Haptic feedback and students’ learning about levers: Unraveling the effect of simulated touch
Introduction
Despite ever increasing interest in the creation and use of computer-based instructional programs (e.g. interactive simulations, virtual labs, digital learning environments) for the teaching of school science concepts (Hennessy et al., 2007), the extent to which these technologies impact students’ understandings is still unclear. While numerous studies (e.g. Bransford et al., 2000, Doerr, 1997, Linn, 2003, Winn, 2002, Zacharia, 2003) point to potentially positive impacts, other work (e.g. Bayraktar, 2002, de Jong and van Joolingen, 1998, Hsu and Thomas, 2002, Steinberg, 2000) suggests a rather tenuous link between the use of these technologies and learning gains.
Proponents of computer-based simulations note that these virtual environments allow students to make comparisons between elements of a system and witness the outcomes much as you would with their physical counterparts (Linn, 2004). In addition, students may also be able to explore relationships in simulations not feasible in the physical realm because of limits of time, space, cost, or safety. It is likely that the efficacy of this experience will be determined in part by how effectively key information about the phenomena can be communicated to the student, mediated by the computer-based system. Improvements in computer-based graphics have meant that very rich, high-resolution color graphics can be communicated visually to the student through most computer systems. Similarly, improvement in audio technology now means that most auditory-based information can also be communicated at high fidelity. While these two modalities cover much of the sensory information instructional designers might want to communicate to learners, it does not cover the full sensory range of what could be communicated nor does it address the general limitations in how learners communicate back to the simulation environment.
Along these lines, evolving technologies now make it possible to extend students’ interactions with these computer-based learning environments beyond the audio and visual realm to include haptic (i.e., simulated touch) feedback (Burdea, 1996, Kátai et al., 2008, Revesz, 1950, Robles-De-La-Torre, 2006). Haptic feedback devices provide a whole new modality of experience that can be tied directly to user input devices, more tightly binding the user experience directly to the simulated environment. Haptically augmented multimodal interfaces can be programmed to provide realistic force feedback (e.g. simulating object compliance, weight, and inertia) and/or tactile feedback (e.g. simulating surface contact geometry, smoothness, slippage, and temperature) by employing physical receptors in the hand and arm that gather sensory information as users “feel” and manipulate two and three-dimensional virtual objects and events (Jacobson et al., 2002, Jones et al., 2006, Minogue and Jones, 2006).
With haptic devices, such as the one seen in Fig. 1, not only can the simulation communicate haptic information about the phenomenal response to the learner, but also provide a more robust feedback mechanism as the learner interacts with the system. This point-probe device tracks the x, y, and z coordinates, as well as the pitch, roll, and yaw of the virtual point-probe that the user moves about a 3D workspace. Actuators (motors within the device) communicate preprogrammed forces back to the user’s fingertips and arm as it detects collisions with the virtual objects on the screen, simulating the sense of touch. While potentially a breakthrough technology for instructional simulation environments, there is a paucity of research to guide instructional designers. This paper will explore the efficacy of a haptically augmented simulation environment for use in middle school science education, capitalizing on eye tracking data to help unravel the influence of simulated touch on student cognition.
Section snippets
Impetus for the study
An appropriate area of science education to employ haptic interfaces may be simulations that require the learner to both apply and respond to force feedback from a system. In upper elementary and middle school science, the study of levers is a common topic where students typically interact with constructed lever systems via the direct application of force with their hands and similarly receive feedback through the same pathway. It would, therefore, seem logical that the inclusion of haptic
The instructional program
For this study, a computer-based virtual lab was developed and tested with middle school (ages 11–14) students attending a week-long science summer camp offered at a middle school by the university. The participants were from three different school systems that served rural, urban, and suburban students. The interactive program introduced participants to first, second, and third class levers and allowed students to create a lever by manipulating the fulcrum location, beam length, and amount of
Results
Written test data, eye tracking, and lever push data were triangulated to provide a better understanding of how haptic feedback influenced learning outcomes and what role changes in visual attentional distribution across the key information sources in the virtual lab may have had in these learning outcomes.
Discussion
The results are both interesting and somewhat surprising but should be viewed cautiously until further studies can replicate these results. Since learning about the principles of levers requires students to understand the relationship between the spatial location of the load, fulcrum, and force along with the relationship between the amount of load and the amount of force needed to move it, visual attention to and integration between these elements will be important. The eye tracking data
Acknowledgements
I would like to sincerely thank Deyao “Daniel” Ren for his expert programming on the haptic lever application. In addition, I would also like to thank all of the counselors working with the students at the Zoom into Science summer camp where this study was conducted.
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