With the rapid advancement of AI and innovative technologies, there is a lot of potential to improve learning at scale. However, it's not clear how AI and technologies should be developed to maximize learning and enjoyment outcomes for students. So far, intelligent tutoring systems and most educational technologies have been limited to flat screen computer interactions.

Can experimenting with three-dimensional (3D) physical objects in mixed-reality environments produce better learning and enjoyment than flat-screen two-dimensional (2D) interaction? We explored this question with EarthShake: a mixed-reality game bridging physical and virtual worlds via depth-camera sensing, designed to help children learn basic physics principles. In this paper, we report on a controlled experiment with 67 children, 4--8 years old, that examines the effect of observing physical phenomena and collaboration (pairs vs. solo). A follow-up experiment with 92 children tests whether adding simple physical control, such as shaking a tablet, improves learning and enjoyment. Our results indicate that observing physical phenomena in the context of a mixed-reality game leads to significantly more learning and enjoyment compared to screen-only versions. However, there were no significant effects of adding simple physical control or having students play in pairs vs. alone. These results and our gesture analysis provide evidence that children's science learning can be enhanced through experiencing physical phenomena in a mixed-reality environment.

Engaging children with traditional approaches in education, especially reading, grows ever more difficult in the face of their attachment to tablets and computer games. We explore the possibility of making the story reading experience more interesting and memorable for children using haptic augmentation. In this paper, we present FeelSleeve, an interface that allows children to feel story events in their hands while they are reading on a mobile device. FeelSleeve uses transducers and audio output from the tablet within a gloved attachment to create vibratory effects that are meaningfully related to story content. We describe a study investigating whether embedding such haptic feedback into stories enhances reading for six to nine year olds. Our results indicate that story events accompanied by haptic feedback are better comprehended and appear to be more salient in memory. These results provide evidence that haptic effects have the potential to improve children's reading experience and make it more memorable.

The possibility of leveraging technology to support children's learning in the real world is both appealing and technically challenging. We have been exploring factors in tangible games that may contribute to both learning and enjoyment with an eye toward technological feasibility and scalability. Previous research found that young children learned early physics principles better when interactively predicting and observing experimental comparisons on a physical earthquake table than when seeing a video of the same. Immersing children in the real world with computer vision-based feedback appears to evoke embodied cognition that enhances learning. In the current experiment, we replicated this intriguing result of the mere difference between observing the real world versus a flat-screen. Further, we explored whether a simple and scalable addition of physical control (such as shaking a tablet) would yield an increase in learning and enjoyment. Our 2x2 experiment found no evidence that adding simple forms of hands-on control enhances learning, while demonstrating a large impact of physical observation. A general implication for educational game design is that affording physical observation in the real world accompanied by interactive feedback may be more important than affording simple hands-on control on a tablet.