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Developmentally

Sensitive DesignInteraction Design and Children, Aarhus, Denmark

June 17, 2014

Mona Leigh Guha

mona@cs.umd.edu

@Mona_Leigh

My interest in developmentally sensitive

design methods

� Was an early childhood teacher for 6 years

� Joined an interdisciplinary technology design team 12

years ago

� Degrees in early childhood education, early childhood

special education, and human development

� Developed a human

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Why should we care about the design process

used to create technology for children?

1. Children being involved with adults in the design

process can lead to developmentally appropriate

technology being developed

Making technology for kids without working directly with them, "is like making

clothes for someone you don’t know the size of." -Thomas, child design partner

2. Participating a technology design process can impact

the development of the children who are part of the

process

Roles children can play in the

technology design process

user

tester

informant

design partner

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The child as user

� In use since the 1970’s

� Child uses technology after it is widely available user

tester

informant

design partner

user

The child as tester

� Became common

practice in the early

1990’s

� Child uses the

technology before it

is widely available

tester

informant

design partner

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user

tester

The child as informant

� Became common

practice in the mid

1990’s

� Child has input at

various points during

the design process informant

design partner

informant

The child as design partner

� Used mid 1990’s to

present

� Children are equal

shareholders with

adults throughout the

design process

user

tester

design partner

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Cooperative Inquiry: A design partnering

method� Method of design partnering with children to

create technology for children

� High ratio of adults to children

� Meet for two weeks in the summer; 2 weekly 90-minute sessions throughout the year

� Collaborative work; multiple techniques

Child development considerations in

Cooperative Inquiry

� Children who are design partners will be at

varying stages of development

� Also consider developmental levels of children for

whom your team is designing

� Consider developmental theories such as those of

Piaget and Vygotsky

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Supporting different ages in Cooperative

Inquiry

� Young children (4 – 6 years old)

� Middle childhood (7 – 11 years old)

� Adolescents (12 – 19 years old)

Child development in technology

design process: Young children

� Collaboration and elaboration are challenging

� More steps in design

� More adult interaction

� Lower ratio

� Smaller groups

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Magic Wall

� Children repurposed a touch

surface from a tabletop office

technology to an open-ended

art surface

� Supports play involving open-

ended possibilities, rich social

interactions, and physical

activity

Child development in the technology

design process: Middle childhood

� Social structures

� Gender consideration

� Still children; take breaks

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Scenic Words and BodyVis

� Design for the whole body

� Scenic Words is a mobile app

which exposes children to a

second language by

incorporating physical

movement

� BodyVis teaches children about

anatomy through a

biometrically activated shirt

Child development in the technology

design process: Adolescents

� Scheduling

� More challenging projects

� Content vs. design experience

� Teenagers take the lead in small groups

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FieldScope and Connected Chemistry

� Both technologies teach science in

an engaging way to teenagers

� FieldScope encourages teenagers

to be citizen scientists and collect

meaningful data about their world

� Connected Chemistry teaches

chemistry to high school students

using interactive simulations (also

worked with teachers in co-design)

Cooperative Inquiry can produce

really cool technology! But a

few years ago, I wondered…

What about the children who are our design

partners? How is this impacting them?

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What are children’s social and

cognitive experiences in the

context of an intergenerational

Cooperative Inquiry technology

design process?

So I did a study!

� Qualitative

� Participant Observation

� Case study

� Bounded system

� Data collection

� Participant observation notes

� Artifact analysis

� Interviews

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* Participants

Name M/

F

Age Grade New School

Abby F 8-9 3rd Public

Barrett M 9-10 4th New Public

Cameron F 7-8 2nd New Private

Dakota F 9-10 3rd Private

Nikita F 8-9 3rd New Public

Sebastian M 10-11 5th New Private

Shawn M 10-11 5th Private

Tabitha F 8-9 4th Private

* Names of participants have been changed to ensure confidentiality

Framework of developmental

experiences of child design partners

Communication

Collaboration

Skills

Content

Relationships

Enjoyment

Confidence

Social Cognitive

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Empowerment

Some experiences of child design partners

Engagement

Problem Solving

Creativity

Verbal communication

Inquiry

Discipline-specific content

Developmentally

Sensitive DesignInteraction Design and Children, Aarahus, Denmark

June 17, 2014

Mona Leigh Guha

mona@cs.umd.edu

@Mona_Leigh