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When Screen Time Isn’t Screen Time: Tensions and Needs Between Tweens and Their Parents During Nature-Based Exploration
Figure 1: Screens of the NatureCollection app 1: Onboarding “What are your interests?” 2: Homepage 3: My Collections 4: Classification 5: Challenges We investigated the experiences of 15 parents and their tween children (ages 8-12, n=23) during nature explorations using the NatureCollections app, a mobile application that connects children with nature. Drawing on parent interviews and in-app audio recordings from a 2-week deployment study, we found that tweens’ experiences with the NatureCollections app were influenced by tensions surrounding how parents and tweens negotiate technology use more broadly. Despite these tensions, the app succeeded in engaging tweens in outdoor nature explorations, and parents valued the shared family experiences around nature. Parents desired the app to support family bonding and inform them about how their tween used the app. This work shows how applications intended to support enriching youth experiences are experienced in the context of screen time tensions between parents and tween during a transitional period of child development. We offer recommendations for designing digital experiences to support family needs and reduce screen time tensions.
Read more“Otter this World”: Can a Mobile Application Promote Children’s Connectedness to Nature?
Can a mobile application encourage children to spend more time outdoors and promote their connectedness to nature? In this paper, we present results from a three-week experimental deployment study of NatureCollections, a mobile application that allows users to build, curate, and share nature photo collections. Twenty-eight children (aged 9-12) and their parents participated in the study; 15 used the NatureCollections app, and 13 used a basic Photo app. We found that the NatureCollections app significantly increased the time children spent outdoors compared to the Photo app. Children in both groups said they felt happy and excited about spending time in nature. However, children in the NatureCollections group reported that time spent outside with the app increased their curiosity about the types of species and plants they saw and photographed. Children in the NatureCollections group also engaged in nature-based conversations with their parents, and even sought to look up information online about the plants and animals they observed. In contrast, children in the basic Photo app group did not display this level of curiosity about what they saw in nature, and the photos they took were driven largely by the aesthetic qualities of nature elements. Our results suggest that NatureCollections promotes and supports children’s connectedness to nature.
Read moreSparking Interest: A Design Framework for Mobile Technologies to Promote Children’s Interest in Nature
Can a mobile app engage children in explorations of the natural world and promote their interest in nature? Drawing on theory related to interest development and research on mobile learning technologies, we derived a set of four design principles to support the development of children’s personal interest in nature. We co-designed with 7 children ages 7–12 a set of interest-centered design strategies to implement each of the following principles: (1) personal relevance, (2) focused attention, (3) social interactions, and (4) opportunities for continued engagement. We applied these strategies to design NatureCollections, a mobile application that allows children to build, curate, and share nature photo collections. We conducted an in-situ case study with 18 children ages 7–11 years who used the NatureCollections app to take pictures of their natural surroundings. Qualitative indicators suggest NatureCollections succeeded in directing children’s attention to and promoting close observation of the natural elements in their surroundings, and prompted playful, nature-related conversations with peers and parents.
Read moreCo-Engagement with the Natural World through an Interactive Mobile Application
Figure 1: Screens of the NatureCollection app 1: Onboarding “What are your interests?” 2: Homepage 3: My Collections 4: Classification 5: Challenges As part of our research, we are studying the potential for interactive technologies to create opportunities for children to connect with nature. We developed a beta version of a mobile application, NatureCollections, that was co-designed with KidsTeam UW, that aims to engage young children (ages 7-12) in an exploration of the natural world. The app allows children to build, curate and share photo collections through individual challenges and simple photo classification walkthroughs. The app will also seek to facilitate collaborative play through team scavenger hunts and photo challenges. We piloted an app evaluation with 8 children in a botanic garden. Initial qualitative observations suggest promising results for the effectiveness of NatureCollections to draw children’s attention to their natural surroundings and spark playful social interactions. In the upcoming months, we plan to qualitatively and quantitatively assess the app’s ability to motivate children to spend more time outside. Later, we plan to deploy the app to evaluate its effect in increased connectedness to nature in situ. We believe the Workshop on Playing Together: the importance of joint engagement in the design of technology for children will be an excellent venue to discuss our design work and pilot results. We are also excited to learn from other real world case studies presented at the workshop on how we could focus our app interactions on co-engaging children with the natural context around them.
Read moreNatureCollections: Can A Mobile Application Trigger Children’s Interest In Nature?
Figure 1. a. Student taking a close-up shot of a flower b. One student pointing nature element to her peers a c. Students walking and scanning their surroundings. In this study, we investigate whether and how a mobile application called NatureCollections supports children’s triggered situational interest in nature. Developed from an interest-centered design framework, NatureCollections allows children to build and curate their own customized photo collections of nature. We conducted a comparison study at an urban community garden with 57 sixth graders across 4 science classrooms. Students in two classrooms (n = 15 and 16) used the NatureCollections app, and students in another two classrooms (n = 13 and 13) used a basic Camera app. We found that NatureCollections succeeded in focusing students’ attention–an important aspect of interest development– through sensory engagement with the natural characteristics in their surroundings. Students who used NatureCollections moved slower in space while scanning their surroundings for specific elements (e.g., flowers, birds) to photograph. In contrast, students who used the basic Camera app were more drawn to aesthetic aspects (e.g., color, shape) and tended to explore their surroundings through the device screen. NatureCollections supported other dimensions of interest development, including personal relevance, social interactions, and positive experiences for continued engagement. Our findings further showed that the NatureCollections app facilitated students’ scientific discourse with their peers.
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