From Touch to Understanding: Tangible Design for Teaching Science - Exhibit for Teaching Scientific Scales to Adolescents

Sammanfattning

This thesis investigates how interactive installations at science centres can be designed, with tangible interaction as a focus, to increase science capital and teachadolescence between age 10 to 15 about scientific scales. The project was conducted in collaboration with Onsala Space Observatory and their visitor centre toredesign and improve an existing installation about scientific scales and magnitudes.A Research through Design approach was followed using iterative prototyping, usertesting and semi-structured group interviews. The prototypes have been designedbased on feedback from user testing with visiting school classes and a combinationof researched theories such as experiential learning and gamification. The resultsshowed that the implementation of tangible interaction, tasks driven by collaborative problem solving and clear visual communication positively influences theengagement from visitors and the installations independency from requiring a facilitator. It became very clear that intuitive interaction design and clear instructionsare a important part of lowering the entry threshold for participation in informallearning environments. Ultimately, this project empathises that creating interactivescientific installations is not only about presenting scientific facts, but also aboutdesigning meaningful experiences that encourage young visitors to explore and engage with science in their own way, where tangible interaction serves as an effectiveapproach for supporting such engagement.