Learning Together to Assess the Impact of Embodied Interactions in an Immersive Digital Exhibit Environment

• In Event: Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships for Developing and Assessing Informal STEM Learning Experiences

Abstract

Objectives and Perspectives: An emerging body of research suggests that gesture and movement during science learning can both reflect and promote how children come to understand science and math (Lindgren & Johnson-Glenberg, 2014; Goldin-Meadow & Beilock, 2010). In our work, we were interested in the extent to which children engage in an immersive, digital exhibit using their body and gestures, and understanding how this engagement impacts the way they communicate about the science concepts being learned. More specifically, we were interested in understanding the relationship between embodied engagement, which we define as the density of embodied actions during interaction with the exhibit, and the ways in which children (aged 3-6) communicate about their experience in a follow-up interview.

Methods, Materials, and Data Sources: The context for our research is an exhibit at a science museum in the southeast of the US. It provides children an opportunity to explore science content inspired by the Everglades. The exhibit consists of two water tables (outside) and a 270-degree, full body digital interactive (inside) that simulates a variety of elements of the Everglades, including the day-night cycle, animal behaviors, water flow, and plant life. Using their bodies, children can interact with the exhibit in a number of ways (e.g., touching trees, mimicking animals, placing logs to redirect water, chase a digital otter). Our research focuses on the extent to which kids engage in the exhibit with their body and gestures and how this engagement impacts the way they communicate about the relevant science concepts. Specifically, the exhibit design encourages certain types of movements and so our research explores the extent to which this kind of guided movement can act as a foundation for science understanding and communication.

Working together, practitioners from the science museum and educational psychology researchers collaborated to design and implement a study on how children interact with and are affected by the exhibit. Exhibit experiences and interviews were recorded using handheld cameras. To assess the level of embodied engagement present in children’s use of the exhibit, the team decided to adopt a gesture classification system originally designed for embodiment analysis in interview data (McNeill, 1992; McNeill & Levy, 1992). Given the difference between the original and our application of the coding scheme, it was necessary to adapt the classification strategy for the digital interactive space (Goodwin, 2007). This allowed us to capture more of the rich social context offered by the exhibit (parents, other children, staff) in the space as well as interactions with the digital exhibit itself.

Results and Significance: Preliminary analysis of our data suggested high levels of emotional engagement in the exhibit, with abundant expressions of positive emotions. Furthermore, parent involvement was found to be essential for embodied engagement with the exhibit. In other words, when parents demonstrated or directed the attention of children, there were more meaningful interactions with the exhibit. Lastly, our data also suggested that that children relied on the movements and gestures they used in the exhibit when talking about their experience in post-interviews.

Authors

• H. Chad Lane, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Ross Toedte, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Judy Brown, Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science

• Cheryl Juarez, Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science