NYC Media Lab / New York / 2018
Making space education fun and interactive.
Hubble is a mixed reality educational kit that combines an augmented reality experience with physical objects. It aims make abstract concepts more tangible for elementary students in the classroom.
Overview
Awarded a grant to explore using mixed reality in classrooms
In 2018, I along with three team members were awarded $10,000 grant to as a part of the Verizon Connected Futures Prototyping and Talent Development program under the category Social AR/VR in New York
Having a passion for EdTech and an excitement to explore on emerging technologies, we set out to create abstract concepts more tangible for elementary students in the classroom.
Role
Interaction design, strategy and prototyping
We were a team of four - 3 designers and 1 developer.
I defined the main idea, made quick prototypes to check and improve them, designed the screens, and did the woodworking to create the final product.
Research
For centuries, we’ve taught kids about dynamic topics with static objects.
These models are hard to understand, difficult to put together, and more importantly, don’t encourage play, and trap information inside the screen.
Books, diagrams, 3d models, and more recently, YouTube videos and websites seemed to be the primary ways kids learned about space. All of these mediums provided great information, but they tended to focus on either physical interaction or providing information with little bridge between the two. While some good apps do exist, kids don’t have enough opportunities to engage outside of a screen.
Why Don't They Work?
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🧱 Lessons are too structured
These methods don’t work effectively as each student has a unique learning method and grasping capacity - while some prefer merely listening to teachers, others understand more visually.
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🔁 They offer minimal feedback.
If a teacher just stands there talking to the class, there’s no real way to know whether students fully understand the subject until assignments are graded or test time rolls around.
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⏳ Planning is time consuming
We discovered some fantastic craft projects designed for kids to help teach this material, which were fun and captivating for kids, but took a lot of planning and organizing for parents or teachers to pull off.
Design Principles
🧑🏫
Design for teachers
Design a tool for teachers that helps them explain complex topics to students
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Focus on engagement
Use simple interactions that keep kids engaged
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Increase collaboration
Increase collaboration in classroom among students
What if a globe could offer more?
Our goal was to incorporate the best elements from traditional classroom education and emerging tech. So we started asking ourselves - what if we leveraged the familiar interaction of spinning the globe in our solution?
The journey
After talking to a few elementary school teachers, we locked down the curriculum and mapped out the journey. For our prototype we focused on three different lessons and a unit quiz.
Validating through rapid prototyping
Once we had a structure for lessons and quiz, we tested the concept with a paper prototype. While our initial concept was to have a multiplayer quiz, our rapid prototype revealed that people enjoyed solving problems together rather than against each other. This also left room for discussion.
Bringing it all together through storytelling
Through our discussion with teachers we also found that we needed an over arching story to keep kids engaged. We introduced a character, named Hubble the space explorer, to our experience that takes off to explore the space from the Earth in a space rocket. We realized that this would help kids understand the difference between what they see on earth versus the view from space.
We also created the unit quiz where kids are astronauts on a space mission trying to get home. They need to answer three questions to find their landing zone.
Choosing the right technology
We initially studied two other technologies: iPad and Kinect. We wanted to understand different possibilities of physical and digital elements being used together. We eventually locked down on using LEAP motion for gesture tracking. We also created a 3D environment on which the gestures would be mapped.
We also wanted to add another dimension for Earth to provide an experience for students and teachers that combined the layered information of a digital application with the tactile x of using 3D models. To achieve this we added a dome to the interface. After exploring different sizes and shapes, we modeled the prototype in Fusion360 and then CNC-ed the final prototype in wood.
Design iterations
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We started minimal UI with no prompts assuming teachers would be taking control
Iteration 1: Letting the teacher lead the sessions and use the device/tool in the way they best see fit their classroom environment
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We learnt that kids need multiple reinforcements to understand what was going on.
Iteration 2: So, we added information about the mission and added the position of the earth with respect to sun to correlate it back to the familiar diagram they see in their books
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We heard that some amount of instructions were needed to know that you could rotate the globe
Iteration 3: Since it’s a new tool, we added extra instructions to make sure teachers and kids knew how to interact with the solution. We also simplified the visual to reduce confusion
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Our final iteration used the whole space to display relevant info properly.
Iteration 4: Eg. showing the view on the globe, placing instructions at the bottom. So the UI was easy to understand
Hosting A Play Test With Kids
We arrived at our final interface and setup after play testing our solution with educators and kids age 6-10. During our play test the biggest questions we received were: "How many questions are there?", "Where is the hint?" and "Where are the hints?"
This is when we realized that we needed to make our UI not only simple but slightly exaggerated to make sure kids were not lost at any time. This was our biggest learning from the project.
Final Screens
Our final screens were of the unit quiz. In the quiz, kids are astronauts on a space mission trying to get home. They need to answer three questions to find their landing zone. When they receive a clue, they are prompted to move the earth, which gets it spinning.
As the child moves the earth, it orbits around the sun and the season or time of day changes accordingly.Kids can check their answer by hitting a big red button which is a big physical button on the table.
After they answer all the questions, their mission is successful and their landing zone is revealed.
Presenting at Frog Design and NYC Media Lab
We designed this experience as a tool for teachers to explain complex concepts to their class. Hubble fits into existing space curriculum, helping teachers reinforce important concepts and vocabulary. We envision teachers leading their students through the experience before they adventure on their own.
For our final proof of concept we used video prototypes and shifted between lessons remotely. We presented the final proof of concept and received incredible feedback.
Key Learnings
Rules for designing for large surfaces - the UX guidelines completely change
Designing for kids requires experiences to be over exaggerated and simplified
Rapid Prototyping to test idea
Environment can be an active participant in your experience as well!
3D Modeling using Fusion 360
Understanding how to design experience with gestures
