Cristina Sylla

University of Minho · Research Centre on Child Studies

One of the main reasons why children’s reading is compromised in digital books are poorly designed hotspots – interaction areas. This study describes the development of a method to evaluate children’s and mediators’ experience while reading digital books on mobile interaction devices (MIDs). We reviewed and extended a set of metrics to assess the r...

En este artículo nos proponemos realizar una aportación a la caracterización de la multimodalidad de los textos digitales, específicamente en lo que se refiere a la comprensión de cómo funcionan las modalidades de representación en la construcción del posicionamiento lector en una narración digital interactiva. Presentamos el análisis del discurso...

A significant progress in technological support aroused a general interest in areas such as data visualization, augmented and virtual reality, and artificial intelligence. The innovative capabilities of these technologies increased the potential and relevance of data visualization and interaction services. Traditional teaching and learning methods...

Currently, there is a generation of children that tend to be exposed from a very early age to digital media, especially in the most economically and culturally developed societies. Thus, it is necessary to think about ways in which technology can contribute to learning, namely by seeking to converge the recreational component with the educational w...

Marketers are constantly exploring the best communication channels to deliver the best possible message to their targets. Therefore, technological advances are continuously shaping communications, especially in digital environments. Bidirectional and interactive dimensions characterize digital media communications. This study explores relevant lite...

We present and discuss the concept ‘narrating by doing’ as the process of creating narratives by performing different embodied actions with tangible interfaces for storytelling. We characterize it as a ‘bridging concept’ that can facilitate exchange between theory and design, informing research and design of TUIs for storytelling targeting young ch...

Smart toys are regarded as able to offer possibilities to develop social, cognitive, and behavioural skills (among others); however, while appealing, such claims are not yet substantiated by rigorous and sufficient scientific evidence. The first edition of the workshop on Smart Toys, Smart Tangibles, Robots and other Smart Things for Children took...

RESUMO Este capítulo apresenta uma proposta de estratégia para a integração da aprendizagem ativa com recurso a um jogo digital na sala de aula de matemática. O jogo usa a Realidade Aumentada (RA) para visualizar, manipular e explorar conceitos como as funções Afim e Quadrática. O recurso designado por FootMath, simula um jogo de futebol 3D, onde o...

In this paper, we present a descriptive case study of the Mobeybou materials, a kit of tangible and digital tools aimed at offering young children opportunities to read, create and share intercultural stories. The tools comprise a set of story apps that present interactive, multimodal and intercultural stories for children to make meanings with, a...

This paper presents the development of a low-cost tangible interface to enhance children’s learning through collaborative storytelling, using a set of movable blocks, with a high degree of autonomy and the ability to exchange information which other. Taking into account the context of the existing game model and on the basis of which this study was...

This paper discusses the contribution of Design in the development of a kit of tangible and multimedia tools for children to collaboratively read and create stories about the world. Here, we detail the design process, including the investigation of visual concepts, the prototyping and the user studies carried out during the development of the tools...

Differently from traditional narratives, which focus on the output, i.e. the oral or written text, interactive digital narratives provide a more holistic view of the storytelling process, considering as integral part of it the system, the user, the process and the output. In this framework, the procedural nature of IDN as a reactive and generative...

A technical and conceptual framework is currently under development to augment the activity of reading at schools with digital media such as images, sounds and light effects. The technical framework is STREEN (Story Reading Environmental Enrichment). In this paper, we present IRIS, the pedagogical conceptual framework that describes how to employ S...

When we think of educational games or apps, data analysis is not what comes first to our mind. However, a fundamental feature of all types of games/apps is the data. When playing, the system is constantly collecting data from the users, about the current state of the game and making predictions and decisions based on that data. This is what data an...

Interactive story apps are becoming popular, especially among children. Due to its multimodality, interactive story apps offer a good opportunity to promote the development of cognitive and language skills. Here, we present the theoretical framework and the initial design decisions that support the development of a pedagogical game, which aims at e...

This chapter presents the development of a low-cost tangible interface to enhance children's learning through collaborative storytelling, using a set of movable blocks, with a high degree of autonomy and the ability to exchange information with each other. Taking into account the context of the existing game model and on the basis of which this stu...

This book constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings the 5th EAI International Conference on DLI 2020, Design, Leaning and Innovation, which took place in December 2020. Due to COVID-19 pandemic the conference was held virtually. The 14 revised full papers presented were carefully selected from 40 submissions and are organized in four the...

When we think of educational games or apps, data analysis is not what comes first to our mind. However, a fundamental feature of all types of games/apps is the data. When playing, the system is constantly collecting data from the users, about the current state of the game and making predictions and decisions based on that data. This is what data an...

Interactive digital narrative (IDN) has characteristics that challenge the traditional assumptions about narratives, in this sense IDN is defined as composed of system, process, and product, in a model which highlights the procedural nature of IDN as a reactive and generative system [14]. In this paper, we argue that educational applications of IDN...

A story app is a children’s digital book which takes advantage of the multimedia and multimodality resources of mobile interaction devices. However, the poorly design of the interactive areas (hotspots) in story apps can compromise the reading activity and children’s literacy acquisition. This is even more serious in mediated reading between childr...

CodeCubes is interface that uses Augmented Reality to stimulate Computational Thinking in young students. The visual programming blocks are replaced by paper cubes that have an Augmented Reality marker on each face. Each marker represents a programming instruction. The game is composed of three levels. It consists of programming a car course in a r...

This article presents the results obtained from an experiment using an Augmented Reality (AR) serious game for learning mathematical functions in middle school, in contexts that resort to Game Based Learning. A serious game was created specifically for this purpose and allowed to conduct an exploratory study with a quantitative and qualitative meth...

Este artigo apresenta um estudo exploratório realizado com professores de matemática e de informática do ensino básico e secundário. Pretendeu-se perceber a perspetiva destes dois grupos de professores, relativamente à utilização de aplicações (apps) com interação tangível baseada na tecnologia de Realidade Aumentada (RA) no ensino da matemática. F...

When animating characters, the animator’s role resembles the one of a puppeteer – by controlling the characters, s/he translates concepts into movements. Her/his work will give form to the characters’ personalities and unfold the stories’ atmosphere. Rhythm, timing, intensity, etc. rely on how the animation is done. That is true for linear animatio...

This paper presents a study carried out with a group of students from a robotic club, where they have used CodeCubes, a hybrid interface that combines physical paper cubes with Augmented Reality (AR). CodeCubes, intends to promote computational thinking through exploration and experimentation. The intervention, which we report here aimed at assessi...

Finding the correct hotspots when interacting with digital picturebooks is oft challenging for children. Here, we present an exploratory study carried out with a group of third graders to inform the design of hotspot icons for a children’s digital picturebook. Based on a selection and analysis of the most commonly used icons in digital picturebooks...

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Technology, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Education, TIE 2019, held in Braga, Portugal, in October 2019. The 11 full and 2 short papers focus on emerging technologies for education, entertainment, well-being, creativity, arts and business development. In additi...

O design mal planejado das áreas de interação, hotspots, nos aplicativos de histórias é um dos principais fatores responsáveis por comprometer a leitura das crianças, o que pode ser ainda mais problemático na leitura mediada com pais, uma vez que os hotspots podem oferecer barreiras ao mediador que pode se sentir desnecessário devido aos recursos d...

This paper presents a study carried out with a group of students from a robotic club, where they have used CodeCubes, a hybrid interface that combines physical paper cubes with Augmented Reality (AR). CodeCubes, intends to promote computational thinking through exploration and experimentation. The intervention, which we report here aimed at to asse...

In user studies with children, it is important to use age appropriate evaluation tools to better understand their preferences, opinions, and thoughts. Here, we studied two accepted evaluation tools: The Five Degrees of Happiness, and the Sticky Ladder rating scale; together with the Paper Ladder, a paper version of the latter. Thirty-six preschoole...

Há quase uma década os livros infantis digitais têm sido publicados na forma de aplicativos para serem lidos em dispositivos móveis de interação, como tablets e smartphones. Apesar de existirem severas críticas sobre a inclusão desmedida ou mal projetada de interações em livros infantis digitais, ainda não existem um conjunto de recomendações ou um...

Here, we present the visual development of a digital manipulative that promotes creative storytelling among young children. The tool addresses multiculturalism, by presenting children with story elements from different cultures. We reflected on how to create visual elements that both represent a given culture and foster the children’s imagination a...

Here, we present the visual development of a digital manipulative that promotes creative storytelling among young children. The tool addresses multiculturalism, by presenting children with story elements from different cultures. We reflected on how to create visual elements that both represent a given culture and foster the children’s imagination a...

This paper presents the evolution of the visual development process for a digital manipulative that promotes multicultural awareness through creative storytelling. It presents children with a variety of characters, objects and landscapes from various cultures around the world. We reflected on three different approaches to the process of visual deve...

This paper presents and discusses the preliminary findings of a research focusing on the design and use of Mobeybou, a digital manipulative aimed at promoting the collaborative creation of multicultural and cross-cultural stories among young children. We frame the research in the wider discussion of the 21st century skills and competencies, and pre...

Animating for an interactive device requires a thorough planning and task division from the creative team, regarding character design and behaviors. This paper outlines the development of a set of characters and its anima-tions for an interactive game with a digital manipulative (DM) that intends to foster children's creativity and storytelling com...

This paper presents a first prototype of Mobeybou, a Digital Manipulative that uses physical blocks to interact with digital content. It intends to create an environment for promoting the development of language and narrative competences as well as digital literacy among pre and primary school children. Mobeybou offers a variety of characters, obje...

Mobeybou, is a digital manipulative (DM) that uses physical blocks to interact with digital content. It intends to create an environment for promoting the development of language and narrative competences as well as digital literacy among pre and primary school children. It offers a variety of characters, objects and landscapes from various culture...

This article presents the development of a serious game targeting secondary school students, that uses Augmented Reality (AR) to visualize, manipulate and explore mathematical concepts, particularly linear, quadratic, exponential and trigonometric (sine and cosine) functions. The motivation behind the development of the AR application was to provid...

We present the concept, design and first prototype of CodeCubes, a hybrid interface that combines physical paper cubes with Augmented Reality (AR) for promoting computational thinking. Additionally, we reflect on the potential of combining digital games with new interaction paradigms in the context of the classroom for introducing students to progr...

Os livros infantis digitais, diferentemente dos livros digitalizados, proporcionam recursos interativos que podem alterar significativamente a experiência do leitor com a narrativa literária. Apesar de existirem críticas severas sobre a inclusão desmedida ou mal projetada de interações em livros infantis digitais, faltam orientações para o design d...

We present the concept, design and first prototype of CodeCubes, a hybrid interface that combines physical paper cubes with Augmented Reality (AR) for promoting computational thinking. Additionally, we reflect on the potential of combining digital games with new interaction paradigms in the context of the classroom for introducing students to progr...

CodeCubes - Playing with Cubes and Learning to Code In book: Interactivity, Game Creation, Design, Learning, and Innovation. ArtsIT 2018, DLI 2018. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications EngineeringChapter: CodeCubes - Playing with Cubes and Learning to CodePublisher: Springer

In the present context of the popularization of mobile interactive devices (MIDs), such as tablets and smartphones, the publication of picturebooks in the form of applicative (apps) stands out in relation to other e-book formats. A picturebook app is a software designed to take advantage of the multimedia and multimodality of MIDs, allowing for a r...

This study discusses how visual narrative in children's electronic books can benefit from research findings on children's literature. In this paper we discuss the concept of interactivity in the context of ebooks as a resource that adds multimodal stimulus to visual narratives. Based on the work from Nikolajeva and Scott, we focus on three aspects...

This article presents a body of work developed to focus on the development of innovative learning materials that promote young children's exploration and collaborative playful learning that have been deeply inspired by Seymour Papert. Through this contribution, we highlight how his research and published concepts have had a fundamental influence up...

This paper presents the development of an augmented reality (AR) application for visualizing the five convex-regular polyhedrons, known as platonic solids. The application provides a virtual interactive environment for the visualization, construction, deconstruction and manipulation of these polyhedrons, allowing users to explore the properties of...

The Reader's Theatre (RT) is a pedagogical activity, in which the children read aloud to an audience. Prior research established that the RT can be used to foster reading fluency and ultimately to increase reading skills [11]. However, this activity still has the margin to grow its potential. One way to support and empower children in this pedagogi...

The design of Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) has often involved children. Nowadays, the term co-creation is gaining momentum and extending the already established role of children as co-designers. In this sense children become creators of new personalized experiences not only during the design process but also when using the final interactive prod...

Este artigo discute o potencial dos jogos digitais como ferramentas motivadoras para a aprendizagem da matemática, bem como a sua aplicação na sala de aula. Apresentamos o design e desenvolvimento de THAM, um jogo digital para a aprendizagem de funções matemáticas básicas, visando alunos do 8º e 9º ano de escolaridade. Descrevemos também o seu pote...

In this paper, we present an ongoing project named STREEN (Story Reading Environmental Enrichment). The project explores a concept of augmented reading focusing on a smart environment that is able to automatically trigger digital media enrichments depending on the reading performance and the narrative. By creating an engaging and immersive reading...

This workshop aims to explore challenges and potential opportunities in bringing interactive digital storytelling into the realm of tangible and embodied interaction. To this end, experts from both fields are invited to present and discuss their ideas. Besides fostering discussion and potential collaborations, the goal is to come up with new and su...

We present Paper Ladder, a low-cost, light-weight, and paper-based variant of the Sticky Ladder rating scale to collect children's product preferences in user studies. This paper version revamps the original, effective but arguably impractical evaluation method by making it more accessible to researchers. In this paper, we show its potential with p...

Augmented e-books employ digital media to enhance the reading experience, and although they have the potential to promote the reader's engagement, so far the possibilities afforded by these technologies have been underexplored. In this article, we study the potential of literally transforming the space where reading takes place, in order to create...

We present a novel color-coded feedback method that highlights the types of corrections made by autocorrections. We then present results of a longitudinal user study with 7-8-year-old children that compared the new method with the conventional autocorrection feedback method, in terms of leaning new words and spelling. Results suggested that the new...

Tag-IT is an interface that consists of a module and a set of tags in which children can record and then playback audio, the tags can be attached to objects and surfaces.

In this paper we present Tag-IT an interface that consists of a module and a set of tags in which children can record and then playback audio, the tags can be attached to objects and surfaces. Tag-IT allows users to create their own digital content without the need of a computer, which makes it flexible for various contexts. Tag-IT was used in a wo...

This paper describes the reengineering of a tangible interface to promote children’s collaborative playful exploration of the oral language. The new version of the interface is composed by 12 client modules and a server module; each module has a slot on the top surface for placing paper cards (that can be customized) and a surface for drawing on th...

This workshop aims at stimulating children’s oral language skills by involving them on playing and creating different language games or activities using the t-stories interface. The interface allows recording and playing audio on the t- stories’ modules, as well as recording and playing based on identification with NFC tags that can be used as stic...

The study reported here aims at contributing to a deeper understanding of the educational possibilities offered by digital manipulatives in preschool contexts. It presents a study carried with a digital manipulative to enhance the development of lexical knowledge and language awareness, which are relevant language abilities for formal literacy lear...

Research has identified a need for design of interactive products for children, as well as long-term studies that investigate the effects of its use in the classroom environment. Following the design and development of a digital manipulative system for storytelling, which involved preschool children and teachers, the investigation presented here re...

Children’s imagination and their natural need for exploration and discovery can be stimulated when they are in contact with rich contexts and environments (Van Scoter et al. 2001; Van Scoter 2008); this inherent tendency offers an enormous opportunity for researchers and designers to develop tools that unleash children’s potential, involving them i...

This paper presents a study of the use of a digital manipulative developed to promote creative narrative construction and storytelling. The study was carried with 27 groups of preschoolers, of five years of age, who interacted with the digital manipulative during free-play time, during a period of six months. The study sought to access aspects of c...

We present a mixed-reality interface, in which a carrousel-like platform carries a set of wooden figures from the physical world into a game running inside a tablet, bringing them back to the physical world again by further rotating the platform. The wooden figurines allow young children to manipulate and play with them, working at the same time as...

This workshop aims at stimulating children’s creative thinking, involving them on drawing their own original graphic-narratives. We propose to challenge children to create and draw a story for an empty book as well as the corresponding digital content, which will be triggered through the interaction with the physical book. The task involves imagini...

The Kathmandu kids workshops at Advances in Computer Entertainment (ACE) brought together local children and leading entertainment media researchers from around the world in a daylong exploration of how children interact with and think about the latest innovations in computer entertainment and what these innovations or the lack thereof mean to thei...

This work discusses a tangible interface for storytelling that targets pre-school children and offers a playful experimental space where children can create their own narratives by placing tangible picture-blocks on an electronic board. We present the system and report on the findings, describing the extent to which this interface can motivate and...

In this paper, we present results of two user studies that compared the performance of touch-based and pen-based gesture input on capacitive touchscreens for both adult and 8-11 years old child users. Results showed that inputting gestures with pen was significantly faster and more accurate than touch for adult users. However, no significant effect...

It has been 20 years since Pierre Wellner published the article Interacting with paper on the digital desk [1] where he challenges us to imagine a space where “Instead of replacing paper with computers we could enhance paper with computation”. Two decades after, we see the development of multiple projects that expand the expressive possibilities of...

This paper describes research on designing a tangible system for collaborative storytelling, which addresses preschool children. The first part of the work focused on creating a tangible interface, for children aged four to five years, proposing to create a playful experimental space where children can collaboratively engage in creating their own m...

In this paper, we present results of two user studies that compared the performance of touch-based and pen-based gesture input on capacitive touchscreens for both adult and 8-11 years old child users. Results showed that inputting gestures with pen was significantly faster and more accurate than touch for adult users. However, no significant effect...

In this paper we describe t-words (tangible words) an interface that consists of rectangular blocks in which children can record and then playback audio. The blocks can then be snapped together playing the recorded audio in a sequence, by reordering the blocks in different ways the audio sequence changes according to the order of the blocks. t-word...

This work presents an ongoing study of the design and development of a physical interface that addresses storytelling. The current prototype is the result of several design iterations with four to five years old preschoolers and six preschool teachers. The interaction model was motivated by findings from research on tangible user interfaces as well...

We present t-words an interface for children to playful explore sounds, words and sentences while developing pre-literate skills. The interface consists of rectangular blocks in which children can record and then play the recorded audio. Additionally children can personalize the blocks by drawing on their surface. Children can engage in different l...