Playing with the sound maker: do embodied metaphors help children learn?

Type: conference paper

Authors: Alissa N. Antle, Milena Droumeva, Greg Corness

Abstract
In this paper we present the results of a comparative study that explores the potential benefits of using embodied interaction to help children, aged 7 to 10, learn abstract concepts related to musical sounds. Forty children learned to create musical sound sequences using an interactive sound making environment. Half the children used a version of the system that instantiated a body-based metaphor in the mapping layer connecting body movements to output sounds. The remaining children used a version of the same environment that did not instantiate a metaphor in the mapping layer. In general, children were able to more accurately demonstrate sound sequences in the embodied metaphor based system version. However, we observed that children often resorted to spatial rather than body-based metaphors and that the mapping must be easily discoverable as well as metaphorical to provide benefit.

URL: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=1463689.1463754

Associated tags
metadata ▸ material ▸ Sound Maker
metadata ▸ contribution ▸ Evaluation
metadata ▸ year ▸ 2008
technological dimension ▸ applications ▸ Smart rooms
technological dimension ▸ input technologies ▸ Camera
technological dimension ▸ system outputs ▸ Audio
musical dimension ▸ activities ▸ Creating
pedagogical dimension ▸ learning theories ▸ Constructivism
pedagogical dimension ▸ users ▸ Pre-school, primary
pedagogical dimension ▸ venues ▸ Lab