Morphing robotic environment shaped by and shaping kindergarteners, reaching for the stars

Abstract

Our world is digital, physical, social and technological. Informal learning environments that are likewise digital, physical, social and technological have the potential to afford children with creative, informal learning explorations. Following from Antle's concept of "embodied child-computer interaction" and Vygotsky's "cycle of creative imagination," we demonstrate an intelligent, robotic informal learning environment at room-scale targeted for K-3 visitors to a regional children's museum. Our reconfigurable environment is, in essence, co-adaptive, allowing the physical learning environment and young students to mutually change and develop through iterative interactions.