FEDERICA DELPRINO

GAIA has been created to push kids' social skills; it can be installed outdoors on top of outdoor elements (trees, street lamps in parks,..). Like ABBOT, also GAIA has got no displays.

The model consists of a band with four bright buttons and two speakers. Sounds and lights are meant to attract children. When buttons are touched, GAIA tells stories that guide all children in a treasure hunt asking them to look for nature elements (a specific plant species, an animal). While solving the game together, children are led to explore the nature around them.

Even if our main idea is to use GAIA to encourage children to play outside, the interviewed teachers pointed out that, thanks to the multisensory stimuli that the device is able to generate, it can be used also for educative purpose inside schools (like enforcing the relation between mental processes and motoric processes), as well as by healthcare institutions assisting people with disabilities.

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Pubblications:

"Interactive Nature: using tangibles for nature exploration by children"
for Oudoor Play Design, 2nd February 2019

"Interactive Nature: Designing Smart Devices for Nature Exploration by Children"
accepted to CHI2019

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Team: Rosella Gennari, Maristella Matera, Alessandra Melonio, Eftychia Roumelioti, Federica Delprino, Giovanni Filaferro, Michele Gennaioli, Giuseppe Manzi and Valentina Menabue