiple RFID readers. My next step is to test this in a learning context with a younger user to see how they will interact. However, I enjoyed building this project because it allowed me to combine many skills that I learned this semester. The process of learning through this project was bigger than expected.
