Quantifying the visual perception skills of pre-school testees using a novel tangible electronic test instrument

Abstract

Earlier studies discovered that South African testees from community schools do not have the required skills to participate in tertiary education and also lack many of the basic skills to compete successfully in certain sectors of society. These children were found to be less proficient in visualisation skills than their suburban counterparts. A new study was undertaken to ascertain whether there is any difference in cognitive skills, particularly visual perception, between pre-school children from the different socio-economic backgrounds (township and suburban). We state and elaborate on the reasons for choosing this specific age group. The ultimate aim of the study was to ascertain the age at which cognitive skill levels of these groups begin to differ and to develop intervention tools in the form of Tangible User Interfaces (TUI) to assist in enhancing the skills of the less advantaged children so that they can meaningfully participate in their own education. In this study we designed and evaluated an assessment instrument that directly measures pre-school children’s visual perception skills that form part of literacy skills, as defined in the Persona Object Model in order to provide information that could contribute to the design of appropriate game-based learning tools. Consequently, an electronic game-based tangible assessment tool, which measures the children’s visual perception skills, was developed. This testing instrument was designed to take into account the limited cognitive- and fine-motor skills of the targeted age group. A number of tangible user interfaces were developed to address these limitations. We explain how the information and communications technology (ICT) used in the design of the test instrument allows for the automatic capture of the test data. The various design iterations of the test instrument are explained and motivated, which include the choice of microprocessor technologies and the invention of various custom designed TUIs. The paper also describes the abilities and issues that were identified during other practical intervention sessions held with pre-school children. Therefore, the paper reports on the design, testing and use of this instrument, in order to quantify the visual perception skills of pre-school testees. We conclude with recommendations for further development of the assessment tool