“Tommy and the Inventor” is a part of my physical computing project to introduce K-3 kids sensors and actuators that come with the GoGo Board through fun and colorful narratives.

Seeing that GoGo Board is a “low floor” constructionist tool, I think children as young as 5-8 years old can start programming and building prototype to express themselves or create inventions for others. The challenges for young children to programming are (1) understanding how sensors and actuators work together and (2) comprehending the concept of cause and effect. Sometimes telling the children all the sensors and actuators can be too overwhelming for them to remember at once. Within this design I combine the narrative so it acts as a “hook” for children to remember the functions of each sensor and actuator better. The interactive aspect of the automatic story telling device combining with guidance for adults, children can interact with the sensors and see the changing result on the actuators.

To see how I test my project with the children

View my story and illustration