There is a growing interest in learning studies about the use of interaction models that involve sensorimotor activities and affordances within an educational experience. This paper explores how concrete experiences, in this case an educational application designed for an Interactive Slide, can make concepts of buoyancy and Archimedes' principle understandable to children. We hypothesized that the relationship between kinesthetic experience and the Interactive Slide's affordances would improve learning. To test this hypothesis we have defined two principal experimental conditions, using the same application on the Interactive Slide and on a desktop computer, and compared the results from a sample of 331 children through pre and post-tests. Our results show modest but noticeable improvements in test scores from children assigned to the Interactive Slide condition. The results of this study highlight the opportunities of the Interactive Slide as a learning environment to foster the processes of building abstract concepts. However, additional exploration is necessary to improve the design strategies for new applications and refine the assessment methodology.
['Laura Malinverni', 'Brenda Lopez Silva', 'Narcis Pares']
Impact of embodied interaction on learning processes: design and analysis of an educational application based on physical activity