TikTegel

The TikTegel, by Serious Toys, is a game computer that looks like a tablet, without keyboard, mouse or traditional screen. Players interact with the board by placing objects on it and receiving auditive and visual feedback by sound (parts of the board light up). The objective of the project is to use the tangible interactive possibilities to create a learning aid for the first two classes of primary school in the Netherlands. The result is a set of five separate games in which the weight of objects has to be used in different ways to be successful. Objects, games and difficulty levels are put together in such a way that progress requires an increased notion about the concept of weight and advancing skills for applying this knowledge throughout the games. The level of difficulty adapts to the playing pupil. New challenges are provided in small steps, giving pupils the possibility to find out something themselves. When this finding out is too slow or absent the system will provide more guidance. A working prototype with the five games was used for one week in a classroom. Observating pupils and feedback from teachers showed that the material creates an internally motivating and educationally valuable activity. Pupils learn about weight and the exploratory approach is recognised to train cognitive thinking skills.

Tjeerd IJtsma
S. Boess, A. van der Helm
master thesis, June 2010