Current Research

Mind-Full: Neurofeedback Tablet Games for Self Regulation

Funded by NSERC Discovery, NSERC Accelerate, GRAND NCE and MSR

This project began in conjunction with Nepal House Society, an NGO that works with children living in poverty in Pokara, Nepal. The main research outcome is to develop EEG headband and tablet based neurofeedback games that help children who have suffered trauma, or have challenges with attention or anxiety, to improve their ability to self-regulate their anxiety and attention in order to learn more effectively at school. After a successful solution was deployed and evaluated in Nepal, we built two new versions. We are currently running studies with young children in schools Burnaby (SD41), Canada. We have also developed a First Nations version and are looking for a research site. The application can also be modified and used to help individuals with different levels of trauma such as child soldiers, children with chronic pain or children with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). Look for an upcoming TEDx talk!

ʔeləw̓k̓ʷ – Belongings: A Tangible Table in c̓əsnaʔəm, the city before the city

In conjunction with “Making Culture Lab” 

Funded by the Musqueam Indian Band, the Museum of Vancouver, and the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia

Belongings uses tangible replicas of Musqueam belongings excavated from c̓əsnaʔəm, as well as contemporary objects that are a part of everyday Musqueam life to represent the long history of salmon fishing and the continuity of related knowledge at c̓əsnaʔəm. Drawing on contemporary community voices and Musqueam’s ancestral language hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, each replica has its own story to tell.

Phono Blocks: A Multi-Sensory, Tangible Reading System for Children with Dyslexia

Funded by GRAND NCE and McDonnell Foundation

New technologies, such as tangibles and touch tablets with haptic feedback, may provide solutions for helping dyslexic children learn to read. Tangible letters that can be encoded with graphical or haptic information may enable dyslexic children to better decode them. For example, color coding, used by syntheses, may enable reliable 2D decoding. Haptic feedback can be used to encode letters with signature movements. In this project we are exploring these strategies and others. The main research outcome is to determine if any of these strategies improve reading outcomes for dyslexic children.

Funded by SSRHC, NSERC, PICS and GRAND NCE

Youtopia is a hybrid tangible and multi-touch land use planning activity for elementary school aged children implemented on a Pixelsense Surface tabletop. Youtopia was developed to investigate issues surrounding how to design and evaluate children’s collaborative learning applications using digital tabletops. In particular we are looking at how the interface design supports in depth discussion and negotiation between pairs of children around issues in sustainable development. Youtopia was also developed around a model of behavior change called "Emergent Dialogue" that may enable children to discuss how they own values, attitudes and behaviors impact sustainable living.

Funded by SSHRC Int. Opp. Fund and GRAND NCE

Winner of the DEVICE (Design for Vulnerable Generations) Best Practice Award

There is a wealth of theoretical knowledge about the developmental abilities and skills of children. However, this knowledge is not readily accessible to designers of interactive products. In this project, we are developing and evaluating developmentally situated design (DSD) cards. DSD cards are a design tool that makes age specific information about children’s developing cognitive, physical, social, and emotional abilities readily accessible for designers.

Funded by NSERC

What does it mean for interaction with computers to be intuitive? Intuitive thinking is fast, unconscious and automatic. Rational thinking is slow, deliberate and conscious. Some intuitive thinking may be grounded in bodily experiences, as explained by conceptual metaphor theory. This research explores how the structures between image schemata and metaphorically related concepts can be used to design interaction with new systems that are intuitive to use and may bootstrap abstract thinking through movement...

Funded by SSHRC RDI, NSERC RTI and GRAND NCE

Humans are masters of making difficult cognitive tasks easier by using their hands to structure the environment – think of how you might leave objects you need to take with you by the door or make a pile of edges pieces in a jigsaw puzzle...

Funded by GRAND NCE, PICS and SSHRC 4A

What key factors in the design of a collaborative, multi-touch tabletop games create opportunities for learning, reflection and discussion? We use four theoretical perspectives as lenses through which we conceptualize our design intentions and inform our analysis. These perspectives are: experiential learning, constructivist learning, collaborative learning, and game theory.