What is Cheops?Cheops is an interactive

interface designed to assist and complement the literacy of children.

It is a surface in which symbols (letters, words and sentences) are displayed while users can interact with them using modifiers.

Icons and buttons are not used because their comprehension depends on several factors. We opted for the recognition of gestures made with the modifiers to make the interaction with the interface.

We created a minimalistic interface that can meet the needs of the proposal, and with which the user can interact in a fun way.

Exploring TableThe interface is divided in five

parts: one central area and four quadrants.

The central area is where the symbols are initialy displayed.

The quadrants are the areas where the students play with the symbols, using their modifier.

How Central Area Works

How Quadrants Work

The central area can behave in two different ways, depending of what the teacher programed the activity for:

• AsLibrary: the symbols displayed in it can be copied to the quadrants infinite times.

• AsBank: the symbols displayed in it can only be moved to the quadrants. They cannot be used a second time.

The quadrants are areas in wich the users will be able to effectivelly interact with the symbols.

Surface ElementsSymbols are all the manageable

visual elements, wich are initialy loaded in the central area.

When the modifier is dragged over a symbol, it becomes selected and a holder appears around it, so the user can handle it.

The Typography used in the interface is Sarakanda, wich was created to help the literacy for dislexic children.

Managing ActivityThe Teacher’s Modifier, when

placed on the interface, loads a menu with specific manager actions.

The manager actions include loading activities, locking table and shuting down the device.

The teacher will be able to load activities previously created by him, in wich he or she will decide the way Cheops and its resources will behave.

Examples:

•The teacher will be able to choose the letters that will be loaded in the central area.

•An image can be displayed in each quadrant, so the student has to write the word correspondent to the image.

Playing with the interface

The Student’s Modifier is able to perform some specific actions.

When the modifier is moved, a trail is left behind it.

The user must interact with the symbols dragging them or using the trail, to create words and sentences.

InteractionsThe user has to draw around

the symbols to perform the interactions.

The images drawn by the trail are recognized by the system, and the corresponding actions are performed.

Conclusion

Cheops was designed to complement child literacy, providing a fun and differentiated experience, and making the students learn in a fun way.

The activities’s objective is the collaboration between students, providing a more comfortable and less hierarchical environment to assist the literacy lessons and other group activities in basic education.

We chose a multi touch interface because it facilitates collaboration among students, and we believe that soon it will be a cheap and accessible resource.

Unlike some educational applications, Cheops doesn’t intend to replace teachers or be used by a student in his/her home without guidance. Its goal is to promote an environment where the teacher has tools to better coordinate his/her class. It’s his/her responsibility to create and guide the activities within the classroom.

Besides providing a rich experience for users, we believe that the interface can be useful to digitally include children from all around the world using an interactive laboratory.

Interface developed by: Alexandre Nacari Henrique Perticarati

Credits:

Alejandro Valdez Sanabria, for letting us use the text font Sarakanda, even in beta version, in the interface of Cheops.

Jos Buivenga, for the text font Diavlo, used in this presentation.

Unesp Embedded team OpenLab, for the partnership on the project.

Thanks to: