Beyond Screens: Tangible User Interfaces Impact Engagement with Emotion Regulation Activities for Preschool Children

Abstract

The first five years of a child’s life are crucial for emotional development, impacting children’s ability to learn both cognitively and socially. Children’s emotion regulation skills benefit from positive engagement in learning tasks. We studied how student engagement during an emotion regulation learning task changed with differing modes of interaction. We designed two versions of MindfulNest (a tool for emotion regulation skill development), one that leverages tangible user interfaces and one with only tablet-based interactions. We tested these versions in a 16-week crossover study in two preschool classrooms and found that students (ages 3-5) were more engaged with the tangible version. Students spent longer per session with the tangible version of the app, and the least-used activity employed only visual and auditory interaction. Additionally, all four teachers reported the tangible version of MindfulNest was more engaging than the tablet-only version without distracting students.