Multimodal Analysis of Preschool Children's Embodied Interaction with a Tangible Programming Environment

Direct physical interaction with the world is a key constituting factor of cognitive development during childhood. Computational technologies, such as Tangible User Interfaces (TUI), offer opportunities for physically mediated interaction in learning environments, exploiting more embodied forms of interaction through hands-on physical manipulation and exploration. Many studies have introduced young children to programming by tangibles programming environments, although they do not address the effects of embodied interaction in the learning experience. In this paper, we present a case study conducted to introduce preschool children into programming through TaPrEC+mBot, an environment that allows programming of a robot car by arranging wooden programming blocks. Drawing on the multimodal method of analysis, we investigate the embodied interaction of the children with the TaPrEC+mBot to examine if and how the embodied forms of interaction shape the learning experience. The analysis shows the role of body position, gaze, manipulation, and speech, in terms of how these aspects support the construction of strategies to tangible programs; also the implications of this interaction in the meaning-making process.