We are born able to manipulate objects tangibly with little cognitive effort. But unfortunately, most interfaces have relied on a limited variety of physical objects and a limited range of our
abilities; it blocks many of our natural abilities and forces complexity upon us.
Here is an example: young children can build complex shapes using physical building blocks, sand or snow. However, few adult computer users can design even relatively simple 3D
structures using Computer Aided Design (CAD) software. The reason is the lack of an interface
that can fully exploit human spatiality, our innate ability to act in physical space and to interact
with physical objects (Sharlin and Watson 2004). Arguably, many classic computer interactions
offer very limited stimuli, little freedom to behave and low ecological validity (that is, little
relevance to normal, everyday human behaviour in the real world). It is commonly believed that physical action is important in learning, and tangible objects are
thought to provide different kinds of opportunities for reasoning about the world. Designing TUI
for children s learning has its practical and scientific relevance. Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) can be employed to improve existing learning tasks. Also it is
can be an alternative to GUI to allow direct manipulations: children will be able to control the
system and navigate through info by selecting and positioning physical objects not just
representations. Last but not least, TUIs can be used for Computer Supported Collaborated Work
(CSCW) to encourage collaboration between groups of children. The research can improve the
scientific understanding of the new interactions for all users. What is required for this new technology? Druin et al. (1999), pointed out that what children
want in technology are: control, social experiences and expressive tool. The technology should
support their curiosities, their love of repetition and their need for control (Druin and Solomon
1996). When we design a TUI, we should consider all these factors and include them into our
design.
This research project will involves designing and evaluating of children s TUI. Children are
involved in the design process. There can be several sets of trials and iterations before the final
prototype.