Bricks: laying the foundations for graspable user interfaces
CHI '95 Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Tangible bits: towards seamless interfaces between people, bits and atoms
Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human factors in computing systems
Building virtual structures with physical blocks
Proceedings of the 12th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology
Classroom collaboration in the design of tangible interfaces for storytelling
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
From turtles to Tangible Programming Bricks: explorations in physical language design
Personal and Ubiquitous Computing
A taxonomy for and analysis of tangible interfaces
Personal and Ubiquitous Computing
Extending tangible interfaces for education: digital montessori-inspired manipulatives
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Token+constraint systems for tangible interaction with digital information
ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI)
ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR)
Mindstorms: children, computers, and powerful ideas
Mindstorms: children, computers, and powerful ideas
Child's play: a comparison of desktop and physical interactive environments
Proceedings of the 2005 conference on Interaction design and children
A cube to learn: a tangible user interface for the design of a learning appliance
Personal and Ubiquitous Computing
Tangible programming in the classroom: a practical approach
CHI '06 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
roBlocks: a robotic construction kit for mathematics and science education
Proceedings of the 8th international conference on Multimodal interfaces
Do tangible interfaces enhance learning?
Proceedings of the 1st international conference on Tangible and embedded interaction
Designing tangibles for children: what designers need to know
CHI '07 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Design and evaluation of tangible interfaces for primary school children
Proceedings of the 6th international conference on Interaction design and children
Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on Tangible and embedded interaction
Validating the Fun Toolkit: an instrument for measuring children’s opinions of technology
Cognition, Technology and Work
Comparing the use of tangible and graphical programming languages for informal science education
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
CSCL'09 Proceedings of the 9th international conference on Computer supported collaborative learning - Volume 1
Tangibles in the balance: a discovery learning task with physical or graphical materials
Proceedings of the fourth international conference on Tangible, embedded, and embodied interaction
Tangible computer programming: exploring the use of emerging technology in classrooms and science museums
Tangible User Interfaces: Past, Present, and Future Directions
Foundations and Trends in Human-Computer Interaction
The Scratch Programming Language and Environment
ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE)
Benefits of a Tangible Interface for Collaborative Learning and Interaction
IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies
Touch Your Program with Hands: Qualities in Tangible Programming Tools for Novice
PCI '11 Proceedings of the 2011 15th Panhellenic Conference on Informatics
Tangible interaction and learning: the case for a hybrid approach
Personal and Ubiquitous Computing
Personal and Ubiquitous Computing
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This study explores children's opinions and preferences regarding two isomorphic user interfaces that can be used for introductory programming activities, a tangible and a graphical one. The first system (tangible) comprises 46 cube-shaped blocks that represent simple programming structures and can be interconnected to form the programming code. The second system (graphical) presents on-screen the same programming space to the user (icons similar in appearance and operation with the tangible blocks). These two operationally equivalent user interfaces were given to three children groups of different ages (5---6, 7---8 and 11---12 years) to program the behavior of a Lego NXT robot. Children in dyads were let to interact with both systems, and during the activity, data were collected regarding children's first-sight preference, enjoyment and easiness-to-use. The quantitative and qualitative analysis followed indicated that the tangible interface was more attractive especially for girls, and it was more enjoyable and finally characterized as easier to use only by younger children who were less experienced with computers. On the contrary, for older (11---12 years old) children, the tangible even though was more enjoyable, it was not considered as the easiest-to-use user interface. Taking into account the lack of empirical evidences related to the tangible user interfaces, this study discusses not only the potential usability advantages but also the disadvantages of tangible user interfaces for children.