A statistical learning platform featuring a tilting interface where students can explore data physicalizations using tangible tokens. The platform enables students to: A) construct and manipulate data representations by stacking tokens, B) hear data and statistical parameters by pressing on specifc regions of the representation, C) engage with the concept of mean by feeling the representation tilting of-balance when an emulated fulcrum deviates from the statistical mean (top), and practice sliding the fulcrum to the mean to restore balance (bottom), and D) explore the concepts of median and percentile by feeling symmetric values mirrored across the median through vibrations.
Abstract
Interactive data learning tools provide explorable ways for students to build intuitions about data, data representations, and statistical parameters. However, these tools rely on visual consumption and are not accessible to blind and low vision (BLV) students. In this work, we investigate opportunities to leverage active exploration, enriched with multimodal feedback and embodied interaction, to foster an understanding of the relationships among individual data values, data representations, and statistical measures. We explore these opportunities in the form of an accessible learning platform that allows students to hear and feel how statistical measures are changing in real time as they construct and manipulate physicalized data representations. We introduced the platform to four teachers of students with visual impairments (TVIs) through a two-hour-long focus group. TVIs embraced the platform’s exploratory nature and universality and recommended the consideration of additional auditory and texture-based interactions to enhance engagement.
