Tangible interfaces in early years’ education: a systematic review

Abstract

This paper presents a systematic review of the literature on Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) and interactions in young children’s education by identifying 155 studies published between 2001 and 2019. The review was based on a set of clear research questions addressing application domains, forms of tangible objects, TUI design and assessment. The results indicate that (i) the form of tangible object is closely related to the application domain, (ii) the manipulatives are the most dominant form of tangible object, (iii) the majority of studies addressed all three stages of TUI development (design, implementation and evaluation) and declared a small sample of young children as a major shortcoming, and (iv) additional empirical research is required to collect evidence that TUIs are truly beneficial for children’s acquisition of knowledge. This review also identifies gaps in the current work, thus providing suggestions for future research in TUIs application in educational context expected to be beneficial for researchers, curriculum designers and practitioners in early years’ education. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first systematic review specific to TUIs’ studies in early years’ education and is an asset to the scientific community.