From 9th-18th July 2018, the Cyprus Interaction Lab of the Cyprus University of Technology (CIL, https://www.cyprusinteractionlab.com) and the Research center on Interactive media, Smart systems and Emerging technologies (CYENS (https://www.cyens.org.cy/en-gb/) delivered two innovative educational workshops in the context of the annual summer school of the Cyprus University of Technology for 5-15 years-old children. The educational activities were developed and implemented by researchers of the CIL and CYENSCYENS, under the supervision of Dr. Andri Ioannou, Assistant Professor: Yiannis Georgiou (Post-doctoral Researcher, CYENS, CIL), Panayiotis Kosmas (PhD Candidate, CIL), Anna Magidou (Master Student, CIL).
The workshop aimed at providing young children the opportunity to use two cutting-edge learning applications, grounded on the theory of embodied cognition and adopting a set of interactive technologies and motion trackers. In particular, the digital application “The angle-makers” was addressed to 7-10 years-old children and aimed at promoting their conceptual understanding in Mathematics education about topics related to the angle formation and measurement. On the other hand, the digital application “Young cardiologists” was addressed to 11-15 years-old children and aimed at promoting their conceptual understanding in Science Education about topics related to structure and function of the human circulatory system.
It is also worth mentioning that the digital apps employed in the context of the educational activities adopted a set of emerging technologies, which have not yet been integrated into formal education. Therefore, the educational activities were deemed as highly interesting and engaging for all the participating children. According to the participating children, these educational activities were not only novel and interactive, but also amusing, thus contributing to the acquisition of new knowledge.