Designing the LIT KIT, an interactive, environmental, cyber-physical artifact enhancing children's picture-book reading

Abstract

The outcome of a multidisciplinary and iterative process, the LIT KIT is a portable, cyber-physical artifact supporting children's picture-book reading. The LIT KIT follows from the hypothesis that children's literacy can be advanced in a tangible, co-creative environment that is both physical and digital. The LIT KIT employs color, sound and movement to scaffold meaning-making through the creation of an environment that is evocative of the picture-book being read. Designed with a Sifteo TM cube [16] interface, the LIT KIT creates room-scaled audio-visual and spatial effects to both contextualize language and provide feedback during dialogical interactions between a child and an adult reader. Children can customize the LIT KIT settings to actively interpret the ideas, concepts and environments inherent in the picture-book's words and images. The LIT KIT is an outreach component, for home or classroom use, of our developing roomscaled LIT ROOM for a major public library. Presented here are motivations for the LIT KIT, and an elaboration of its design and development. Usability evaluations have begun and continue, as we further the prototype with expected completion in Summer 2013.

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“…Sifteo Cubes are blocks (based on the timeless play patterns of Legos, building blocks, and domino tiles), which communicate wirelessly and respond to each other. LIT KIT experience provides children an opportunity to interact with digital and robotic artifacts within a real, physical environment that transforms words into worlds [ 26 ].…”