As you may be aware of my interest in natural input and the direct maipulation of virtual objects in education by my work with the Edusim project (http://edusim3d.com). Natural input is the concept of using natural type of movements to interact with digital devices. Direct manipulation is the concept of moving, creating and manipulating virtual objects with your hands. Another interest of mine is stereographics, making objects on a surface appear to “stick out” by the use of red/blue shading and red/blue glasses. In the future combined with nono-technology the screens could perhaps react with physical textures… but until then, we have haptics. As described here – [tinyurl.com] (at computerworld.com).
Haptics is essentially a device that reacts to the input you give it:
When playing Halo 3 on your Xbox 360, or other games on other consoles, your handheld game controller shakes and rumbles to coincide with on-screen explosions, crashes, gunshots and grenade detonations.
It’s called haptics, or force feedback. In gaming and virtual reality, haptics boost realism by adding a third sense — touch — to augment vision and hearing.
A new generation of cell phones, as well as other gadgets, is introducing haptics. The purpose isn’t to add realism, but to provide psychologically satisfying information about precisely when a button is pushed.
I can envision a surface in the future using an Edusim type of system in the school environment with not only direct manipulation, natural input, and stereographics, but also haptics to provide the little extra bit of information the student might respond to !
The President has recently endorsed not only 3D printing technology in the latest state of the union address, but also is seen here in a Google Hangout endorsing a computer programming language for high school students.
I seen the Hummingbird Labs demo, its a very very new approach to
robotics & “electronic textiles” - http://www.hummingbirdkit.com/?q=content/example-robots … its very
cool because it can be programmed with Snap (an iteration of the
Scratch visual programming environment) … its more expensive ($199
for one kit but has 3 motors, 5 sensors, & 5 LEDs ! ! !) than the Lego
WeDo ($120 but only has one motor & 2 sensors) kit but has been
deployed in several pilot studies to get and keep girls interested in
robotics, electronics, & programming because it has a “crafty”
approach to projects that girls (in studies) tend find more
It reminds me a lot of the Arduino, except a more polished version …
I am tempted to suggest this could absolutely swap out any Mindstorm
or WeDo exercises we might imagine because of its relative “Low floor
& High Ceiling” to using it and creating projects with it.
If you woud be interested in any student projects that a tool like
this may offer I would love to explore the idea with you.
My Natural User Interface credentials go back a ways with Edusim & the 3D/Interactive Surface work, back to 2007 to be exact. I am always excited when I see this field evolve ! The Leap Motion Sensor is nothing extremely new to those in the NUI field … what is new is the $70 price point and what appears to be very precise finger tracking …. This will bring natural 3D virtual object interaction a long ways in the coming years !
One survey of student attitudes towards STEM found that “it is almost universal that mathematics and science is seen as boring and not related to real life” – Enter SparkTruck
One longitudinal study
found that SparkTruck experience with high school scientific research bumped the actual decision to choose a career in science about 13%. SparkTruck is only an afternoon with some fun tools. So, as far as workable solutions go, it’s a relatively solid (and inexpensive) solution.