Technology, participation and bodily interactions in nature: The potential of mobile technology in situated learning (original) (raw)
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Connecting children to nature with technology
Proceedings of the 2014 conference on Interaction design and children - IDC '14, 2014
Regular interactions with nature are vital for the development and well-being of children and also to build attachment and value for natural environments that potentially promote pro-environmental behaviour in later life. In this paper, we report on a study designed to identify opportunities for digital technology to support children's connectedness to the natural environment, thereby encouraging positive environmental attitudes in children, as well as healthy physical play. Through participatory engagement with a group of 15 Danish children (aged 8-12) and their parents, using focus groups and follow up interviews, we explore what motivates children to undertake everyday recreational activities, focusing on activities undertaken in nature, and how these interactions influence meaning associated with their local natural place. The contribution of this paper is a deeper understanding of what motivates children to interact with nature, and a discussion of how technology may enhance this interaction.
From the Ground Up: Children's Experiences of Connecting With Nature Through Technology
2021
The benefits of children engaging with and in nature have been well documented in past research. However, many children today are increasingly engaging with digital technologies. Interestingly, technologies have been suggested for children to engage with and explore nature, though little research includes the ideas and insights of young children. To fill this gap in research, this study utilized a secondary data analysis approach. Data ascertained from an ongoing project that explores children‟s engagement in ecological curriculum and research was used to examine how children use technology to explore nearby nature. Prevalent themes of this study acknowledge that many children have experiences with digital technologies, digital technologies supported children in their ecological and nature based research, and digital technologies supported children‟s connections with nature. The results of this study have implications for how educators can incorporate technology into their pedagogy ...
This study describes the implementation of a self-guiding mobile learning tool designed to support youths' engagement with the natural world as they explored the flora and fauna along one nature trail at an environmental center. Using qualitative video-based data collection and analysis techniques, we conducted two design-based research study iterations that documented interactions between technology, learners, and nature. Children (N = 83) between the ages of 8 and 11 used an iPad-based e-Trailguide designed for a nature trail at a summer camp. Analyses focused on three types of engagement between the learners and the natural world that were facilitated by the e-Trailguide, which we refer to as technology-mediated engagement with nature: (a) observation, (b) pointing, and (c) tactile investigation. Alongside the development of this framework for technology-child-nature interactions, our findings also include the emergence of a learning pattern with regard to technology-mediated engagement with nature: a specific order to the way that children engaged with nature with observations first, pointing second, and tactile investigations third. We also found increased engagement with nature among the children during the second iteration of the study when they used an interactive data collection tool embedded within the e-Trailguide. Design considerations for the future implementation of e-Trailguides in outdoor settings include the incorporation of textual prompts and questions to facilitate observation, development of joint observational activities to encourage collaborative learning, and articulated directions to promote tactile investigations of natural objects.
Connecting children to nature with technology: sowing the seeds for proenvironmental behaviour
Regular interactions with nature are vital for the development and well-being of children and also to build attachment and value for natural environments that potentially promote pro-environmental behaviour in later life. In this paper, we report on a study designed to identify opportunities for digital technology to support children’s connectedness to the natural environment, thereby encouraging positive environmental attitudes in children, as well as healthy physical play. Through participatory engagement with a group of 15 Danish children (aged 8-12) and their parents, using focus groups and follow up interviews, we explore what motivates children to undertake everyday recreational activities, focusing on activities undertaken in nature, and how these interactions influence meaning associated with their local natural place. The contribution of this paper is a deeper understanding of what motivates children to interact with nature, and a discussion of how technology may enhance this interaction.
‘GAMES IN THE PARK’: STORIES AND GPS BASED FUN TO ENCOURAGE INTERACTION WITH NATURE
The 'games in the park' project investigates how technological interventions can encourage outdoor play for children aged 8 to 12. A series of location-based games have been created via a co-design process in response to a real world design problem highlighted by a local wildlife trust. The trust had found that 8 to 12 year olds are less inclined to voluntarily attend countryside events to learn about nature than younger children. The focus for the work was to develop games that make use of Global Positioning System (GPS) data to encourage interaction with nature by older children. A key challenge in this design problem is achieving a balance between the user engaging with the physical environment whilst maintaining awareness of the game directives through mobile technology. In particular, to investigate how the flow of activity through the game could be maintained, comparing the use of rewards for tasks in contrast to the use of characters and stronger narrative elements. The children helped to co-design and create a series of games to inform the project. Both the reward focused and character/ narrative game types were enjoyed equally in this experiment. A series of other observations helped to refine the complex 'wicked problem' being investigated and extended the development of design guidelines for games of this type. Fig 1: Playing a Location Based Game in the Park 1.
NatureCollections: Can a Mobile Application Trigger Children’s Interest in Nature?
Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, 2020
In this study, we investigate whether and how a mobile application called NatureCollections supports children's triggered situational interest in nature. Developed from an interest-centered design framework, NatureCollections allows children to build and curate their own customized photo collections of nature. We conducted a comparison study at an urban community garden with 57 sixth graders across 4 science classrooms. Students in two classrooms (n = 15 and 16) used the NatureCollections app, and students in another two classrooms (n = 13 and 13) used a basic Camera app. We found that NatureCollections succeeded in focusing students' attention-an important aspect of interest development-through sensory engagement with the natural characteristics in their surroundings. Students who used NatureCollections moved slower in space while scanning their surroundings for specific elements (e.g., flowers, birds) to photograph. In contrast, students who used the basic Camera app were more drawn to aesthetic aspects (e.g., color, shape) and tended to explore their surroundings through the device screen. NatureCollections supported other dimensions of interest development, including personal relevance, social interactions, and positive experiences for continued engagement. Our findings further showed that the NatureCollections app facilitated students' scientific discourse with their peers.
Exploring place and direction: mobile augmented reality in the Astrid Lindgren landscape
2012
This paper describes the design process and user evaluation of an outdoor educational mobile augmented reality application. The main goal was to enhance and augment the experience of a visit to a culturally significant place, the childhood home of the children's book author Astrid Lindgren. Visiting sites of historical significance is not limited to the cultural experience itself, but can be seen as an opportunity for learning and exploring a place as it is now and as it has been in past times. By investigating the two design dimensions place and time, our application was conceived as a treasure hunt, where users activate content by moving between places and pointing the mobile device in different directions or at different markers. The application was field tested with mixed groups of children and adults. The evaluation indicates that the prototype did encourage both learning and exploring, which also was the design objective.
This paper promotes the adoption of Augmented Reality (AR) to inspire children and collaborative family engagement in the outdoor learning experience. AR, being a form of digital mobile technology, was deployed at the English Heritage site of Tintagel in Cornwall, on the south coast of Britain. Tintagel was selected for its dramatic coastal environment, as well as its rich history of myths and folklore around the Legend of King Arthur. The Enlighten Project for English Heritage was designed and trialled by the first author, forming a business case / proposal for further development of AR across other English Heritage sites. The implications and opportunities for AR in learning are discussed re: the uptake of ‘tech’ by digital natives – young people who have grown up with tech ever present in their lives. The tensions between experiencing the outdoors both with and without technology are navigated through a reflective log. In conclusion, it is acknowledged that the use of tech may be an unstoppable force in our daily lives, so embrace and enjoy the ride!
The Routledge international handbook of learning with technology in early childhood, 2019
In a two-year study of preschoolers’ experiences in a nature-based program in Canada (Forest School), we employed the use of GoPro cameras worn by the children to help explore the ‘lived realities’ and experiences that unfolded within the forest. As researchers we wanted to be ‘beside’ children and fully explore the forest from their point of view. The ‘agentic child’ was visualized through this lens both figuratively and literally, adding new insights into the research queries and children’s sociomaterial entanglements (Lenz Taguchi, 2010). As researchers and scholars we can help “disrupt the anthro-, socio-, and logocentric readings” of data by embracing methods that utilize 21st Century digital technologies, and revisiting the storied understandings of child-matter social, material, and discursive encounters.
Lovise SØYLAND – Children’s sense-making through exploration
2020
A child’s sense-making is grounded in his or her bodily interactions with the environment and tied to the body’s sensory experience. Digital technologies are being introduced into children’s learning environments and they experience virtual materialities to a greater extent now ever before. This study aimed to uncover how young children make sense of the world through explorative touch interactions with physical and virtual materialities. Children’s sense-making was studied through an explorative inquiry that was supported by video documentation. This article discusses how the combination of materials, digital technologies and experiences of different materialities offers new opportunities for explorative interaction, transforming and shaping children’s experience of the world through joint sensemaking. It also identifies how children’s past experience of material touch is important for them in their process of grasping virtual materiality.