Designing a toy for our youngest innovators
January 2018 - January 2020 | Learning design, prototyping, user testing, user research
As many UX professionals know, usability testing is framed around improving product adoption and user satisfaction. However, there is a deeper layer to that research: uncovering a Truth about how the world works. At the DevTech Research Group, we were at the intersection of figuring out how the world works – specifically, how children understand STEM concepts – and how to address it with interactive play.
Like all forms of engineering, bioengineering is about building things to solve problems. It's a cutting-edge field that affects our lives from the food we eat to the medicines we take – and soon, the way we think about science education. At DevTech, I helped create CRISPEE, our playful take on CRISPR-Cas9, to answer the question: how can we effectively teach young children about the ethical and social implications of gene editing?
INTERACTING WITH CRISPEE VERSION 1
First, design: users place the color-simulating bricks into slots on the platform.
Next, mix: the user shakes the platform back and forth.
Finally, test: the bioluminescent firefly lights up with the designed color output.
My role as Head Research Assistant
CRISPEE was created through iterative design-based research in which a series of prototypes in increasing fidelity. I observed and analyzed children playing with related and early prototypes to inform the direction of our product design and curriculum implementation.
As a head research assistant, I conducted face-to-face research with children ranging from 4 to 12 years. Research took place during week-long bioengineering day camps and 10-minute CRISPEE play sessions at the Boston Children's Museum. I was also in charge of collecting and analyzing the qualitative data from each research play session. These findings informed the direction of our future CRISPEE prototype designs.
I had observed overwhelming confusion amongst students about the meaning of our "Off" blocks. After experimenting with alternative visual representations of "Off," I proposed that our team take a more intuitive design approach. Children's understanding of the block type progressed dramatically after the "Off" block design design alteration.
Our interventional curriculum proved impactful on children's understanding of bioengineering concepts. Over half of the children in our sample mastered interaction with CRISPEE within 10 minutes of playtime exposure. We observed a drastic change in how children engaged with the ideas of hardware, software, and debugging.
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