An educational application of fossil identification for children
INTRODUCTION
“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment, until it becomes a memory” Dr. Seuss
During family outings in nature, there is an opportunity for a special connection between parents and children. In addition, going out into nature stimulates children's curiosity.
THE OPPORTUNITY
Upgrade quality time with curiosity
Children are curious and most parents have no knowledge about fossils
Parents invest time and energy in planning a trip but not in the quality time shared during the trip
PRELIMINARY RESEARCH
Children as users
Driven by curiosity
Too many options can confuse them
They lack the ability to filter the main point from the noise, so we have to avoid distractions
Children under a certain age cannot read
Flexibility of use- they will try to do the same action in different ways
Looking for the on-screen instructions and voice support
USABILITY TESTING
1. Participants recruitment
The participants needed to be 6-12 years old, therefore friends or family could not help me. So I published a post in the neighborhood Facebook group and to my surprise, 20 parents volunteered their children even though, apart from some juice and snacks, they received nothing for it.
אמלק- אני מחפשת ילדים בגילאים 3-12 לבדיקת שמישות לאפליקציה לתיק עבודות.
שלום לכולם, קוראים לי הגר, אני גרה בשכונה ואני צריכה את עזרתכם, יותר נכון את העזרה של הילדים שלכם.
בתקופה האחרונה אני עובדת על אפליקציה לתיק העבודות שלי שקהל היעד שלה הוא ילדים.
על מנת ללמוד מה עובד טוב ומה פחות אני עושה בדיקת שמישות אך מאתגר למצוא משתמשים בגילאים האלו ופה אני צריכה את עזרתכם.
אם יש לכם ילדים סקרנים, אני אשמח לפגוש אותם בפארק ל-20 ולראות איך הם מצליחים לתפעל את האפליקציה, ובהתאם לכך אוכל ללמוד ולשפר אותה.
מה יוצא לכם מזה? הזדמנות לראות את הילדים שלכם מנסים להתמודד עם משהו חדש, אטרקציה חינמית אחרי שכבר אין קייטנות, וקארמה טובה
אני אשמח לתת עוד פרטים בפרטי ומי שיתאים לו, נקבע
2. Test characteristics
Location
A park near the house, it was important to me that the test be outside and simulate as much as possible the environment in which the application is used
Time
Each test took around 25 minutes
Participants
Five children; ages: 6.5, 8, 8.5, 10.5, 11
3. Tested tasks
Definition of a fossil process
My Fossils page- what information is shown there and how it is related to the next page of a specific fossil
Screens where help from parents will be required
Route finding process
THE SOLUTION
Home screen
A picturesque opening screen with animation and 3 main choices:
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Take a picture of a fossil
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Route search
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My fossil collection
Implementation of conclusions
from usability testing
Users expect that it will be possible to go back one screen by swiping to the opposite direction that the screen entered from.
Definition of fossil
In this process the users take a picture of the fossil, the system identifies it and allows users to discover the fossil with a brush, like geologists.
Implementation of conclusions from usability testing
In the screen with the brush where the fossil is revealed, after the users realized that they needed to click several times, they clicked too much and created an error in the next screen.
By adding feedback at the end of the exposure - confetti and "well done" problem solved. In addition, it created a sense of success among the users.
My fossils and collecting medals
For each fossil a user finds, they can get four medals by learning about and researching the fossil. Each medal is given after completing one of four categories: general information, area of the world where it lived, period it lived, and games related to a fossil and its definition.
Implementation of conclusions
from usability testing
Link between pages by the same element- on the "My Fossil" screen the medal is located next to the number of completed missions out of four. On the specific fossil screen, completed missions are marked with a medal.
The added value that parents bring
Parents are partners in using the app. They choose the most suitable route based on the family's preferences. In addition, while navigating to the fossil, parents have the opportunity to be a significant part of the experience and develop the navigation skills of their children.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
CONCLUSION
I learned about UX for kids and got to know people from my neighborhood
The goal is to make a complex field accessible to children through a fun app. The app allows children to be exposed to the world of fossils and explore it together with their parents in a playful way. To understand how children think and what processes are understood by them while using the smartphone, I did a usability test for the children of the neighborhood and applied the insights in the application.
