THESIS Project: SVA Interaction Design
How might we leverage AR to teach abstract physics concepts to high school students?
Problem
9th graders in NYC public schools are all currently required to take physics classes, where students learn introductory mechanics and kinematics concepts. However, these concepts are often abstract and difficult to connect with their formulas. Only a third of US 9th graders are considered proficient in science and math. How might we help these students to understand how abstract concepts and their underlying formulas work?
SOLUTION
Newton is an AR tool which teaches abstract physics concepts to students through homework help, and activities. This project won the Paula Rhodes Memorial Award. This award honors Master's degree candidates at SVA, whose work is deemed exceptional by their chair and faculty.
Scope: Sept 2018 to May 2018
Categories: UX Research, AR Design,
Role: Individual Thesis Project
Tools: Vuforia, Unity, Sketch, Principle, Photoshop, Torch AR
Awards: SVA Alumni Scholarship Grant, Paula Rhodes Memorial Award
Advisor: Latoye Adams (President of the Children’s Media Association)
GUIDED LESSONS WITH NEWTON
Newton is a companion who will walk the student through guided lessons that employ a trial and error based method. The student will primarily interact with Newton, who will ask questions to guide the student to review material that has been learned in class.
SOLVING TEXT BASED PROBLEMS
Through my research, I found that many students had difficulty solving the word problems that were typically given to them. Even if they tried out a formula, often they were just plugging and chugging without actually understanding why they were using those formulas and concepts. In this first step, the student first scans the homework problem.
VISUALIZING SCENARIOS
In this screen below, the student has successfully scanned the problem. The airplane in the question is now visualized in front of the student. In addition, all of the variables attributed to the object are also displayed in tandem with the physical objects.
PROBLEM STEP-BY-STEP BREAKDOWN
In addition to visualizing the problem, Newton makes another appearance, walking the student through what variables they already have, what information they are trying to solve for, and then finally, what formula might help them to achieve this goal. This step by step breakdown makes it easy for the student to think through the problem solving process by training them to understand how to approach these problems.
MANIPULATING VARIABLES
In addition to lessons and visualizations, I am doing explorations on methods of interaction that would allow students to manipulate characteristics such as mass, gravity, and friction. One possible interaction is a slider interaction, while another is to take an everyday object and create it into a dial.
This project is still a work in progress. Stay tuned for a more detailed case study and process book. I will also be presenting this project for a thesis defense and final exhibition and presentation in May 2019.
This project won the Paula Rhodes Memorial Award. This award honors Master's degree candidates at SVA, whose work is deemed exceptional by their chair and faculty.