Embedded Files
Our Motivation:
Our Motivation:
We rely on verbal communication to effectively express our thoughts to one another. Young children, however, often struggle with identifying and communicating their emotions. This is especially true in a chaotic classroom setting, where a teacher needs to balance the needs of many children at the same time. Children may have both a limited vocabulary and strong emotional reactions that they are not able to handle yet.
We rely on verbal communication to effectively express our thoughts to one another. Young children, however, often struggle with identifying and communicating their emotions. This is especially true in a chaotic classroom setting, where a teacher needs to balance the needs of many children at the same time. Children may have both a limited vocabulary and strong emotional reactions that they are not able to handle yet.
This led us to ask ourselves: how might we design a more comforting and engaging way to facilitate conversation with adults in children ages 4-7?
This led us to ask ourselves: how might we design a more comforting and engaging way to facilitate conversation with adults in children ages 4-7?
Human-Centered Design Methods:
Human-Centered Design Methods:
We began the design process by attempting to understand who we were designing for in the first place. Through surveys and interviews, we reached out to 22 parents of young children and 9 early education teachers to learn more about the issues they have seen children face when expressing themselves. We also reached out to a child psychologist, Dr. Jana Marie Iverson, to learn more about the science behind child communication. This allowed us to understand the problems faced by adults when communicating with children, as well as the areas of communication that proved to be the most difficult.
We began the design process by attempting to understand who we were designing for in the first place. Through surveys and interviews, we reached out to 22 parents of young children and 9 early education teachers to learn more about the issues they have seen children face when expressing themselves. We also reached out to a child psychologist, Dr. Jana Marie Iverson, to learn more about the science behind child communication. This allowed us to understand the problems faced by adults when communicating with children, as well as the areas of communication that proved to be the most difficult.
From our outreach, we discovered that this communication problem is prevalent and relevant due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in a lack of social interactions for children. Additionally, we learned about the methods teachers currently used to help children make choices and express themselves, such as drawing, charts of options, and more. Our goals were to take these new understandings and integrate them into our early prototypes.
From our outreach, we discovered that this communication problem is prevalent and relevant due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in a lack of social interactions for children. Additionally, we learned about the methods teachers currently used to help children make choices and express themselves, such as drawing, charts of options, and more. Our goals were to take these new understandings and integrate them into our early prototypes.
Design Goals and First Prototypes
Design Goals and First Prototypes
We started the design process with several goals in mind. We wanted a system that met these criteria:
Engaging: We wanted kids to like our solution and to want to use it.
Collaborative: Our solution needed to prompt conversation between a student and teacher.
Customizability: We wanted children to be able to express any feeling or emotional situation that they wanted, regardless of the decisions we made regarding structured content.
Portability: We wanted it to fit into a classroom setting. Children need to be able to hold it themselves and carry it around the room as needed.
Durability: We wanted a solution that children could not break.
From there, we designed two early prototypes. One was Sydney the Sloth, a stuffed animal that we attached a foam board to, simulating a digital screen. Different images and cardstock were attached to the board and switched out based on user input. Our other early prototype was Shelldon the Turtle, a book with turtle head and shell that students could flip through to navigate the emotions they were feeling.
Sydney the Sloth
Shelldon the Turtle
In our early testing, we found that children greatly preferred Shelldon the book over Sydney the simulated tablet. They enjoyed pressing Shelldon's foam buttons and drawing on the whiteboard squares integrated on its pages.
In our early testing, we found that children greatly preferred Shelldon the book over Sydney the simulated tablet. They enjoyed pressing Shelldon's foam buttons and drawing on the whiteboard squares integrated on its pages.
Final Prototype
Final Prototype
With user feedback in mind, we created Pathos the Panda. Pathos' overall design is very similar to Shelldon's, but the book is integrated with electronics so that buttons are functional and play sound files when pressed. We increased the size of the whiteboards, changed some of the choices with associated buttons, and enclosed it all in a soft, friendly panda exterior.
With user feedback in mind, we created Pathos the Panda. Pathos' overall design is very similar to Shelldon's, but the book is integrated with electronics so that buttons are functional and play sound files when pressed. We increased the size of the whiteboards, changed some of the choices with associated buttons, and enclosed it all in a soft, friendly panda exterior.
How It's Used:
How It's Used:
Pathos' cover features a button that will play instructions for children using it to hear. Pathos' tabs are labeled with both text and images of faces, and grabbing and flipping a tab will take a child to the indicated page.
Pathos' cover features a button that will play instructions for children using it to hear. Pathos' tabs are labeled with both text and images of faces, and grabbing and flipping a tab will take a child to the indicated page.
Once a page is chosen, a child will have two options available: the whiteboard or the buttons. The buttons are located next to a picture and text describing a potential reason a child may be feeling an emotion. Pressing will play a sound clip like the one below, giving the child a simple sentence to recite to an adult and start a conversation.
I feel loved. Go up to your teacher and tell them:
"I feel loved."
With the whiteboard, children can simply draw the reason for their feelings, show the drawing to an adult, and explain the drawing.
Tech Overview:
Tech Overview:
The brain of the system is an Arduino Mega, running a modified version of "C" code. Adafruit wired tactile buttons provide input to the Arduino board. There are a total of 21 buttons wired to 21 digital pins on the Arduino Mega. Each pin has an MP3 file associated with it that is chosen when a button is pressed. The Adafruit MusicMaker works with the Arduino Mega to decode and process each MP3 file so it can then be played through the speakers. The entire system is powered by a 4 AA battery pack connected to the Arduino Mega.
The brain of the system is an Arduino Mega, running a modified version of "C" code. Adafruit wired tactile buttons provide input to the Arduino board. There are a total of 21 buttons wired to 21 digital pins on the Arduino Mega. Each pin has an MP3 file associated with it that is chosen when a button is pressed. The Adafruit MusicMaker works with the Arduino Mega to decode and process each MP3 file so it can then be played through the speakers. The entire system is powered by a 4 AA battery pack connected to the Arduino Mega.
Results and Future Directions
Results and Future Directions
We tested our final prototype with 1 kindergarten class and 2 first grade classes at the Falk Laboratory School.
We tested our final prototype with 1 kindergarten class and 2 first grade classes at the Falk Laboratory School.
After testing with 54 test users, every user reported that they enjoyed using Pathos. All the children liked pressing the various buttons and listening to the associated audio clips while seeing the pictures. A majority of the users also liked using the whiteboard and marker feature to draw a picture explaining their emotions. More than half of the children reported that, if given the chance, they would proceed to talk to their teacher and express how they were feeling. Teachers also reported that this would be a useful addition to their classrooms. The chart below summarizes our findings after testing:
After testing with 54 test users, every user reported that they enjoyed using Pathos. All the children liked pressing the various buttons and listening to the associated audio clips while seeing the pictures. A majority of the users also liked using the whiteboard and marker feature to draw a picture explaining their emotions. More than half of the children reported that, if given the chance, they would proceed to talk to their teacher and express how they were feeling. Teachers also reported that this would be a useful addition to their classrooms. The chart below summarizes our findings after testing:
Engaging: Children voluntarily used the book for over two minutes and were interested in exploring the various emotions.
Collaborative: We were unable to determine whether the child proceeded to talk to their teacher because of testing limitations in the busy classroom settings. However, we did have most children tell a story about their emotions.
Durable: Pathos has some level of durability because the technological components are packed into the stuffed animal exterior. However, we would like to continue working on this and aim to have it withstand at least a 3 meter throw.
Portable: The children were able to hold Pathos and carry it with them around a classroom, as well as it hand it to their peers.
Customizable: In the case that one of the programmed options doesn't apply to the child's emotions, they can use the whiteboard and marker to draw out their reasoning in a creative and individualized manner.
For future iterations, we would like to integrate multiple language options into the book in order to reach an even wider range of children across the world. We would also like to add a feature for teachers to be able to input their own voice recordings into Pathos, making it customizable to each classroom's unique needs.
For future iterations, we would like to integrate multiple language options into the book in order to reach an even wider range of children across the world. We would also like to add a feature for teachers to be able to input their own voice recordings into Pathos, making it customizable to each classroom's unique needs.
Meet the Team
Meet the Team
From Left to Right:
From Left to Right:
Annabella Peretti, Phoebe Katz, Jerome Poravanthattil, Sam Alfieri,
Annabella Peretti, Phoebe Katz, Jerome Poravanthattil, Sam Alfieri,
Yugma Patel, Josh Rioux
Yugma Patel, Josh Rioux
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